The transportation renaissance in NYC is being led by THIS group

Join us for an exciting urban adventure as we hit the streets with Danny Harris, Executive Director of Transportation Alternatives! In this video, we're taking a ride through NYC and discussing the incredible benefits of putting people first in our city's transportation planning.
Discover the transformative infrastructure changes that TA has advocated for over the years- like the iconic Prospect Park West protected bike lane, the game-changing Queens Boulevard redesign, and the ever-expanding network of Citi Bike stations.
Timecodes:
0:00 Having transportation options
0:30 What is Transportation Alternatives?
1:33 1st Avenue bike lane NYC project
2:10 Banning cars in Central Park NYC
2:30 How to create change in cities
3:00 Putting people first in cities
5:25 Bike lane automatic enforcement
6:25 Janette Sadik-Khan bike infrastructure NYC
7:06 Ed Koch Bike Infrastructure NYC
7:25 Closing Broadway to cars
7:50 How to spread transportation options about the city
9:00 American’s views on private vehicles
9:25 Pedestrianizing Time Square
9:45 The flaws of traffic officers
10:10 Pedestrianized Spaces in New York City
12:30 Cities need more space
13:20 Speak up about how you feel
13:40 How New York City is failing
14:50 Transportation Alternatives campaigns
15:15 Transportation infrastructure safety is not considered
16:30 Having more transportation options helps everybody
17:30 How to create change in your city
18:51 Cities in the US leading the way in bike infrastructure
19:35 City infrastructure changes human behaviors
20:30 Dedicated bus-only route
21:30 Designing streets for slower streets
22:25 Join Transportation Alternatives
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[@gasmaster8437]

Man it's so funny/sad that all the background noise that makes stuff tough to hear on these videos is car noise

[@maxnewts]

Ironic but sad, at the same time, that this is the case! In many ways this unfortunate situation makes for great advocacy (lol!)

[@Rkcuddles]

Yea…

[@Selinkak]

Because cities aren't loud. Cars are loud.

[@localnyraccoon]

As a New Yorker I always found it stupid how there's so many cars in such a small area. There's so many people and bikes, but so much of the space is dedicated for the huge cars and trucks that only have one person inside. It just never made sense. I hope we can fix this city and redesign it for people, instead of having it be a car sewer.

[@shushuyu]

You can thank the boomers and the ones before them for that. They're the ones that bought into the automobile nonsense propaganda.😅

[@kookamunga2458]

I used to be car-centric but now I am pro-bicycle and I never looked back .

[@ayoutubechannelname]

A place with 10 times the population density and 1/5th of the rate of car adoption will still have more parked cars per acre. So if in this example, say, 80% of people don’t use private cars, you’d need to up that to 90% merely to get to the point where the *density* of cars is on par with, say, a suburban area.

[@person-yu8cu]

Same thing in Toronto. Why you need a 10 ton pickup to drive through dundas square is beyond me.

[@kookamunga2458]

@@person-yu8cu They have a big ten ton pickup because they have a small organ , you know wink wink, what I'm talking about ? I can't say it because children might be reading the comments . The big truck is to compensate for lack of endowment down around the trouser area .

[@travisalbert276]

Wish there was an organization like this in every city. Man I'm so sick of living under the dictatorship of the car.

[@mayam9575]

You should start on in yours! I think a lot of local politicians don't realize what people actually want

[@BicycleFunk]

@@mayam9575for sure and we still have a lot of old school leadership. Millennials need to step up and fill positions in their cities.

[@Duconi]

You don't have to stay in a car depended city. You can also move to the Netherlands.

[@travisalbert276]

@NicoDusing I think that's a luxury afforded to the middle classes and petty bourgeois and above. I also don't like giving in to the "don't like it, leave" crowd.

[@katesweeney9101]

@@Duconi I just returned from the Netherlands, and wow, I miss it already. It's so nice to not have to compete with cars. Bikes and pedestrians everywhere. It's beautiful and relatively quiet.

[@terrornova21]

I just visited New York this year and I wasn't even aware of the fact that Times Square had been pedestrianized or that Central Park used to have car traffic going through. I couldn't even imagine having visited these places before 😂 We want better cities!

