Cycling in New York City is associated with mixed cycling conditions that include dense urban proximities, relatively flat terrain, congested roadways with stop-and-go traffic, and streets with heavy pedestrian activity. The city's large cycling population includes utility cyclists, such as delivery and messenger services; cycling clubs for recreational cyclists; and increasingly commuters. Cycling is increasingly popular in New York City: in 2018 there were approximately 510,000 daily bike trips, compared with 170,000 daily bike trips in 2005.
History
Early days The bicycle boom of the late 19th century had a strong impact in the area. New York did not manufacture as many bicycles as other cities, and imported many from elsewhere, including Freehold Township, New Jersey. As a spectator sport, six-day racing was popular and spurred the building of velodromes in suburbs including Washington Heights, Manhattan, and Jersey City, New Jersey.
Weekly races were held in suburban roads, including Pelham Parkway in the Bronx. The biggest races were in inner city locations, notably at the original Madison Square Garden which had been designed for cycle racing and at the time was located adjacent to Madison Square. The Olympic sport, Madison Racing, is named after cycle races that became popular at Madison Square Garden.
Several of the mid-20th-century parkway projects of Robert Moses included bike paths; however, when more people could afford cars, bicycling declined and the bikeways fell into disrepair. Provisions for pedestrians and bicyclists were not included in the bridges connecting Queens to the Bronx (Throgs Neck Bridge and Bronx–Whitestone Bridge), and Brooklyn to Staten Island (Verrazzano–Narrows Bridge). Since July 2018, buses along the Q50 route, which travels across the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge, contain bike racks at the front of each vehicle.
Late 20th century Late in the century, bicycling resurged. Inspired by a trip to China in early 1980, Mayor Ed Koch ordered buffered bike lanes to be built on some Manhattan streets. Opened in October, the lanes were protested by merchants as well as taxi and trucking interests, while garages and other businesses unsuccessfully sued to stop construction. NYCDOT reported that cycling traffic had doubled while the number of crashes remained unchanged, though it also reported an average of 5 to 10 minutes' extra travel time for drivers, compared to before the bike lanes' installation. In June 1981, the Mayor ordered removal of bike lane barriers due to controversy and a decline in cyclists using the lanes (estimated at 10–15 thousand a day). The lanes were removed by November. A narrow, physically separated bike lane on Sixth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan remained as a remnant of the Koch lanes. According to a 1990 survey, less than 1% of vehicle trips in New York City were made by bicycle, but in 1991, over 75,000 New Yorkers used bicycles to commute to work each day. That year, Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan introduced legislation that became the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA).
21st century Bike lanes on major bridges were created, refurbished, or improved, and the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, in partnership with other agencies, created the Manhattan Waterfront Greenway, Brooklyn-Queens Greenway and other bikeways. The Department of Parks and Recreation added a vendor program to provide "hop on, hop off" bicycle rental services across various city parks. The linked network of bicycle rentals is facilitated through concessions in Central Park, Riverside South, West Harlem Piers Park, and the Battery.
By 2017, there were 450,000 bike rides per day in New York City, up from 180,000 per day in 2006. Of these, 20% were commuter trips. Between 2014 and 2019, during the mayoralty of Bill de Blasio, over of bike lanes were added, bringing the city's total to over .
Transportation commissioner Polly Trottenberg pushed for increasing bike lanes to demonstrate the city's progress and commitment to transportation safety. However, with the expansion of cycling in New York City, there has been pushback from motorists. For example, in 2019, motorists and Upper West Side residents objected after 200 parking spaces along Central Park West were eliminated to allow bike lane expansion.
Types
Utility cycling
Delivery bikes are commonly used in New York for fast food deliveries over short distances, sometimes using mountain bikes outfitted with a wide carrier for larger loads such as pizza or other accessories. Bicycle messengers use narrower wheels to carry lighter loads short distances. Specialized cargo bicycles and tricycles carry heavier loads. Electric bicycles are increasingly used for this service; the bikes were initially illegal (although enforcement was sporadic), but legalized in 2020.See:
Proposals in the New York State Legislature in 2015 would define, legalize and regulate certain "electric assist bicycles" with small electric motors.
Pedicabs became commonplace at the turn of the 21st century, offering novel travel over short distances, including guided tours of Central Park. In April 2007 the New York City Council voted to limit the number of pedicabs to 325. A court overturned the limit, later regulatory efforts concentrated on requirements for insurance and safety equipment and in April 2011, new legislation tightened parking regulations and capped pedicab licenses at 850.
Bicycle sharing
In 2007 the department studied the prospects of a bicycle sharing system and announced in 2011 that kiosks would be built for the service to begin in 2012. The project was slated to introduce 10,000 bikes that would be available from 600 stations made by PBSC Urban Solutions and operated by Alta Bicycle Share, the operators of similar schemes in other U.S. cities.
