Hub and Spokes:

Imageability of the Daily Bicycle Commute in New York City

Matthew Ides
September 2008
Comments from study participants:

“The worst part about biking is feeling like you're going to die (cars). I try to stay out of
Manhattan, and a lot of other people I know do the same.”

“I commute to work and school on a daily basis and I love it. Riding a bicycle in New
York is risky but well worth it.... the city I know as New York is completely different from
the one a train or car commuter knows...”

“There have been remarkable improvements in NYC biking that brings a snowball effect
to improving bike culture and awareness more and more, and the environmental and
health benefits are of course wonderful; however, bottom line is that 24 people were
killed last year biking in this city and who knows how many injured.”

“There would be 50 bicyclists commuting at my job if they had a place to lock up. I can
tell people are jealous of me for commuting by bike. If there were shower facilities for
bike commuters, there'd be at least 100.”

“I gave the city a "C" because I've lived in Germany, where biking is much, much more
pleasant. The most difficult thing to deal with while riding are the drivers who think
they're going to somehow get places radically faster if they just can pass this one bike...
then I pass them as they wait at the next red light! But they often take risks in passing me
that frankly endanger me a lot more than themselves.”

“I feel there is a major gap between cars, pedestrians, and bicycle riders; there is no
respect in either direction. I see a possibility for much improvement.”

“Flatbush Avenue, in particular, as a key artery to get to south and east Brooklyn, is
completely absurd yet I take it almost every time I need to get into or out of Manhattan
because there is no alternative.”

“There really should be bigger campaigns to educate drivers and not just cyclists.
Especially to look before opening the car door as I have been doored 5 times and they
all seem to think it's my fault after almost killing me…”

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Introduction

In a city that is dominated by automobiles (1.6 million people enter Manhattan by car daily and
of those 1.2 million of them drive alone), I wanted to find out how its residents who use other
modes of transportation actually view the built environment. Although all forms of transit
modes can be studied, I find this small minority (0.5%) who commute by bicycles the most
marginalized by the existing infrastructure of New York City. The sole purpose of this study is
to record the subjective perspective (mental mapping) that New York City bicycle commuters
have of the build environment, good or bad.

While New York City has a vibrant and active bicycle commuter culture, there still exists a
stigma attached to people who commute by bicycle. While a cultural shift is important to
making bike commuting more acceptable in New York City and nationally, to achieve an equal
and multi-modal approach to our street space New York City must prioritize the creation of a
comprehensive bicycling network that supplements pedestrian, open/green space, and public
transit improvements.

Background

In the last twenty years an explosion of scholarship and reporting has been done focusing on
bicycling infrastructure. In this regard, my focus was on The New York City Bicycle Survey
May 2007. This report was thorough and covered all cyclists; it was not specifically focused on
commuters. It has been the base for many of the recommendations and overall cyclist statistics
used in New York City. One point of interest is that while the Department of City Planning
conducted the report, the Department of Transportation has jurisdiction over bicycle planning in
New York City and is the author of the city’s bike master plan.

Recently, graduate students Wallace Murray and Jason Nu for the transportation department of
city planning did the New York City Bicycle Parking Survey. While this report did not
exclusively focus on commuters, it managed to tackle one of the largest problems that keep
people from commuting which was safe and secure bike parking.

In this report I will refer to both these surveys since many of my results confirm and conflict
with their findings. This is not to say that either study is flawed or not valid, but perhaps is an
indication of the diverse viewpoints with in the bicycle community and over reliance on
quantitative data.

