On the upside of Sandy, more people biking to work

[vav]

http://www.nytimes.com/video/2012/11/02/nyregion/100000001880180/after-sandy-two-wheeled-commute.html

[vav]

why now? It seems a lot of these people could feasibly commute by bike.

[rwsaunders]

Perhaps because they have no alternative with the transportation system in shambles. It may open some eyes to folks that think that a bike is purely for recreation or for messengers.

[canham]

Hopefully some of those people will like it enough to keep doing it. Or maybe will realize that biking is a reasonable way to reduce their carbon emissions.

[Ahneida Ride]

Probably cause they lost their house and car.

[rodcad]

from what I see on TV gas is pretty hard to come by. What a mess.

[Chance]

from what I see on TV gas is pretty hard to come by. What a mess.

Exactly. And there are also fewer cars on the road which may make riding a little safer. Once traffic gets back to normal the same may not apply. It's good that people had bikes in the first place.

[Chance]

The best upside to Sandy in my opinion is the teaching moment it offers. When we hear so often how great it would be to change civilization back to the dark ages in order to save the planet, one of the first things that comes to mind is if these people have any idea what would happen in reality if we had widespread shortages of things we have become dependent on. Like gasoline, electricity, heat, water, food, and so on.... That's the lesson people who go through these hurricanes seem to learn pretty well.

Not suggesting we not respect the Earth, just that we should learn from these examples to see what our limitations are. We need to proceed with caution.

[Ralph]

After going thru a number of hurricanes here in Florida, and we live inland, there are some lessions our family has learned. We have spent a bunch of days and nights on generator power thru the years.

We would never consider living where flood insurance is required to get a mortgage (and we don't have a mortgage). I wouldn't even consider living on or near coast at an elevation lower than a storm surge, plus a high tide, plus some wave height. We would never put a substantial amount of family assets at risk to weather events.....to the extent you can avoid them. Since we can't avoid loss of roof, etc, stuff like that.....we live in a more simple house than we might have if we lived more in the heartland of US....like piedmont NC or somewhere like that. And I'm beginning to think everyone should live in simplist cheapest house that will serve their needs. Instead of living in biggest one can afford.

I think we would think the same way if we lived where there was danger of forest fire, earthquake, tornado likelihood, etc. These hundred year events just seem to happen more often than in past. And you can eliminate some, obviously not all, of the risk to your assets just by using some common sense.

There seems to be some bike friendly trails and paths in and out of NYC for folks to use. Was good to see all the folk using their bikes for transportation. High density area like that, relatively flat terrain, perfect for bike use if one could do it safely.

[dd74]

Gas, washed-out roads, debris all hold sway to bikes. Even Anderson Cooper said he's been cycling to get to work, at least he did the day after Sandy hit.

Seems to me what the CEO of Specialized, Mike Sinyard, believes might be coming true, that bicycles can save the world.

[jvp]

I hope those commuters are bringing their bikes into the workplace, I wouldn't trust any type of outdoor bike lockup system up there right now.

[krhea]

A friend of mine and owner/editor of "bikeportland.org" Jonathan Maus happened to be in NYC during Sandy and has been filing these amazing blog entries about the experience but more interestingly, how bikes are part of the story. This is his first ever trip to NYC so it's cool to get his perspective of what's going on with bikes and Sandy.

Good reads and great photos.


http://bikeportland.org/2012/11/01/while-sandy-recovery-continues-signs-of-hope-on-two-wheels-79511

http://bikeportland.org/2012/10/31/biking-and-walking-rule-in-a-city-sans-subway-79497

http://bikeportland.org/2012/10/30/biking-brooklyn-after-sandy-79448

http://bikeportland.org/2012/10/30/surveying-the-damage-and-the-darkness-in-lower-manhattan-79463

http://bikeportland.org/2012/11/01/people-on-bikes-williamsburg-bridge-manhattan-79518

[Ahneida Ride]

I hope those commuters are bringing their bikes into the workplace, I wouldn't trust any type of outdoor bike lockup system up there right now.

I was just talking to one Phorum member who no longer has a workplace.

[Keith A]

I was just talking to one Phorum member who no longer has a workplace. :(

[binxnyrwarrsoul]

Was in and around most of Queens today. Literally a sea of bikes. Lines for gas stretched sometimes 5 blocks, with many cops keeping the peace. Tension pretty thick. Trees down everywhere. Brother in law's inlaw's house in Breezy Point burned to the ground, minutes after they got out, with not much more than the clothes on their back. Co-worker lost everything, house in Broad Channel essentially washed away. Hundreds of stories like these. Makes the few dozen trashed roof shingles and minor pool damage I got here (SW CT) seem pretty pale.