Letters to Biking Rules

This is the place to ask us any of your pressing questions about cycling in NYC. We will get back to you as soon as we can and publish our response to the website so other NYC cyclists can read it as well. Ask a question here.

bike lane direction

Hi everybody,

I am a happy biker.  Nothing makes me happier than to be able to get around biking, well, almost nothing.  I am thrilled at how biker friendly this town has become and is becoming all the more.  BUT, I do have a problem, besides the obvious: traffic, rude and inconsiderate drivers, bad pavement, etc.  My problem is other bikers who ride in bike lanes against the moving traffic.  I have seen accidents where bikers try to negotiate around each other coming in opposite directions and end up colliding, or almost colliding and having to ride in the traffic lane, causing problems for everyone.  I have never seen a campaign directed toward bikers that addresses this issue.  Everyday I see clueless bikers coming at me, sometimes all of a sudden after turning onto the street I am travelling, but coming right at me.  We both panic, and this drives me crazy.

Many bikers have told me that bike lanes are two way lanes.  This cannot be true.  I can't imagine the logic that would promote this understanding.  Does anyone share this frustration? 


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Submitted by Keith Gemerek on May 21, 2009 - 7:43pm.

Why Yield?

Why should cyclists yield to pedestrians? I ride my bike every day and pesdestrians are always in my way! According to the law, you only have to yield to someone when they have the right of way, not when they are IN THE WAY. What gives?

 


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Submitted by bikingrules on May 13, 2009 - 5:33pm.

Protect the children in Park Slope

I often find that when crossing my children, a group of anywhere from 5-30 kids ages 5-12, whether in the streets or in the park, bicyclists refuse to yield, especially the professional ones. They don't always stop at red lights or for crossing guards, and sometimes try to ride THROUGH my group. What can be done to stop this behavior?


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Submitted by maskedmallard537 on June 8, 2009 - 2:14pm.

Left something out

Where in your rules does it say to use hand signals?!!

That needs to be very near the top of the list

- MH


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Submitted by MarkHado on June 4, 2009 - 4:25pm.

Close The Gap in the East Side Greenway

Close the Gap
Petition for an East River Esplanade from 38-61 streets

There is no East Midtown Greenway or even a marked Avenue-based bike lane in East Midtown - nothing to keep a bicycle rider or jogger from the cars, trucks, buses and pedestrians in this most clogged part of the East Side. 
Nine Bicyclists have been killed in East Midtown from 1995-2007 and hundreds injured. 
Not a very pretty picture after a long bike ride around Manhattan! 
Just 23 blocks, some of them easily reclaimed from the FDR shoulder or from parking lots and old detours, that’s all it would take to complete the Manhattan Greenway along the scenic East River from Battery Park to 125 Street. 

This section might be constructed like the cantilevered esplanade over the Hudson River beside Riverside Park in the west 80s, and by utilizing existing pylons in the East River by the FDR tunnel from 54 Street - 59 Streets.

We should have a completed esplanade regardless:
    Of whether the United Nations extends its park, and be allowed to use it whether or not V.I.P.s come to New York


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Submitted by Scott on the Spot on May 21, 2009 - 5:57pm.

bike lanes

Is there a map of the bike lanes in Manhattan?


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Submitted by idee.simon@gmail.com on May 21, 2009 - 5:39pm.

Pedestrians

I admire the efforts of the T.A. to implement the Street Code. But pedestrians really need to sign on to this as well. All to often, pedestrians use bike lanes as sidewalks or step into bike lanes as if they don't have to worry about the bikes using them to move along the street. I'm happy to yield for pedestrians who are on a shared path, using cross walks and such. But, I'm less pleased to yield for a pedestrian who is in the wrong place. Since a cyclist can be ticketed for being on a sidewalk or in a designated pedestrain area, can a pedestrain be ticketed when they misbehave?


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Submitted by jeffadams on May 23, 2009 - 7:06pm.

Limits on Numbers of Bikes on Metro North and LIRR Trains

Do these limits mean that a bike rider might be prevented from boarding train after train because each arriving train is already carrying the maximum allowable number of bikes? Thanks, Fred

 


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Submitted by fkezer on May 24, 2009 - 9:56pm.

Red Light Tickets

Biking Rules has been hearing from a lot of cyclists with questions about red light tickets. What is the fine? Is it less for bicycles than for cars?


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Submitted by bikingrules on May 19, 2009 - 12:17pm.

What is Bike Month?

I have seen a lot of posters around the city that say "Bike Month NYC" on them. What is Bike Month?


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Submitted by caroline on May 14, 2009 - 3:45pm.