Transportation Alternatives

Last year, bicycling in New York City shot up 35 percent. Take a look at the streets, and it's easy to see why: Bike lanes, bike racks and other amenities are popping up everywhere. There are now 185,000 daily riders in the city.

Here are some early pics from this morning's Bike to Work festivities, courtesy of Transportation Alternatives. Don't forget to tag your own shots for our Flickr pool, and stay tuned for Streetfilms coverage. 

Friday is National Bike to Work Day, and to celebrate, Transportation Alternatives will have coffee, snacks and commuter bags for cyclists at six locations -- two in Manhattan and four on East River bridges.

In addition to last summer's blockbuster car-free event, Summer Streets, three New York neighborhoods tried out pedestrian streets on a more intimate scale. Williamsburg Walks, Summer Space in Brooklyn Heights, and the 78th Street Play Street in Jackson Heights gave communities a taste of how streets function as public spaces when cars aren't clogging up the curb or barreling down the road. Get ready for more this year: About ten neighborhoods are applying to put on pedestrian streets in the summer.

Older pedestrians are probably the city's most vulnerable street users, much more likely to die in traffic collisions than younger New Yorkers. It's a public health concern that extends beyond fatality statistics: Fear of the street keeps seniors cooped up inside, constricting their independence and contributing to higher rates of depression.

A new report from Transportation Alternatives confirms what New York pedestrians and cyclists have been forced to accept as a fact of life: A high number of drivers speed through city streets, regardless of the potentially deadly consequences for those around them.

On Monday afternoon the City Council's transportation committee will take up the Bikes in Buildings Bill, which addresses a major obstacle to bike commuting. The legislation would give people who work in commercial buildings the right to bring their bikes inside the workplace, if they have the consent of their employer. Transportation Alternatives director Paul White calls it "one of the easiest ways to enable much greener travel in New York City." The bill's prospects look promising: Bloomberg reports that it enjoys the active support of the mayor, and most of the City Council is expected to sign on.

On Tuesday, Transportation Alternatives made the case for a car-free Prospect Park to the transpo committee of Brooklyn Community Board 7. Reactions ran the gamut from wholehearted support to outright opposition, reports T.A.'s Lindsey Lusher-Shute. Toward the end she unveiled a compromise -- reducing vehicle lanes on the loop drive from two to one -- which piqued the interest of several people and appeared capable of generating broad agreement.