David Byrne loves riding his bike around New York, so it stands to reason that he's psyched about the city's new CitiBike share. "It will make New Yorkers rethink their city and rewrite the mental maps we use to decide what is convenient, what is possible," Byrne writes in the Times. But he also answers a controversial question for many cyclists: momentum or The Law? "I try to stop at red lights and often feel lame when other cyclists zoom by." more ›

[UPDATE BELOW] A cyclist was struck by a taxi yesterday morning near Union Square and suffered serious head lacerations. According to a FDNY spokesman, a man in his mid-30s was biking on East 17th Street at 9:50 a.m. when a cab struck him near Park Avenue. The Post's blotter says he crashed into the taxi's windshield but that could not be confirmed. He was taken to Bellevue Hospital for non-life threatening injuries. more ›

Bicycle Magazine, the publication that Senator Chuck Schumer totally stores under his mattress and reads with a flashlight under the covers, has rated New York City the 7th best city in the country to pedal around on two wheels. #1 was Portland, Oregon. We demand to know which city has more subscribers to Bicycle Magazine! more ›

Grover Cleveland was in the White House and we could pick up laudanum without a prescription to cure what ailed us, but cyclists were still running afoul of pedestrians and motorists. New York City's first automobile accident occurred on May 30, 1896, when Henry Wells of Springfield, Massachusetts, struck cyclist Ebeling Thomas on the "Western Boulevard" (better known to us as Broadway). more ›

It's no "Meat & You: Partners In Freedom," but we enjoyed this 17-minute tutorial on how bicycles were made in England in 1945, back when bike lanes weren't a political bargaining chip, and pie cost six pence, and… more ›

Wouldn't it be great if you never had to worry about your bike light turning on in your pocket and exhausting its battery without your awareness? The designers of a new rear bike light called Blink / Steady feel your aggravation, and want to lighten your load. Designed by the head of the Gowanus Studio Space, Blink / Steady contains an accelerometer, so it only burns when the bike moves. And it's tough to steal because it slides over the seatpost and is screwed on. more ›

Unlike Old Amsterdam, New Amsterdam lacks charming canals into which rusty bicycles can be tossed out of sight, so our bike-carcasses are left to rot on the street. If you call 311, the Department of Sanitation will pick up the bike within a week or so to recycle it, but in the last 18 months only 40 bikes have been removed. To illustrate that this is just a drop in the graveyard, WNYC's Transportation Nation has created a map of all the city's busted bikes hogging up prime bike-parking real estate based on submissions. more ›

Over the course of this weekend a pedestrian was killed by a driver charged with DWI, a cyclist was killed by a hit-and-run driver, two teenagers are in critical condition after being struck by a hit-and-run driver, a woman was in serious condition after being hit by a curb-jumping livery cab, and a deaf boy was left brain-dead after being struck by a vehicle. "All of these tragedies were preventable," Transportation Alternatives communications coordinator Joseph Ferris told us. "The NYPD and district attorneys must do more to stop this scourge of crashes." more ›

More New Yorkers are commuting by bicycle than ever, and if you've been considering joining their ranks, the lovely spring weather beckons! Cycling in this hectic town can be daunting at first, but don't be dissuaded: the DOT has made great improvements to make biking a less harrowing experience. Take it slow, and consider making your first ride to a park on a weekend to get some practice. Once again, here are some basic tips for those getting behind the handlebars for the first time in NYC: more ›

Jesus Christ, NOW look who's blocking bike lanes—oh, it's Jesus Christ. EV Grieve snapped a few instant-classic photos of The Messiah marching down the Second Avenue bike lane in the East Village today, lugging a full cross (historically inaccurate!) and trailed by two disciples and another guy wearing a baseball cap (Judas?!). Jesus, next thing you know we'll see Noah building the freaking ark in the PPW bike lane, amirite? more ›

If the peace and quiet around Mayor Bloomberg's mansion or the forced sterility of Union Square isn't enough to convince you that the NYPD is using your tax dollars appropriately, let this arrest of a cyclist and Vietnam veteran after not breaking the law assuage you. more ›

The hundreds of miles of bike lanes added during the Bloomberg administration will likely be barren wastelands in a hundred years, once all the cyclists have died off without passing their fixies down to younger generations. We previously knew that male cyclists were suffering from erectile dysfunction because of bike seats, now another study says women, as one doctor puts it, "are having issues as well." Is the radical bike wing lobby dooming itself to obsolescence through natural selection? more ›

Cyclist Evan Neumann was biking up Allen Street on the Lower East Side last February when he was pulled over by an NYPD officer and issued a ticket for something that isn't against the law in NYC. As Neumann was approaching Stanton Street, he checked behind him to make sure there was no oncoming traffic, and left the bike lane to switch to the right side of Allen, in order to make the right turn on Stanton. He was then issued a ticket for failing to use the bike lane. Thing is, cyclists are not legally required to stay in the bike lane in NYC in every situation. more ›

After two pedestrians suffered head injuries after collisions with cyclists in Prospect Park, a special task force has come up with a new design for the 3.3 mile loop. The plan will be officially shared with the public tonight at 6 p.m. at a public meeting in the Prospect Park picnic house. The new design would replace a lane of car traffic with a dedicated bike lane intended to keep cyclists, pedestrians, and drivers out of each other's way. (The bike lane would be halved in two to accommodate different cycling speeds.) more ›