[@gdemorest7942]

Walking, Biking and Public Transit also reduces drunk driving!

[@jacquesblaque7728]

A significant problem with the entitled aristocracy 'round me.

[@Clownk1ller]

Thousands of people die yearly because of car dependency. Do you think they care?

[@FalconsEye58094]

I think part of this solution is also making the surrounding suburbs, including Long Island where I'm from, less car dependent. A large percentage of NYC traffic is commuters going through the biggest bottleneck in possibly the world. the surroundings need to be part of the fix, its not just NYC

[@edwardmiessner6502]

That means restoring and increasing commuter rail and making it all day regional rail and extending and upgrading the subways to catch more LI bus commuters. For that end the Queenslink must be built. But Eric Adams wants to build the Queensway which would effectively block the Queenslink. I'm outside the Northeast yet I know about this. If you live in the City, especially Rockaway Beach, Central Queens or along Woodhaven Boulevard please write Eric Adams to incorporate the Queenslink into the Queensway.

[@Sosski]

@@edwardmiessner6502I mean it’s also that most of Long Island is vehemently racist and they don’t want “those” people from the city to come and ruin their neighborhoods. That’s why most of them fled living in nyc in the 50-70s

[@Sosski]

So they will never allow more rail to be built in Long Island and they definitely don’t want it to be walkable and better connected to nyc

[@edwardmiessner6502]

@@Sosski Wasn't there a recent upgrade to one of the LIRR mainlines to three tracks? And unlike Boston it doesn't take much to make the jump to regional rail. Workers would reverse-commute, not criminals. And the subways don't have to be extended past the city-county line either. Just right up to it would suffice.

[@vvvvvv66666]

Brooklyn is horrible urbanist wise still a few neighborhoods near manhattan get all the attention

[@elaiej]

I was in barcelona recently. Hands down the most walkable city I have ever visited. Residential neighbourhoods where you can just keep walking and walking without having to stop (the cars on these small streets stop for you). On the main roads, you arent ever too far from a pedestrian crossing. The are streets everywhere that have been closed to car traffic, and plazas created. Playgrounds, park benches everywhere. And these plazas full of life, with kids playing in them in the evening, and their parents nearby chatting among the adults.

[@Duconi]

Well, if you come from North America every other city looks great, I guess. 😅 Not against Barcelona. Just I don't think they are exceptionally good, but just normal.

[@elaiej]

@@Duconi Havent had the opportunity to visit. One day!

[@zamoranyc]

Thank you TA and Propell, I'm renewing my TA membership. I learned to take the lane when I was 12 when another cyclist saw me almost get doored and advised me it was safer to ride in the middle of the lane. We need school programs that teach how to ride and maintain a bike. Growing up in the 70s it was safer for me to ride a bike than walk or take the subway through rougher neighborhoods. If we educate our younger riders they will make this city better. The money I saved from not having to own a car allowed me to save for apartment, living in a city is tough biking and walking make it enjoyable, so we should make the city safer for everyone who moves through the streets. Bike Life Forever

[@LuisHerrera-fw2lr]

If we had those people in the past saying that cars were the only way and we just followed till this point, we should be able to reverse it, for a north, central and South America less car dependent 💪🏽 🔥

[@b.griffin317]

One of the main obstacles is the degree to which the built landscape has been expanded to accommodate cars and makes anything else highly unfeasible to use. You need to literally re-design EVERYTHING from scratch including where houses and businesses are located (they will eventually need to be re-located), a fundamental re-think of zoning (densification, getting rid of most parking lots and the infamous parking minimums that are such a big part of zoning laws) and so much more. There is tremendous inertia that will have to be overcome. Its not just building a few bike lanes and such. See Not Just Bikes and Build The Lanes for some ideas of how big the issue is.

[@denniscarr9234]

@@b.griffin317 Very true, but I always try to remind myself that pretty almost every city in the country was founded before cars were commonplace and at the very least have a downtown core with the bones of pedestrian-friendly infrastructure. They might be hollowed-out and empty, but at one time they thrived and with the right policies they could come back strong.