Methodology

This study was conducted in two parts. The first part consisted of an online survey. The survey
went live on March 7 and was taken down August 1, 2008.1 It was hosted at questionpro.com,
which provides free services to graduate students. Through August 1 it has received 854 views,
505 starts, and 396 completed surveys. The survey was advertised on many forums,

1
The data period used for this report is March 7– August 1, 2008.

2
transportation websites, and blogs.2 The survey was done to collect demographic information
and gather opinions about bike commuting in New York City. Although the Department of City
Planning and other bike surveys had been completed in the past two years, none of these
surveys specifically focused on this sub-set of bike riders: the commuter. The goal was not to
replicate work that had previously been done, but rather to supplement and provide a new
perspective. I will further discuss the survey in the next section of the report. It is my intention
to focus on this specific group to find out why they choose to commute by bicycle rather than
other more normalized modes of transit.

The second part of this study was conducted in the month of May 2008. I conducted six one-on-
one interviews with respondents to the online survey. These individual meetings were done for
several key reasons. First, I wanted to further investigate why people chose to commute by
bicycle in New York City. Second, I wanted to have them visually illustrate on paper their
current commute (one-way) in a free form. In addition, a Google pedometer map was done to
have a record of the exact route the cyclist rode. I did an analysis of these two maps to
understand how the person perceived their route, the drawn map, versus the actual pedometer
route. It was also informative to ask people questions while they drew their illustrations and
after. The drawing was a key departure point for a more in depth conversation.

I undertook this study using two distinct methodologies. The first was to do a grounded theory
approach to the study. As a daily bicycle commuter myself, I wanted to keep my subjective
views out of the study and avoid influencing the respondents. Because of that, I started the study
with no clear hypothesis other than to study bike commuters in New York City. With this in
mind I created the online survey to gather some basic demographic information and to get a
larger picture of the commuter community in the city. In addition, any perceived negative
question had a counterpart question phrased in the positive. For example, two questions were:
What do you like about bike commuting the most? What do you like about bike commuting the
least? Because of this, I believe that I achieved a fair and balanced survey.

The second methodology that I used for this study is from urban planner Kevin Lynch. In his
book The Image of the City3 Lynch created and defined imageability. Imageability is used to
understand how people perceive and view their built environment. For example, is the Brooklyn
Bridge crossing a problem (getting over the bridge, barrier between two land masses, finding
the bridge entrance), a positive experience (good view corridor of the city and waterways,
separated bike path from traffic), or a symbol/landmark (historic significance of the bridge)?
This methodology is utilized to examine the two sets of maps and during the interview process.

Using the quantitative data from the survey and the qualitative data from the interviews, I
wanted to understand the issues that bicycle commuters would have that the non-bike
commuters never really think about as pedestrians, transit users, and car drivers. Not only did
this analysis demonstrate a clear viewpoint based on this mode of transportation, it was also
interesting to see how different people can see one intersection, bridge, and crossing in
completely different terms. Although bike commuters have much in common as to overall

2
This is the full list of internet sites it was advertised on: Streetsblog.org, bikeforums.net, Bikeblogspot.com, New
York Times City Room, fixed.gr/nyc, and Bikecommuters.com.
3
Lynch, Kevin. The Image of the City.

3
safety problems of riding (e.g. on the street and parking), a consensus about the solution is not
so clear.

By deciding to conduct an online survey I realize that I limited my outreach capacity. I have
excluded those individuals who either do not have access to the internet or who are not actively
online. Although the survey was general in scope I do have to disclose that it did not reach a
larger pool of bike commuters in New York City. I realize that because of this some of the data
might not be as generalizable as it could be, but I believe enough data was collected from a
large enough pool of random respondents to make the data statistically significant.

Survey Results

The Hub and Spokes: Imageability of the Daily Bicycle Commuter in New York City survey
went live online in March 2008. The survey included 22 multiple-choice questions and 1 open
ended question. Although the questions were multiple choice, I decided it was better to only
allow the respondents to choose one answer. Where appropriate I did give another option that
the respondent could fill in. While I found that many of the results were in line with other
studies of bicycle commuters, I did have some geographically local and unique results. Here are
a few highlights of the survey data:

• 42.09% had indoor parking at their destination

• 64.66% would not ride because of bad weather
• A bike network was the most important desired improvement (39.02%)
• Cars and trucks were the least liked aspect of commuting (66.75%)
• 72.66% were commuting to work
• Over half of the respondents preferred the fastest route compared to the safest route
• 97% of respondents commuted by themselves

This section is a combination of demographic information about the respondents to my survey.

