Riding in Brooklyn

[Elefantino]

After spending my first post-Covid vacation with the kids in Brooklyn, and walking back to their place in Stuy Heights from my son's wine shop in Prospect Heights, I have to give all you Brooklynites major props for riding.

The cars are one thing, but sheesh ... those Class 2 bikes being piloted by kamikaze food delivery people are scary. It's been 18 months since we've been up to NYC and I don't remember so many of them (a natural effect of Covid and food delivery) or their complete disregard for traffic, pedestrians or other cyclists.

Just amazing.

On a side note, most of their rear tires are seriously down on air.

[jkbrwn]

They don't just affect people on bikes though. The number of times I almost got hit by one of those things while (legally) crossing streets, paths and even on the sidewalk was insane. Do not miss that aspect of New York at *all*. Especially seeing as I lived just off 1st Ave.

[fried bake]

This *1000. Also, brilliant to know that they are now legal to operate in bike lanes.


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[jemdet]

I live in Brooklyn. Electric bikes are everywhere after functionally not existing before 2014. I tend to think of it as more a consumer issue than a legal one, they wouldn’t exist if folks didn’t order so much goddamned delivery.

It’s a touchy subject, but they’re mostly working people trying to eek out a living at the lowest end of the food business. The food business is full of poverty and failure to begin with.

I don’t blame a business for outfitting fewer riders with faster transportation. And while they’re not fun to share bike lanes with, I think the alternative is a car rather than a normal bike. I’d prefer the e-bike.

[verticaldoug]

I don't mind the e-bikes except for when they go the wrong way on streets running lights.... It's not nearly as bad now as it was last summer.

[zzy]

I absolutely hate them. I can't count the number of times I've almost been hit by one going the wrong way in a bike late at 25mph. My partner was hit by one in the park coming downhill at night with no lights - going the wrong way. Left her knocked out on the road.

[fiamme red]

Originally Posted by Elefantino

The cars are one thing, but sheesh ... those Class 2 bikes being piloted by kamikaze food delivery people are scary. It's been 18 months since we've been up to NYC and I don't remember so many of them (a natural effect of Covid and food delivery) or their complete disregard for traffic, pedestrians or other cyclists.

It's not just Class 2. It's Class 3 as well, and scooters that are very similar to Vespas, using the bike lanes. So we have narrow segregated bike lanes with some self-powered cyclists going 8 to 10 mph, and others slaloming around them while going at 25 mph. Add pedestrians who treat bike lanes as extended sidewalks into the mix, and it's a wonder there aren't more serious crashes.

Speaking of Brooklyn, I was disgusted by what some hooligans did in Prospect Park on Tuesday night: https://patch.com/new-york/prospecth...-alliance-says.

Park staff and neighbors were left picking up huge amounts of garbage in Brooklyn's backyard on Wednesday after someone overturned nearly all of Prospect Park's trash cans.

The "significant act of vandalism" was discovered by the Prospect Park Alliance, which oversees the park, early Wednesday morning. Photos show trash strewn across the grass, walkways and even in the water at the dog pond.

"It is literally throughout the park — nearly all trash receptacles were overturned," Alliance spokesperson Deborah Kirschner told Patch...

[Mr. Pink]

Last time I was in the city, pre Covid, I was kind of astounded to see ebikes pulling trailers full of merchandise in bike lanes. Basically a new form of commercial transport. Makes total sense in a place like NYC, (cheap labor, low equipment costs, no parking, faster in many situations) but, unintended consequence, for sure.

[PBWrench]

Mr. E - Is your son's shop Garry's? I live in Brooklyn and only dare to ride regularly in Prospect Park -- which is actually really good if you do loops early.