A 17-year-old cyclist was struck and killed by a truck in Harlem yesterday. According to a NYPD spokesperson, both the cyclist—who was only identified as a Hispanic male—and the truck were traveling westbound on 125th Street near Fifth Avenue when the truck struck the teenager. "I heard a crack," a witness told DNAinfo, noting that it sounded like "air coming out of him." more ›

Following the news of marked improvements for pedestrians and cyclists traveling around Grand Army Plaza, the DOT has announced [pdf] new improvements around Prospect Park's southeast entrance, including closing the East Drive entrance to automobiles. According to the agency, 20 people are injured at this corner every year, and Streetsblog notes that closing the entrance allows for a realigning of the crosswalks, which "should make motorists more aware of people walking across the street." 57% of the crashes between pedestrians and vehicles at Ocean and Parkside between 2005 and 2009 occurred when the pedestrian had the walk signal. more ›

The DOT is preparing to extend the protected bike lanes on First and Second Avenue up through East Harlem, adding the lanes and pedestrian refuge islands between 96th Street to 125th Street. Naturally, this is an important opportunity for the tabloids to publish scaremongery stories about bike lanes tearing communities' apart, and so the News has a report today on all the Harlem merchants who "fear soaring asthma rates and losing customers." Alternative headline: Three Misinformed Merchants Worry More About Deliveries Than Safety. more ›

The DOT has released its report on cycling in NYC and determined that the number of people who commute by bicycle has increased 8% over last year. (Read it below) Overall, bike riding has increased 102% compared to 2007 and by 289% compared to 2001, says the DOT, which measures commuter cyclists by counting them at the four East River bridges, the Hudson River Greenway at 50th Street, and the Whitehall ferry terminal. An average of 18,846 cyclists per day was recorded this year, up from 17,491 in 2010. The DOT attributes the increase in large part to Steve Cuozzo the DOT: more ›

Last night, "Rock Center with Brian Williams" dipped its toe into the topic of New York City transportation: specifically, DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan. Overall the piece is a fair one, and gives Sadik-Khan plenty of room to answer her critics and lay out her vision for a safer, cleaner, more efficient city. But Brian Williams, who is supposed to be the network's "young," affable anchor, turns into NBC's Steve Cuozzo. Williams tells reporter Harry Smith that he's "drunk the Kool-Aid" when Smith lauds the DOT's efforts, and calls Sadik-Khan "a very powerful woman with an exotic name." Haha, it's mass suicide to support bike lanes! And isn't "Ronald Reagan" exotic compared to "Brian Williams?" more ›

A pedestrian who was sued by a cyclist that struck her in Central Park this summer has countersued. According to the lawsuit obtained by the Post, 28-year-old Meghan Rohan alleges that 46-year-old Sabine Von Sengbusch had "total disregard" when she hit Rohan and shattered her elbow. more ›

Cyclists; advocates for safer streets; and the parents, family, and friends of deceased cyclists will gather outside NYPD Headquarters at 1 Police Plaza Wednesday morning to demand justice. Brooklyn artist Mathieu Lefevre became the most recent fatality after he was killed by a flatbed truck in Williamsburg last month—although the driver left the scene, the NYPD opted not to press any charges. Lefevre's parents, who are from Canada, learned about this not from the NYPD—which they say blew them off—but from the press, which seems to have an easier time getting answers than a grieving family. more ›

In keeping with the tabloids' "fresh" narrative concerning the battle in public parks between heartless cyclists vs. vulnerable pedestrians, the Daily News visited Prospect Park with a radar gun last weekend and "clocked bikers going as fast as 31 mph—even through a red light at a crosswalk." And like the NYPD, they have no respect for journalism: " 'Move from here! Move from here!' one cyclist clad in racing gear yelled at a reporter who was not even in a bike-only lane." more ›

A cyclist dares to challenge the behavior of a pedestrian in Central Park, and the New York Post cannot BELIEVE the injustice. 46-year-old Sabine von Sengbusch is suing 28-year-old Meghan Rohan after von Sengbusch's bike struck Rohan after she allegedly walked into the bike lane near 69th Street and East Drive. Rohan shattered her elbow, but the cyclist is claiming the accident caused her "great physical pain and mental anguish." Maybe Rohan can use the Frisbee Defense? more ›

Bike lane haters are still smarting after being forced to chug a gallon of Haterade after a judge dismissed a lawsuit against the Prospect Park West bike lane. But as they appeal the decision, the DOT has handed them a small victory by omitting the construction of a two-way bike lane on East and West Plaza Streets at Grand Army Plaza. "If we had not done what we've been doing with the bike lanes, they probably would have moved ahead," Louise Hainline of Neighbors That Don't Use Bike Lanes Neighbors For Better Bike Lanes tells the Daily News. more ›

Arturas Zuokas, mayor of the Lithuanian town of Vilnius, is a hero to those of us who frequent the city's bike lanes. If a luxury vehicle happens to obstruct them in Vilnius, he is not afraid to use his tank to enforce the law. We dreamed of a day when Mayor Bloomberg and Janette Sadik-Khan will plow over those giant tour buses on the Bowery, but it appears that Zuokas is taking his message to NYC. This video shows him slapping a sticker depicting a tank crushing a car on a Chrysler blocking a bike lane on Prince Street. more ›

The slow march towards filling in the Greenway Gap on the East Side achieved an important milestone yesterday with a Memorandum of Understanding between the city and the U.N., which will allow cyclists, pedestrians and park-goers in general access to the waterfront between East 38th and East 60th Streets—while at the same time allowing the center of world politics to expand its campus with a new office tower. It is a win-win situation for everybody—especially for the man on the bike who's a terrorist. more ›