In the middle of last month, as the Prospect Park Bike Lane Fury Dome was tearing Park Slope apart, the DOT quietly released a report [pdf] showing that the controversial changes to PPW have slowed down drivers, vastly increased bicycle use, and reduced illegal sidewalk cycling. The study compares data taken before the lane was put in with data recorded in August and September, after it was shoved down the throats of the poor senior citizens—who lived through WWII only to have to endure this deathtrap in their Autumn years. Critics say the DOT's report is very suspicious.
Louise Hainlain, president of Neighbors for a Better Bike Lane, tells the Brooklyn Paper that she thinks some of the numbers are inaccurate. For example, the study says that over a 12-hour period on August 17th, a total of 1,131 cyclists used the bike lane—that would be nearly 95 bikers an hour, on average. "We’re not seeing [those numbers] on the bike path," Hainlain tells BP, alleging that the DOT put out a favorable study in order help meet Mayor Bloomberg’s goal of building 1,800 miles of new bike lanes citywide. The department is currently conducting a final study, which will determine whether the bike lane is removed or made permanent... Someday this bike lane war's gonna end.
