New Yorkers Tell Streetfilms Why They’re Biking More Than Ever

By Ben Fried
May 20, 2016

By every metric, today New Yorkers are biking more than ever. So to mark Bike to Work Day, Clarence Eckerson went over to the Transportation Alternatives commuter station by the Queensboro Bridge to ask people if they’re biking now more than five years ago, and why. Here’s what they told him.

There’s a lot of great insight here, but tops on the list for me is how new bike infrastructure has helped people beset by crowding and delays on the 7 train. A fully built-out network of low-stress bikeways could be such a valuable complement to a transit system that is bursting at the seams.

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Streetfilms: New Yorkers Walk and Ride for Safer Streets

By Ben Fried | Jan 5, 2009

Yesterday New Yorkers gathered on city streets to honor those killed while walking or biking in the past year. Organized by the Street Memorial Project, three rides and one march converged at Delancey and the Bowery, where Rasha Shamoon was struck and killed while biking home this August. Streetfilms’ Elizabeth Press files this account of […]

Here's the Rue de Rivoli that everyone is talking about, which was widened by Mayor Anne Hidalgo (inset). Photo: Gersh Kuntzman

Streetfilms: Paris Kicks New York’s Ass as a Biking Capital

By Streetsblog | Sep 25, 2022

People have been visiting Paris for centuries for the food, the wine, the museums, the cheese and even the snails, but when New Yorkers head to the City of Light these days, all they see are the bike lanes.

It's not the expansion of cycling that causes the epidemic of crashes. It's the lack of cycling infrastructure, the persistence of bad driving, and the proliferation of assault cars that do. Photo: Clarence Eckerson Jr.

Streetfilms: Biking is the Way to Beat Coronavirus (If the Mayor Would Help)

By Gersh Kuntzman | Mar 10, 2020

"It's kind of infuriating for elected politicians, who get driven everywhere, to say, 'Yeah, take a bike!' Well, we have a lot of kids who can't do that and don't feel safe," one rider said.

STREETFILMS

Hey #bikenyc: Where Would You Put New York’s Next Protected Bike Lanes?

By Clarence Eckerson Jr. | Nov 24, 2014

At the September press conference where Bicycling Magazine named New York City the best American city for biking, NYC DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg committed to adding five miles of protected bike lanes per year “all over the city, not just in the core of Manhattan.” Since then, anytime I’ve been at bike events or out on the streets shooting video, […]

In Streetopia, Traffic Won’t Scare People Away From Biking

By David Meyer | Jul 7, 2017

As part of the recently-launched Streetopia campaign, Clarence Eckerson put together this short video rundown of how our existing bike network falls short -- and what needs to happen to make it better. Take a look.

Streetfilms: Make Your Own Bike Etiquette PSA

By Elizabeth Press | Jul 24, 2009

Biking Rules, the new campaign organized by Transportation Alternatives, is sponsoring a video and photo PSA competition. Submissions are now being accepted for two categories in the competition: "Why Biking Rules!" and "The Biking Rules Street Code." The Biking Rules campaign outlines several ways to lead by example when riding your bicycle. So, with a […]