Thursday’s Headlines: RFK Freedom Riders Edition

By Eve Kessler
Sep 12, 2019

The Triboro Bridge pedestrian path, which cyclists aren't allowed to use per MTA rules. Photo: Google Street View/Samuel Baumel

Months after Streetsblog demanded the legalization of cycling and the end of ticketing on Robert F. Kennedy Triboro Bridge, Astoria Council Member Costa Constantinides and State Senator Michael Gianaris Alternatives will rally today at the base of the bridge with Transportation Alternatives activists,

The goal of the lawmakers, per a press release, is “to reopen the southern pathway to create separate lanes for cyclists and pedestrians as well as install protective fencing along the entire strip.”

TransAlt activists also said they would seek the lifting of the cycling ban on the bridge — although there was no sign of that demand in the official media advisory.

That’s backward. Free the path — that is, stop the ticketing of cyclists — and the fixes will follow.

“Outlaw Biker’ Steve Scofield, who penned the clarion call for sanity and an end to harassment on the bridge, told Streetsblog that the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority “needs to accept that biking across the bridge is not just a recreational activity — it’s a vital link in the bike network, and that those of us who do it aren’t scofflaws. They need to start planning a few alternatives as to how to install a bike lane and, in the meantime, decriminalize biking on the bridge.”

We hope that Constantinides and the other pols can keep those priorities straight.

Yesterday was a busy news day — with Streetsblog publishing an exclusive story by Dave Colon, which The Post followed, on how staffers of Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie had been caught on camera speeding through school zones an astonishing seven times in the last couple of years.

In other news:

The family of the 10 year-old boy mowed down by a motorist in Midwood grieved. (NYDN)
Streetsblog reported details of the crash investigation. Gothamist pinned the crash on the motorist’s seizure.
New York is among the best cities for e-bike and e-scooter trips, because half of all trips are under 3 miles. (Curbed)
Transit honcho Ronny Hakim will leave the MTA (NYP, AMNY )
A group of miscreants slashed a young man in the subway. (NYP)
The Transport Workers Union decried a jump in assaults on transit worker. (NYDN, Politico)
The New Yorker went to London to profile how cycling activists are working for climate justice. The Great Charles Komanoff tweeted that the reporting was “solid,” although he wondered why, in 20 years of subscribing, he could not recall that the publication had published any such positive coverage about cycling in New York City.
The Council looks for answers to the travails of the taxi and ride-share industries. (CityandState)
The Post Editorial Board wants stronger action form the governor on the subways,
Three scars through lower Manhattan tell the story of the birth of car culture, according to Gothamist.
NYDN critic Linda Stasi complained about the bike lane at FDR Drive and Waterside Plaza.