Today’s Headlines

No matter how you feel about the behavior of people on Brooklyn Bridge (cyclists/walkers) what the city needs to do is get rid of all the vendors on the bridge who are using up precious space and creating bottlenecks.  There are multiple vendors selling water and snacks.  Others hawking jewelry, t-shirts, and art.  And on the Manhattan side there is even a bike rental company who has bikes plopped right in the middle of the path at the bottom.  It’s totally insane to allow that day in and out, if I were still a Brooklyn Bridge bike commuter I would have been enraged by now!

You missed a big one. UN Land Swap Deal moves one step closer to completion. This would allow the creation of an East River Esplanade around the UN.
http://www.dnainfo.com/20110629/murray-hill-gramercy/united-nations-land-swap-one-step-closer

I stopped at one of those vendors and he was charging $4 for Gatorade! The city either needs to kick these guys off of the bridge or at least give the spots to licensed vendors in order to have some of the money come back to the city itself.

When I take the BK Bridge during tourist hours, I know what to expect.

It’s slow, slow, slow, and slow.  Which is fine.  I can be patient.  But, all it takes is a few aggressive punks, and then we all look bad.

What’s more annoying is the WillyB.  They have bikers and walkers on the same side for the Eastern half of the bridge because of terrorist prevention construction.

That s–t is mayhem!  

It would be great to get more non-car space on the Brooklyn Bridge, but until that day it is just a known fact that it is not a good route for biking due to all the sight-seeing pedestrians.  Given the fact that the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges are almost redundant for bikers, it would make sense to designate the Brooklyn bridge path as walking only at least during peak sight-seeing hours.
The Manhattan Bridge dedicated bike lanes are a fast alternative, and only a minor detaour for trips originating or ending on the west sside of Manhattan.

Bikers expecting to be able to ride fast over the Brooklyn either have never ridden it before, or else are not being reasonable.

Re City Council and parking. My husband and I had lunch on the LES yesterday and as we were walking to the restaurant we passed a red-faced man who was hitting one of those muni-meter machines (poor street robot!) and saying “Six dollars? Fuck you! fuck YOU!” and so I think we are a long way from parking reform. 

as reckless as this is.  i do find it pretty cool to watch.

heh, at least he stopped at all the red lights! so at least he obeyed 1 rule.

I agree that it’s cool to watch, especially when I typically think of cars not being able to go much over walking speed in Manhattan.  Someone should do a circumnavigation by bike.  Under an hour might be possible for a strong rider.  I still remember going from 125th Street to West 4th Street in 15 minutes back in 1981 when I tried bike messengering for a short time.  I gave it up because there wasn’t much money in it, and I knew sooner or later I would end up as a bumper ornament on a taxi.

I think we mostly agree – there is a trade off between being able to ride fast (or at all) vs taking the most direct route.  In a perfect world, some space would be re-allocated from motor vehicles.  However, given that for the time being the amount of space dedicated to non-motor traffic on the bridge is fixed, I think it makes perfect sense to designate the Brooklyn bridge for walkers.  There are plenty of places where you can’t ride a bike, so it’s not like this would be unprecedented (e.g. subway platforms, certain park paths, etc.)

I think the best idea would be to eliminate the bike/ped markings and make the entire Brooklyn Bridge pathway shared usage.  That way, bikers would not expect an open bike lane and would ride as fast an conditions warrant – basically walking speed on a summer weekend afternoon, and faster at other times.

The Manhattan Bridge, which already has a dedicated bike path, would thereby become the preferred route for all bike traffic between downtown Brooklyn and lower Manhattan.  Perhaps a few signs to this effect could be added for the benefit of those in doubt.

As far as the manhattan termini being very far apart, the 2 bridges are a little less than 1 mile apart in Manhattan.  Even at a very cautious pace, that is only about a 5-6 minute detour.  While the Chinatown streets in between are not the nicest place to ride, I would suggest that perhaps those without the requisite skill to ride through 1 mile of city streets should not be bike commuting in Manhattan at all.