They include sex, age, race/ethnicity, and income. The respondents to my survey tend to be
male, young, white, and earning $75,001 plus. Respondents are 80% male and 20% female,
80% white, 54.08% are between the age of 25-34, and 27.51% (largest group) made over
$75,001. Although this demographic information does not represent the larger New York City
area, it is telling nonetheless. While my outreach methods did not go beyond the internet, I still
find the results relevant and significant. This is a summary of findings when I did cross
tabulation with the demographic data:

• Older riders commuted for exercise while younger riders commuted for enjoyment
• Men spend significantly more money on bikes than women
• Women ride more for school and errands than for work
• Commuters with lower incomes’ main destination was school

Below is an analysis on a selection of questions. Where appropriate I clustered the questions

together to demonstrate larger themes and ideas.

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The first question I asked: why do you commute by bike?

ANSWER COUNT %
Enjoyment/It is fun 149 36.08
Other 123 29.78
Exercise/Physical Activity 95 23
Environmental Reasons 27 6.54
Financial/Cost 19 4.60
TOTALS 413 100

With the current oil crisis and gas prices I found it interesting that less than 5% of the
respondents’ main reason for commuting by bicycle was for financial reasons4. Also of
significance is that 36.08% of respondents’ main reason was for enjoyment and fun. I believe
this is extremely telling as the perception of bike riders in New York City is not that they are
having fun, but rather that what they are doing is dangerous. The “other” category reinforces
this notion as well. Of the numerous combinations in the “other” category, 72 respondents
indicated all the above as their answer.

The last question I asked: If you had to give the New York City cycling environment a letter
grade, it would be?

ANSWER COUNT %
A (highest grade) 5 1.28
B 85 21.74
C 205 52.43
D 76 19.44
F (lowest grade) 20 5.12
TOTAL 391 100

To gather an overall impression of the built environment and cycling infrastructure I posed this
letter grade question. The results demonstrate that while cyclists are willing to commute they
clearly are not satisfied with the current environment. While the city received 5.12% F’s and
19.44% D’s, what was surprising is that slightly over half gave it a letter grade of C. Although
the city did receive 1.28% A’s and 21.74% B’s, it is pretty clear that current commuters do not
perceive the current environment and infrastructure as supporting daily bike commuters.

4
Part of this can be explained by the low cost and availability of public transportation in New York City, but the
low number is very surprising considering the amount of attention bike commuting is receiving with these higher
energy costs.

5
Given that the city received such a poor letter grade, this next question is vital in what these
commuters see as the most important changes. The question asked: what is the most important
cycling improvement that you would like to see implemented?

ANSWER COUNT %
Bike Network 159 39.75
On Street Safety 146 36.25
Secure Parking 44 11.00
Building Access 36 9.00
Other 16 4.00
TOTAL 400 100

The answer to this question was quite a surprise. NYC DOT and DCP have made installing
more bike racks a major priority, but according to my survey the top two top issues are bike
network and on street safety. The 2007 New York City Bike Survey showed that 95% of the
respondents wanted on street bike racks. I found it interesting that secure parking and building
access both received fewer responses than expected in the current survey.

The respondents to my survey are clearly more interested in improving safety for cyclists. A
bike network (which means designated paths, bike lanes, and greenways that all connect) was
the first choice answer with almost 40%. Coming in a close second with 36.25% was on street
safety. When combined, 76% of respondents are concerned with improving the bike
environment through the implementation of secure (on and off road) space for cyclists to travel
in.

The next question might shed more light on why bike parking was not the top priority of the
respondents. Although bike parking is a key component to any successful cycling environment,
it might not be so critical to daily commuters who are locking up once for a large time period:
Where do you park your bike when you reach your destination?

