Last year, New York City Michael Blomberg announced his support for what is called a "congestion pricing" scheme in New York City's Manhattan. Yesterday the plan moved a step closer to fruition after the New York City Council approved the controversial idea, which now goes to the State Legislature and Governor. (who has said he supports it)
The plan would result in automobiles being charged $8 to drive into the highly congested areas below 86th Street . The market based theory, similar to a plan implemented years ago in London, would probably reduce auto traffic, estimated to be around 850 thousand cars daily, by around 20 percent according to most experts.
While a number of advocates of the plan offer various reasons for supporting less automobile traffic on the 35 square miles that make up Manhattan, those of us who ride a bike have additional reasons.
But, while NYC, with its amazing public transportation system allows such an idea serious consideration, would a similar scheme work elsewhere in the United States?
From OMNI Piece...Battle for the Streets
In addition to the unpredictable cars, cyclists must be on the lookout for the thousands of Carries and Bills, who while frantically discussing the evening's plans or an earlier lunchtime meeting on their cell phone, tend to jaywalk, wandering aimlessly into a crosswalk or bike lane, disregarding traffic signals or worse yet, completely ignoring the moving human on the bike headed right for them.
Perhaps they're on the phone chatting with the countless car drivers who forget that there is a law that "prohibits" cell phone use while driving. And then, there are the inconsiderate cab passengers who insist on not looking back for the approaching bike, instead hurling the car door open, bags in tow, as if he or she meant to scare the stranger on the bike.
Of course this careless but common New York move has the ability to send a cyclist flying head first directly into a serious head or back injury or even death. And, Lord knows, riding a bike at night in New York is a crapshoot all on its own. While cyclists are slightly safer with a headlight, there is no protection from the masculine challenged hot rod types who seek to impress passengers and pedestrians on the sidewalk with high-speed antics, burnt rubber and deafening music that ignores any sense of the ongoing crowded reality of life carrying on around them.
And, there's no ignoring Little Lucy Hummer girl, who drives with blinds through the streets of Soho, feeling safe in her tank, but wreaking havoc on the young woman with flowers in the basket of her bike, as she tries to make it home for dinner.
It is true that some pedal power types are less than angelic, sometimes brazen. Some bikers embody what it means to be a menace. Nothing is more infuriating than an errant biker, running against the signal through traffic lights, those who go the incorrect direction on one way streets, those who terrorize elderly folks by jumping up on the sidewalks and displaying what appears to be the cyclist's version of inconsiderate dangerous transportation arrogance. Often this behavior is remedied by a good New York tongue-lashing. But in reality, the menace that bikes present to pedestrians pales in comparison to the real dangers that cyclists face on city streets.
Cyclists are in a psychological, political and legal battle for acceptance of biking as a legitimate mode of transit in New York City. The battle has led to competing visions of what urban life in the Big Apple and other cities can and should be. It is still risky to pedal to a destination in the city.
According to a Joint Report prepared by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, The Parks and Recreation Department, Transportation Department and the NYPD, the battle for acceptance on the street continues to take a significant toll. Sadly, 3,462 cyclists were seriously injured in crashes with motor vehicles between 1995 and 2003 and unfortunately, between 1996 and 2005, 225 cyclists were killed in crashes. Eleven cyclists have died in crashes so far this year.
Here's a link to the piece....well, a biker's observation