Citigroup bought a five-year sponsorship, and as a result, the bike-share system was named Citi Bike. Stations in the first stage were located between 59th Street in Manhattan, the Hudson River, Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, and Bushwick Avenue. The system opened for business in May 2013 with 330 stations and 4,300 bikes. In October 2014, Citi Bike and the city announced a price increase and a plan to expand the program to add thousands of bikes and hundreds of stations, to cover most of Manhattan and several other areas.
After Citi Bike was launched, the city also started experimented with dockless bike sharing, wherein bikes do not need to be returned to a dock after the trip is complete. The bikes would instead lock themselves into place, and can only be used once a cyclist pays using an online application. In early August 2017, the dockless bike-sharing company Spin had started a dockless operation in the Rockaways, but had been told to cease and desist operations by the NYCDOT, which had licensed Citi Bike as the only official bike-share operator in New York City. In July 2018, the city rolled out a dockless bike-sharing pilot in conjunction with five companies, with 200 bikes provided in each of three outer-borough neighborhoods.
Research conducted by Quinnipiac University Polling Institute in June 2013 showed that a majority of New Yorkers support the initiative.
Recreational Some parks ban or restrict motor vehicles to promote bicycling, including Central Park and Prospect Park. Bike and Roll NYC operates bike rental stations in several city parks and local bike shops also rent them, especially in areas of tourism. Less formal operators work on street corners or out of the back of a truck or in parking garages, although this type of operation is illegal on city park property. Additional services include paid guided tours.
Several organizations, including Five Borough Bicycle Club and Bike New York, conduct tours every weekend. Most are day trips for no fee; some larger or overnight tours require payment. New York City is host to several long annual recreational rides, including the Five Boro Bike Tour. New York Cycle Club and others specialize in fitness and speed. Bicycle track races run most summer weekends in Kissena Park and elsewhere. Road races are held on weekends and some weekday evenings at Prospect Park, Central Park, and Floyd Bennett Field.See:
Commuting Like other forms of cycling in New York City, commuting by bicycle has increased significantly over the years. In 2015, 46,057 people said they used a bicycle as their primary mode of commuting, compared with just 16,468 who commuted primarily by bicycle in 2005. Commuters accounted for approximately one fifth of bicycle trips in New York City in 2017. Many New Yorkers live less than from their job, and can be seen bicycle commuting over various bridges connecting Manhattan with the outer boroughs, along the Hudson River Park bicycle path, or elsewhere. In 2008 the NYC Department of Transportation released a "screenline count report" suggesting that commuter cycling had more than doubled since the turn of the century.
For mixed-mode commuting most suburban commuter rail stations provide free parking in racks, and some have bicycle lockers for security. Regulations on bicycles on trains vary by railroad and time of day; until 2021 Metro-North and LIRR required a permit. New Jersey Transit also allows bicycles onboard trains en route to New York City but restricts them on rush hour trains.
Bikes are allowed on New York City Subway trains at all hours, though it is sometimes difficult to fit a bike into a packed subway car. Typically, cyclists use the subway security gates to bring bicycles into the system, and board either the very first or very last train car. Due to traffic patterns and transport network geometries, mixed-mode bicycling-plus-subway can be the fastest way to commute, or to achieve transport within New York City, for many routes and times.
Folding bicycles, which often allow parking in a workplace or home closet where there isn't room for a full sized bike, became increasingly popular early in the 21st century. European city bikes from the Netherlands, though lacking this virtue, became a lesser trend in 2008.
In 2009, a city law required commercial buildings with freight elevators to allow employees to transport their bikes on them up to tenant floors to allow access to indoor storage spaces to encourage commuting by cycling. Another 2009 law required many off-street parking facilities to replace some of their spaces for vehicles with bicycle racks. So far there has been limited demand by cyclists for paid off-street bicycle parking at these garages and lots. The Alliance for Downtown New York, a local Business Improvement District, announced in late 2018 that the Oonee Company would install a new kind of secure bike pod for parking on Whitehall Street. In 2024, the NYCDOT announced plans to install secure bike-parking facilities at 500 locations.
The non-profit organization Transportation Alternatives promotes bicycle commuting and bicycle friendly facilities to lessen the impact of cars on urban life. On its website, the organization states that is "working to make New York City's neighborhoods safer and restore a vibrant culture of street life" and advocates "for safer, smarter transportation and a healthier city."
Parking
In 2008, David Byrne designed a series of bicycle parking racks in the form of image outlines corresponding to the areas in which they were located, such as a dollar sign for Wall Street and an electric guitar in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Byrne worked with a manufacturer who constructed the racks in exchange for the right to sell them later as art. The plans were accepted by New York City Department of Transportation and installed in NYC between July 2008 and July 2009.
Two bike racks constructed from the Byrne Bike Rack Alphabet, a system of modular letter segments that can be combined to form words, remain installed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
Bike lanes