ANSWER COUNT %
Indoor (building/garage) 173 42.72
Outside (not city rack) 148 36.54
Secure outdoor parking 36 8.89
City bike rack 33 8.15
Other 15 3.70
TOTAL 405 100

Again, the results to this question do not match current data from the city. My results
demonstrate that 8.15% of the respondents use city bike racks. The majority of commuters have

6
indoor parking or park their bikes outside but do not use city provided racks. According to the
New York City Bicycle Survey, only 16.5% park their bikes indoors while 64% use city racks.
A recent report on bike parking in New York City, NYC Bicycle Parking Survey, found that the
two top priorities are secure and indoor parking. My survey results do not support either of
these conclusions. I believe that this is an area that needs to be further studied, since the current
data and reports conflict with each other about what cyclists want in regards to bike parking.
This in no way means more bike parking is not needed, but instead that it may not be the top
priority for many cyclists.

A critical component to the survey was to get an understanding from respondents about the
most and least liked aspects of commuting. I posed these questions:

What do you like the most about bike commuting?

ANSWER COUNT %
Being Outside 174 43.72
Simplicity/Ease 63 15.83
Flexibility 58 14.57
No traffic/transit delay 58 14.57
Shorter commute time 45 11.31
TOTAL 398 100

What do you like the least about bike commuting?

ANSWER COUNT %
Cars and trucks 265 66.58
Weather 47 11.81
Mechanical issues 30 7.54
Pedestrians 29 7.29
Other 27 7.01
TOTAL 398 100

Discussing what bike commuters like and dislike in combination sheds light on some of the
priorities. It is clear that the most liked and disliked are in complete agreement to each other.
43.72% of respondents liked being outside as they commuted and 66.58% disliked cars and
trucks. Although this has to do with safety to some degree, as I have already discussed, I believe
that air, noise, and visual pollution that cars and trucks create on the streets that cyclists have to
share with them affects the enjoyment they have with being outside.

7
It is interesting that 11.81% of respondents chose weather as a dislike. When I posed the
question of what keeps you from commuting, weather was the highest response with 64%. So
while weather falls lower on the scale of things that are disliked by commuters, it is the main
reason why these commuters do not commute by bike. Although these two questions are
different, what do you dislike versus what keeps you from commuting, I still find this an
important difference. My survey results demonstrate that the perception of weather as the worst
part of commuting is true (since it keeps commuters off of their bikes), but yet the most disliked
aspect of commuting was not weather, but rather, cars and trucks.

Although safety is a key issue for all commuters, it is interesting to see the breakdown between
male and female respondents: which of the following determines your daily route more?

ANSWER COUNT %
Fastest route 223 54.39
Safest route 187 45.61
TOTAL 410 100

What is your sex?

ANSWER COUNT %
Male 319 80.56
Female 77 19.44
TOTAL 396 100

Although bike network and on street safety were the two top improvements desired, by a small
margin commuters chose the fastest route instead of the safest route. While the men prefer the
faster route a bit more than the safer route, for women there is a 40% difference for those that
prefer the safest route over the fastest route. Clearly safety is a more important issue for female
commuters than males. This is an interesting aspect that will be further analyzed in the second
section of this report.

Summary

This survey data illustrates a larger picture of the bicycle commuter in New York City. Clear
priorities are a safe bike network, taking the fastest route, and less car and truck traffic. In
addition, this data demonstrates that bike commuters are not clear on priorities of bike parking,
weather, and by age and sex category. As a community and within the age and sex designation,
these priorities do differ greatly. What can be concluded is that overall commuters are not
satisfied with the current bike environment. With over 75% of the respondents giving the city a
letter grade of C or less, it is clear that the perception of these commuters of the built
environment is not good.

8
This is not an in-depth statistical analysis; instead, I wanted to paint a picture of the bicycle
commuter in New York City. The survey clearly demonstrates many of the positive and
negative aspects of bicycle commuting. With this foundation established the next section is
going to provide commuter profiles and analyze the commuters’ perspective of the build
environment.

