Urban – Transport for London Strategic Cycling Analysis, Regional Plan Association (RPA) Five Borough Bikeway, RPA Jamaica Bay Greenway, 1997 NYC Bicycle Master Plan

Benefits

Extend Access to Green Space 

• Grayways furthers the objective of DOPR’s Walk to a Park by making all parks available to all residents, even those typically accessed by car—Shirley Chisholm, Orchard Beach.

• By regarding the act of travel as a recreational activity, the network would blur the boundaries between parks and their environs—the objective of Parks Without Borders.

Hamilton Beach

• It would showcase the $130 million invested in the Community Parks Initiative and broaden the constituency for further improvements.

• Adding recreational capacity outside Central/Prospect Park drives, Coney Island/FDR boardwalks and Hudson Greenway will reduce overcrowding during periods of peak use.

NY Times

Twice as many people bike for recreation as transportation. This infers that projects with a recreational component will draw twice the use as those intended solely for commuting.

“U.S. Bicycling Participation Benchmarking Study Report, 2015,” People for Bikes (p.22)

Benefit Underserved Constituencies

• Extend opportunities for exercise and recreation to residents across NYC, particularly to communities with limited access to green space.

• Bridge transportation deserts.  Reduce household spending on travel.

• Create a compelling rationale for bike share providers to extend service to outer boroughs—and a literal road map for where to site dock stations.

• Enhance the health benefits of existing bikeways by extending trip distances, increasing use and enhancing the safety of numbers.

Create Jobs, Develop Local Economies

Cycle tourism added $97 billion to the U.S. economy in 2017.  Per capita, that’s $248 million per year in NYC—but that doesn’t factor the City’s 1300 mile bike grid, 20 million bike share trips and that 10% of adult residents regularly ride.

• Leverage the billions of dollars invested in bike paths and city parks as a vehicle to drive tourism and support the trend toward staycations.

• The NYSERDA-Urban Cycling Solutions NY Cycling Census, found that “a third of respondents currently use their bikes for tourism purposes and that most are very likely to.”

• Support Business Improvement Districts’ promotion of local business and special events—Bronx Night Market.

• Enhance home values.  Smart growth studies by National Association of Realtors correlate a 5-10% increase to a homes’ proximity to bikeways.

• Bike shops rely on recreational cycling to generate the bulk of their profits.

• A network of attractive routes (w/rest stops) and destinations will draw cyclists from Long Island, Westchester, Connecticut and  New Jersey.

Have a Positive Effect on Climate Change

• Promote cycling as a preferred mode of recreational travel, thereby reducing vehicle miles traveled.

• Grow multi-modal trips by increasing catchment and capacity of neighborhood transit hubs.  Create the safe connectors for bike share providers to site facilities.

Image Warren J. Wells

Invest in Resilient Infrastructure

• Supplement mass transit during periods of peak use—particularly with the advent of E-Bikes which can cut travel times in half.

• Enhance resilience to widespread transport outage resulting from extreme weather events, structural failure, global pandemic or armed conflict.

• Spur bridge operators to enhance bike access across the City’s arterial crossings—Henry Hudson, Cross Bay, Marine Parkway, Tri-Boro, George Washington and Outerbridge.

Marine Parkway Bridge.  Image John T. Chiarella

Car-Free Sundays

International Energy Agency

Bronx #1 – Pelham Bay, 28.1 miles – GPS, cue sheet, food stops – Barino’s Market, Bronx Brewery 

Bronx #2 – Van Cortlandt, 23.7 miles – GPS, cue sheet, Kingsbridge Social Club

Bronx #3 – City Island, 25.0 miles – GPS, cue sheet, Johnny’s Reef, Gun Hill Brewery