Posted on 03/15/2020 12:29:01 AM PDT by Berlin_Freeper
If there’s a silver lining to the COVID-19 pandemic — and let’s be real: we could all really use a win right now — it’s that there’s probably never been a better time to ride a bike in the Big Apple.
On Sunday, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio unveiled a new set of guidelines for citizens hoping to help contain the burgeoning outbreak. They included working from home, if possible, avoiding subways during rush hour (a breeding ground for respiratory viruses), and walking or biking to work if possible to avoid crowding on public transportation.
At first, it was uncertain whether New Yorkers who aren’t used to cycling on the city’s inconsistent network of bike lanes —which are frequently clogged by parked or idling cars and trucks — would take the mayor’s advice. De Blasio himself admitted he felt like he would need to brush up on his cycling skills before trying to navigate the city on two wheels, prompting some cycling advocates to ask why the mayor isn’t trying more urgently to build bike lanes that are smooth and protected enough to accommodate even inexperienced cyclists.
Now, less than a week later, it’s clear that inexperience and physical impediments weren’t enough to keep New Yorkers from adopting a more hygienic, climate-friendly, people-powered form of transportation. The city’s Department of Transportation announced on Wednesday that it’s seen a 50 percent increase in bike traffic on bridges connecting Manhattan to Brooklyn and Queens compared to last March. New York City’s bike share program, Citi Bike, has also seen an enormous upswing in demand. Citi Bike announced on Thursday that rides are up 67 percent compared to a year ago.
While it’s clear that coronavirus precautions are driving a huge part of the uptick in cycling, some of New York’s current biking boom can probably be attributed to unseasonably warm weather this year. (We also can’t discount the possibility that some of these new cyclists are just looking for a way to work out their coronavirus anxieties without having to go to the gym.)
Though you might expect an influx of (presumably) inexperienced riders to make the city’s streets less safe, the opposite is more likely to be true due to the well-established safety-in-numbers effect: The more cyclists there are on the road, the safer they’ll be, because motorists are forced to become more attentive. And right now, there are a lot fewer motorists on New York City streets; the coronavirus pandemic has also caused a 15 percent drop in rush-hour traffic this week compared to the same time last year. That means less pollution for cyclists to choke on and fewer chances of dangerous collisions.
There’s no telling whether New York’s cycling boom will outlast this coronavirus outbreak, but for now, the combination of more bikes and fewer cars is creating safer, greener streets in the country’s biggest city.
And that’s something to smile about — even if it’s behind a face mask.
Bicycle Thread PING!
I wonder how Uber is doing now that everybody is freaking about Wuhan flu.
Another possible long-term impact from this.
People are going to start considering options that don’t require so many people to be confined together in close quarters. There will definitely be long-term societal changes because of this. People have the time now to reflect on the things that really matter.
Traffic here in San Diego is lighter than its been in over 20 years. Wish this traffic was the norm...
You should see Venice right now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ph1vpnYIxJk
And to think this time last month, they were complaining about Over Tourism.
I was scheduled to ride in a race here in Texas and it got canceled due to the virus. Crazy.
I found a bicycle was faster than mass transit in HK. As long as I didn’t have to cross the harbor I was fine
Coronavirus: Italian’s chilling warning to the world as he urges ‘don’t do what we did’
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/coronavirus-italians-chilling-warning-world-21695050
So a weapon's lab in Wuhan sends the US a new coronavirus and NYC becomes Beijing.
And we fell without a shot being fired.
Yep
Kind of ironic - we know that the Deep State and others use fear as a way to steer and control the people - we had the commie/nuke war threat until the Berlin Wall came down then it wasn’t viable anymore and up pops Globull Warming, which has many in fear that we’re gonna destroy the Earth even as we do less harm than past generations and none of the data actually supports anything but the earth’s climate and Mother Nature do not now, and never did have a “balance” and even if they did, we have no idea of how to maintain one or ‘fix’ things...all our efforts end up causing more harm....the coronavirus scare is no different - the panic-induced knee-jerking will cause more harm than the virus.
Folks who would be up in arms if the government decided to tell them they could not move freely are now begging that same government to lock them, and everyone else, down....I’d wager if, after doing that, the story ‘evolved” they would also go meekly to barb-wire surrounded camps/tent cities because the “latest info” said that’s the only way to stop it.
Even though we know that they use fear to guide and control us, so many can’t see it through the red haze of insane panic....they not only welcome the government controls, they beg for them...
And the fear mongers will try to leverage it...
Reminds me of a saying, by Ben Franklin, that many FReepers, who are now acting insane, used to showcase:
“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”
Why would it cause a bicycling boom in NYC?
is it because people do not want to ride public transport?
Exactly they are worried about getting the virus on the subway, bus or taxicab.
Deblasio and the other elites will be riding around in rickshaws like all good third world potentates.
This virus brought us one valuable thing, CLARITY. We NOW know if we haven’t before, who is on our side and who is not. from the media, our elected officials, corporations, businesses, countries you name it. People who were sitting on the side lines walking the fence now know what is happening in this country and who a the enemies are
I don't think more bikes on the road means the fall of America.
You managed to miss the point of my one sentence post completely, but do carry on.
We love to bike and our youngest desirable just received a $450 dollars kids from his deplorable parents. My oldest bike is a 1979 Huffy Aerowind I bought from Zayre in 1979 for $100. Great bike, but now my $700 Trek is great.
Something does not add up completely with the Italian situation. Over 60 million people live in Italy. During the 2017 - 2018 flu season “the number of influenza-attributable excess deaths was 24,981”, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1201971219303285
As of two days ago it was reported there were 1255 deaths this year from the Coronavirus during this flu season. Did we have the same type of breathless reporting during the 2017-18 flu season when there were 20 times more deaths from the flu?
Why didn't an infectious resperatory illness. with nearly the same symptoms that caused approximately 20 times more deaths cause the same type of chaos? Something does not add up.
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