The number of bike riders in NYC has increased 28% over last year, according to an annual estimate by Transportation Alternatives, using DOT data. According to the group's latest report:
- 236,000 New Yorkers are riding bikes every day.
- 51,000 New Yorkers started biking in the just last year alone.
- One out of every 24 vehicles in motion on city streets is a bicycle.
- New Yorkers travel 1.8 million miles by bicycle every day.
- Bicycling is New York City’s fastest-growing mode of transportation.
The continued cycling boom is largely attributable to the DOT's commitment to increasing bike lanes throughout the city. The city has installed more than 200 miles of bike lanes over the past three years, including 5 miles of physically-separated bike lanes. "NYC just posted a fourth straight year of double-digit grown in cycling, and this was the biggest jump ever," said Paul Steely White of Transportation Alternatives. "This is real transportation. More New Yorkers are moving on bikes today than will ride the first
phase of the Second Avenue Subway on opening day in 2017."
The estimate, which has been calculated by policy analyst Charles Komanoff since 1992, extrapolates citywide cycling rates from the DOT's so-called screenline counts [pdf], taken at entrances to Manhattan below 50th Street. "The screenline number is as good a number as I think we have," Komanoff tells City Room. "Even if it probably overstates the increase in overall cycling... I think it’s kind of amazing. I think it is now legitimate to refer to cycling as a mainstream mode of travel. And to me, that is a profound development." By the way, the DOT's 2010 cycling map is now out, and can be obtained free of charge at most bike shops. It's also online here.