9
Commuter Profiles

The second part of this study was one-on-one interviews with commuters. The interviewees
indicated that they would be willing to be interviewed at a later date via the survey. All the
interviewees were contacted via the internet to arrange a time and location. These interviews
took place during the month of May 2008 at a location determined by the interviewee. They
lasted anywhere from 10-30 minutes. They included a set of preliminary questions, the
interviewee illustrating their route, doing a Google pedometer map5, and more in depth
questioning based on their daily routes. In total I interviewed 6 people: 3 women and 3 men.
While I tried to get a cross section of respondents, due to the lack of response these candidates
were chosen by convenience.

Logistics of the interview

I first instructed interviewees to draw their route and supplied them with paper and color
pencils. I intended this directive to be as open ended as possible since I did not want to
influence their illustration. As they drew their route I asked basic questions to get the
conversation started. Although I already had this information from the survey I felt it necessary
to keep the interview going. When the person was done with their route I had them do the
Google pedometer map.

Based on the illustrations they had completed, I asked them what they liked and disliked about
their commute. After seeing their routes I was also able to ask more detailed questions regarding
safety and pleasure of the ride based on the existing conditions of the route. For example, a few
commuters all took the Williamsburg Bridge to cross the East River. I used the current cycling
infrastructure to find out how they perceived the bridge crossing. Following are the 6 commuter
profiles with a brief analysis and summary of each.

5
Google pedometer map gave me their exact route as opposed to the subjective route they drew. I felt this was
necessary as a basis for comparison with the route they drew for me.

10
Commuter 1

Age: 37 Residence: Brooklyn Car: No Years commuting: 2 Sex: Male

Commuter 1 moved to Brooklyn about 2 years ago with his wife and three children. Although
he used to commute in his previous city of Austin, TX, he said it was quite dangerous
commuting there by bike. When he arrived in New York City he said that he and his wife
realized that they would no longer need their cars. So they sold their cars and now use zip car
instead. He originally started commuting to get more exercise while in Austin.

Commuter 1 has been commuting from the Kensington neighborhood in Brooklyn to Greenwich
Village in Manhattan for the past two years. His commute generally takes him about 40-45
minutes. When he arrives at work he takes his bike into the office and keeps it in his cubicle.

From the interview, Commuter 1 clearly demonstrated frustration with his current route. He
especially was not happy about “the process” it has become just to get out of Brooklyn. We
discussed that it was difficult to find a safe and direct route because of the street grid in
Brooklyn. People who live south of Prospect Park have a different grid pattern than those that
live north of the park. This can make for a difficult route planning. Also, although Prospect Park
should be a safe haven for cyclists, cars are allowed during rush hour so it is multi-functional
depending on the time of day that you use it. Commuter 1 made it clear that is was much easier,
and felt safer, for him once he got into Manhattan.

Based on Commuter 1’s illustration he clearly is more prone to existing landmarks rather than
street names. Although he first started to draw the route, he then stopped and listed the streets.
The list he provided seems to be some of the higher traffic streets and less traveled bike routes.
For instance, he takes Union Street coming out of Prospect Park. While Union Street is the most
direct of routes, it is not used by cyclists often because of lack of riding space between moving
traffic and parked cars. Also, speeds on Union Street tend to be higher than the speed limit
because it approaches Grand Army Plaza. While some parallel streets (3rd Street and 9th Street)

11
with bike lanes exist near Union, either Commuter 1 is not aware of them or they may put him
out of his way.

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Commuter 2

Age: 25 Residence: Brooklyn Car: No Years commuting: 3 Sex: Female

Commuter 2 came to New York City to get a bachelors degree from New York University. She
is not married and has no children. She stated that she started commuting 3 years ago because of
crowding on the subway and she finds biking the best mode of transportation. She does not have
a car.

