By Lily Seltz
Soundtracked by a tinny chorus of bike bells and cries of “rolling,” more than 50 people cycled from West 66th Street and Riverside Boulevard to Central Park on Saturday to show their support for a proposed two-way bike lane along West 72nd Street.
The city’s recent proposal, which would connect the Hudson River Greenway, Central Park, and the East River Greenway, has been met by intense opposition from some Upper West Siders, who argued at a rally earlier this month that the lane would endanger pedestrians and make it harder for businesses to unload shipments.
Participants in Saturday’s ride, ranging in age from young children to white-haired adults, countered that the bike lane would make one of the Upper West Side’s busiest streets safer for cyclists, cars, and pedestrians alike.
Friday night’s fatal crash on West 108th Street, where, according to police, an intoxicated driver jumped the curb and hit multiple pedestrians, loomed large over Saturday’s otherwise cheery proceedings. While the incident did not involve cyclists, bike lane proponents point to various studies that show a correlation between the presence of protected bike lanes and a decrease in fatalities and injuries for all road users, including pedestrians.
This reporter cycled alongside the group to document the trip. At the start of the ride-along, orange-vested marshals led us north on Riverside Boulevard before making a right turn onto West 72nd Street. We proceeded slowly, making a full stop at each intersection, while the adults in the group kept an eye on the youngest cyclists’ occasional swivels and swerves.
By the time we reached Broadway, the posse of cyclists had become enough of a spectacle to draw extended glances, and a handful of cheers, from pedestrians on the sidewalk and at the crosswalks. Reactions were not wholly supportive: On Columbus Avenue, one passerby yelled “Go back to Brooklyn!” at the group, according to ride-along participant and Upper West Sider Austin Celestin.
After a short stay in Central Park, most of the cyclist group headed back along 72nd Street toward Riverside. Several offered their assessments of the Saturday event and the proposal for the 72nd Street bike lane.
John Murray, an UWS resident who said he often rides his bike to his downtown office during the summer, noted that opponents of the bike lane often express concern about out-of-control e-bikes endangering pedestrians. But he holds that danger from e-bikes is overemphasized relative to the “far greater” danger posed by cars, which “the city’s current infrastructure supports.”
Thirteen people in New York City have been killed by motorized 2-wheel vehicles (including e-bikes and motorcycles) this year as of April 19, according to NYPD data reported by AMNY. But the city’s Department of Transportation recorded a total of 66 traffic fatalities as of May 10 this year. That number includes deaths caused by e-bikes.
Emily Jacobi, a senior organizer with Transportation Alternatives and one of the ride marshals, said that she wouldn’t have felt comfortable leading a group—especially one that included several children—if the ride had taken place on a weekday, when 72nd Street is a “commuting corridor.”
“It’s really unsafe, and we can do better,” she said.
Carl Mahaney, the director of Streetopia UWS, an organization that advocates for safe and healthy public spaces on the Upper West Side, said he thought the ride had been successful in combating what he believes is one of the biggest misconceptions related to the bike lane fight—that “nobody cycles.”
Mahaney was eager to push back against another argument made by bike lane opponents: that a bike lane would be bad for local businesses on West 72nd Street, including Tip Top Shoes, whose owner has spoken against the proposal.
“When people can access your streets, when they can walk comfortably and enjoy their experience, people will come more often,” Mahaney argued. “It’s not just the regulars. You’re going to get people who are out for a bike ride [and] tourists who are going from park to park.”
Austin Celestin echoed Mahaney’s point. “People who are on bikes, they’re customers too,” he said.
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