Skip to Content
Streetsblog New York City home
Streetsblog New York City home
Log In
Bicycling

Braving Double-Parked Parents, MS 51 Students Bike to School in Droves

Bike racks set up for MS 51's annual Bike-To-School Day are filled with students' wheels.

Based on this picture of rows of temporary bike racks, all filled, it looks like MS 51's Bike-To-School Day was a big hit (photo via Lara Lebeiko of Bicycle Habitat, which provided volunteers for the event). Escorted rides, or "bike buses," took students from Sunset Park, Carroll Gardens and Windsor Terrace/Kensington to the Park Slope school and back. During the day, a bike skills and safety course helped teach the students how to ride on their own.

MS 51 has been holding a Bike-To-School Day event since 2010. Check out Streetfilms' coverage of the school's first year of festivities here.

But even a coordinated effort to promote biking to school didn't eliminate one of the most persistent perils on the route to MS 51. In the morning, Fifth Avenue is a mess of double-parked parents dropping off their kids out in front of school. The bike lane in front of the school is routinely impassible, and today was no exception, as the below photo from Streetsblog reader Car Free Nation illustrates.

It's great to see a city school promoting cycling to its students. To keep them riding, though, it looks like the city needs some traffic enforcement.

Double-parked cars block the Fifth Avenue bike lane before school starts.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog New York City

Analysis: Mayor Gets the ‘W,’ But Council Turns His Zoning Plan into ‘City Of Yes … Sort Of’

The City Council took a crucial step towards passing City of Yes, but it also let low density areas opt out of much of the plan.

November 22, 2024

Five Ways New NYPD Boss Jessica Tisch Can Fix Our Dangerous Streets

If the Sanitation Commissioner wants to use her new position to make city streets safer for pedestrians and cyclists, here's where she can start.

November 21, 2024

What Do the Mayoral Candidates Think Of ‘City of Yes’?

Too bad for Hizzoner that challengers Zellnor Myrie, Brad Lander, Scott Stringer, Jessica Ramos and Zohran Mamdani — all Democrats — aren't on the Council. 

November 21, 2024

Thursday’s Headlines: ‘Tisch Gets Wish in Rich Commish Switch’ Edition

We were pleasantly surprised that Mayor Adams chose Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch to give the NYPD a clean sweep. Plus other news.

November 21, 2024
See all posts