While Commuter 2 had just started a new commute, it was just a bit farther from her previous
commute. Her illustration was very revealing. In her mapping she made the things that she liked
and disliked the larger in comparison to the rest of her route. For instance, she stated that the
Williamsburg Bridge was the favorite part of her route (as you can see illustrated above) and
that the intersection approaching the bridge was one of the worst parts of her commute. She also
felt that getting off the bridge on the Manhattan side onto Delancey Street (which is one of the
most dangerous merging points for cyclists in the city) was rather safe because it was
predictable to her. Commuter 2 had not changed her route at all in the past three years because
she felt that the more predictable the route was the safer she felt.

She also made a point of marking where on her route existing bike lanes exist. I again believe
this has to do with the importance of safety in her route. In her old commute she parked her bike
outside, but now at her new job she has indoor parking available to her.

She said that the worst part of her route was on 6th Avenue from 14-26th Street, the last leg of
her route going to work. Although 6th Avenue does have a bike lane on the west side of the
street, lax enforcement of the traffic laws make it a dangerous street to ride on because you have
to merge in and out of traffic to get around double parked trucks, cars, and pedestrians in the
bike lane. Also worth noting is that in addition to labeling the street names she also provided
landmarks. In her illustration she clearly designates the statue at the plaza and the bakery.

13
Commuter 3

Age: 51 Residence: Manhattan Car: Yes Years commuting: 7 Sex: Male

Commuter 3 has lived in New York City since 1980. He is married and has a car, but explains
that the car is primarily because he is a musician and uses it to haul equipment. He got started
commuting in New York City after he took a bike on a tour with him. This gave him the
opportunity to ride in many different cities and he felt it was only right to keep commuting
when he returned to New York City. He told me that he thinks NYC is the best place to
commute on bike.

Commuter 3 likes commuting by bike because he stated that you see the city differently. One
issue that came up were the entrance/exit of the Manhattan side of the Williamsburg Bridge.
Commuter 3 said this was the worst part of his commute and that the traffic, traffic lights, and
traffic cops do not making getting off and onto the bridge any better.

Another main concern of his was other cyclists riding in the wrong direction. He found this
completely unacceptable as it put the cyclist who is obeying the traffic laws in a situation of
either stopping or swerving out into traffic. This was not one of the things that was evident in
the survey but for this commuter this was a clear issue.

Like Commuter 1, instead of drawing or including some visual representation, Commuter 3

instead listed the street names that he rides on. It’s interesting that both of these commuters,
who happen to be men, just listed the street names from memory. What I can gather from this is
a certain mindset and approach to commuting that is very systematic. Instead of seeing their
route and city laid out in a 2D visual representation, they instead decided to create a list of the
streets they take. What this lacks is any indication of landmarks and over or under emphasis of
any issues represented visually. I also find it interesting that Commuter 3 clearly knows this
route so well it has been committed to some form of memory where he doesn’t even have to
think about it. While he was listing the streets it was obvious that he was trying to remember the
names of the streets. Not because he had forgotten them, but rather because he is so used to his
commute that it is more about muscle and visual memory.

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Commuter 4

Age: 22 Residence: Brooklyn Car: No Years commuting: 6 Sex: Female

Commuter 4 is a life long resident of New York City. She is not married, has no children, and
does not have a car. Commuter 4 indicated to me she started commuting by bike because it was
fast, cheap, and she wanted to quit smoking.

Like Many of the survey respondents, Commuter 4 stated that she liked being outside as the
best aspect of commuting by bike. She also enjoys the stretch of 1st Avenue from Houston to
14th Street. What she likes the least about commuting is aggressive drivers and getting on/off the
Manhattan side of the Williamsburg Bridge.

What is interesting about Commuter 4’s drawn route, as compared to the Google pedometer
map, is that the stretch of Bedford Avenue is extremely exaggerated. While it is a pretty good
stretch of the route it seems out of place as it is drawn on the map. My sense is that this area is
exaggerated because it is not the best part of her commute. As others have demonstrated those
areas that need the most attention tend to be larger or exaggerated on the commuter’s
illustration.

Although I didn’t ask this in the interview, I wonder if she also feels the same as Commuter 1 in
regards to getting out of Brooklyn. When comparing the two maps she has clearly illustrated
Bedford Avenue as a bigger part of her commute than it really is.

In addition, I find that while the actual route is more or less on angles, the illustration has
nothing but right angles. This might indicate the need to have some control over ones
environment. With that in mind it makes sense that aggressive drivers and leaving the bridge are
the two major points of contention for this commuter; those are things she has the least amount
of control over and that are the most threatening to her safety.

15
Commuter 5

Age: 36 Residence: Brooklyn Car: Yes Years Commuting: 1 Sex: Male

Commuter 5 has been a resident of the New York City area since birth. As an adult he has lived
in the city for the most part. While he does own a car, again this is for the main purpose of
moving musical equipment. He started commuting about 4-5 years ago because it was faster
than the subway and he wanted to get some exercise.

Commuter 5 stated that the best part about commuting was that it is relaxing. Given commuter
5's route it seems quite plausible that it is very relaxing. Out of all the commuters I interviewed,
his route is the closest to a bike network. He uses bike lanes, the Brooklyn Bridge, and the West
Side bike path (which is separated from vehicle traffic). Overall I would say about half of his
route is off street, so he has to deal with less car and truck traffic. Although it is relaxing,
Commuter 5 also made it clear that it is the convenience and freedom that he likes about bike
commuting. He is not bogged down by a bus or subway schedule.

His least favorite part of the commute was going down 3rd Avenue near 17th Street and under
the Prospect Expressway in Brooklyn. He complained about all the debris and glass that is on
the road. My understanding from our conversation is that this creates two potential problems for
him. The first is that he must maneuver to go around the debris, which is then putting the
commuter in traffic. The second is because of this debris in the road, the chance of getting more
flats increases.

Unlike the other two male respondents, Commuter 5 actually drew his map and did not just list
the street names. However, he has clearly labeled every street on the illustration he provided.
Unlike the other commuters, his illustrated map is extremely accurate in size when compared to
the Google map.

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Commuter 6

Age: 32 Residence: Brooklyn Car: No Years Commuting: 1 Sex: Female

s

Commuter 6 has been a resident of New York City for about 6 years. She is married and has no
car. When she moved to New York City she sold her car within 6 months. Commuter 6 started
commuting over a year ago because she was encouraged to try it by her husband. Since she
moved a few years ago she has had a long and crowded subway commute. Because of this she
would commute a few days per week in fair weather by bike.

While Commuter 6 is not a daily commuter she stated that the best part of her commute was
going over the Manhattan bridge and arriving at home. Out of all the commuters interviewed,
she has the longest commute: from Central Brooklyn to Times Square. The thing she liked the
least about her commute was drivers, cabs, and car service vehicles. It was clear that high traffic
areas were her biggest concern.

The illustration of her daily route was interesting in that she used three pages and identified
landmarks, rather than labeling the street names. For instance, in Times Square she labeled it
"Herald Square Chaos." It seems the last leg of her route would be the busiest with traffic as she
takes 6th Avenue to 41st Street between 7th and 8th Avenues.

17
Summary

The interview process was an interesting experience. While the interviews and illustrations did
not come out the way I had originally planned, it was still an informative and unique
opportunity. Through these one-on-one interviews I got a good sense of the commuter beyond
why they just commute by bike.

Each commuter has their own unique experience and had their own distinct views on
commuting and the cycling environment in New York City. Although statistically there were
differences between men and women in the survey answers, this was not the case with the
interviews. I did not find any common ideas and/or themes that were specific to just one sex.
Also, while the age group was slightly older than the overall respondents, I found that many of
the general issues were still the same.

Overall there were some commonalities between the commuters. They all were very passionate
about the best and worst parts of their commutes. Also, these commuters seemed overall to be
happy to be commuting by bicycle even though the built environment was not conducive for
bikers. Also, with the exception of one, they all encaged me in conversation about the current
bike they have or what they might be planning to get in the near future.

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Conclusion

I undertook this study with the notion that I would try and get a better understanding of how
daily bike commuters view the built environment in New York City. While this study has given
me a clearer understanding of what this small minority of commuters face, what I can conclude
is that there is no clear issue or concern that all these commuters see as the most important.

Although New York City and colleges and universities have done numerous studies, where
these studies fall short is that they are based on quantitative data. My survey results demonstrate
to me that there are sub-groups within the cycling community that have different priorities.
While the New York City Department of Transportation has been pursuing the installation of
more bike racks and stripped bike lanes, I am not confident that this is the best use of funds,
time, and talent. I believe that the city needs to take a more active approach to getting feedback
and data from cyclists by using a more qualitative approach. The current surveys are issue
driven and don't really give cyclists the opportunities to discuss at length the main issues.

I recommend that New York City take a different approach to gathering data the next time they
do a bike study. Instead of a survey, they should pursue focus groups, telephone, and in person
interviews with cyclists. This can easily be organized around bike month when cycling in the
city is on the minds of more than your daily commuters. The city needs to understand why
people choose to ride their bikes. Even more important, the city needs to investigate why
people do not ride their bikes as a viable form of transit. As my survey has shown, by collecting
data from current cyclists we are gaining valuable information on existing conditions. The city,
while it should continue focusing on improving the built environment for existing commuters,
should also explore how to get people to try bike commuting for the first time.

I have a few immediate recommendations to improve the current environment based on my

survey and interviews. They are:

• Pursue the creation of a bike network with logical connections that provides for safe
routes
• Focus on location and quality of bike parking facilities, rather than quantity
• Provide more outreach for driver awareness and enforcement of the 30 MPH law and
double parking
• Complete an in-depth study and apply best practices to the Manhattan side of the
Williamsburg Bridge
• Create a buddy system so new cyclists can ride with more experienced commuters

In regards to planning for the long term changes that need to take place New York City needs to
establish a clear tier system to label all streets in regards to bicycle use. These should include
four distinct categories: greenway/off road, shared roadways, bike boulevards, and bike lanes.
Within these four there should be sub-categories, but these four provide a general way to label
all the paths for cyclists in New York City.

For the physical planning I believe that New York City needs to accomplish a few key design
and infrastructure issues. They should:

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 • Connect the greenway around Manhattan Island so there are no interruptions and should
be off street which gives cyclists and pedestrians the right-of-way and safe lead ways,
entrances, and exists to all bridges
• Create counter-flow bus and bike lanes on all major north-south Avenues in Manhattan.
This will create a designated area for buses and cyclists free from traffic congestion
• Implement changes in the other four boroughs in areas of high numbers of bike
commuters and continue to expand from that area (i.e. Williamsburg in Brooklyn)
• Approach bike infrastructure and network planning from a holistic multi-modal
approach where all current and future users are given equal weight (don’t design bike
infrastructure to the exclusion of pedestrians and vice versa)

In conclusion, New York City has to decide if it wants to build an infrastructure that will entice
current residents to hop on their bikes and commute to work, run errands, and go to the local
restaurants. Although a cultural shift needs to take place, it would behoove the city to take the
lead and build the infrastructure that will then create, and reinforce, an environment that is
welcoming to cyclists of all kinds. The cycling environment should be so welcoming that when
a new commuter rides their bike for the first time, they realize what a great thing bike
commuting is.

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Acknowledgements

This study would have not been possible without the commuters who took the time fill out the
survey and talked to me for the interviews. I would also like to thank Professor John Chin at
Hunter College for all his guidance, advice, and questions. The meetings with him were critical
to formalizing and preparing the survey and interview materials. I would also like to thank the
Urban Affairs and Planning department at Hunter College.

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