[@cumpootuhruser9355]

@@denniscarr9234 I'd like to add that our car-centric style of development really started post-WW2, just under than 80 years ago. It's important to remember we did this in only a single lifetime, so all else being equal, we should be able to undo it in a similar amount of time.

[@distilledmilk2441]

maybe when there were like 50 people per "city" lmfao. @@denniscarr9234

[@coastaku1954]

@@cumpootuhruser9355 While true, a LOT of neighbourhoods are too low density and trying to fix this would mean bulldozing many people's houses and building new ones they often won't want, because the people living out there are the same ones who are against any transit and cycling infra, and "Doesn't want to live in a box in the sky"

[@Cptn.Viridian]

I think an important thing to remember is that these people don't want to ban or eliminate cars, they want to give you options. Ironically, this kind of people oriented transit policy actually makes this better for everyone INCLUDING car drivers. The vast majority of car trips are those that can be replaced with some combination of Mass Transit and walkable/bikable infrastructure. And because moving people by these methods is so much more efficient than cars, they leave more space and allow the remaining cars to move faster. For the trips that require cars, like long distance odd trips, heavy delivery, etc, things measurably improve.

[@joefer5360]

No. They want to ban cars. Go have a sit down with these types. It's all short sighted thinking for the sake of dumb young adults who don't even live here. They are tourists or bank of mom n' dad suburbanite ragamuffins from out of state.

[@TheRailLeaguer]

@@joefer5360That’s not true either.

[@jcwms17]

I'm both a traffic engineer but also an avid bikes-for-transportation rider and advocate. Where I am finding my opportunity to "Be The Change You Want to See" is to work for my municipal government (Indianapolis) in roadway design. As a near-term goal, I'm finding efficiencies (both space and time) in our streets network to reallocate space to support Vulnerable Roadway Users (VRU) without creating heartburn. As an ongoing and long-term plan, working with my colleagues to create a comprehensive network for VRU mobility options that make walking, biking, and public transit equally convenient as the automobile. Once you layer in community cohesion, easy fitness, low cost, time to mentally prepare/decompress, environmental benefit, and IMO, FUN!, it makes the Walk/Bike/Transit option a clear winner. I often say "traffic is like electricity (or water), it will take the path of least resistance". Now we need to ensure that Walk/Bike/Transit is at LEAST equally low-resistance as a baseline. I expect that alone will generate the critical mass needed to make Walk/Bike/Transit the must-have for most all voters and in turn, political leadership and funding allocation.

[@cumpootuhruser9355]

I live in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and I'm incredibly jealous of the progress New York has been making toward becoming a livable city. I know that it's not nearly enough, and I hope Yew York can go even further, and prove once and for all that American cities *can* be walkable, bikeable, and busable. Maybe eventually my city will follow suit, though I'm not holding my breath. I've seen some construction projects that look like they (might?) be protected bike lanes once they're complete, but right now it's all just painted bike gutters, many of which stop without warning, forcing an incredibly unsafe merge into traffic for people who aren't familiar with the route. As far as walkability goes, we've got nothing. But we did install a BRT line (the "ART" line) with dedicated bus lanes, and we even made our buses free to ride. That's a big step in the right direction, though our bus system still needs both more frequency and more reliability.

[@marcogallo2811]

Yeah, these types of improvements are great. The unrealistic inflation of living cost for us New Yorkers is annoying though. I'm sure around the country in general its a problem, but in NYC its out of control.

[@cumpootuhruser9355]

@@marcogallo2811 Yeah, that'll happen when your zoning laws don't allow medium-density development. I hope you're able to get your local government to allow medium-density mixed-use zoning, since that's a great way to reduce and even eliminate the effects of gentrification. Albuquerque had a proposal recently to allow that kind of zoning, but the conservative types still think we're a small town. Luckily Albuquerque is generally left-leaning, so proposals like that actually stand a chance.

[@cumpootuhruser9355]

@@ezra420420 What's a horrible system?

[@coastaku1954]

@@cumpootuhruser9355 Any part of the city outside of Midtown and Downtown is medium density, with Row Houses and terrace houses, and dense single family homes too

[@cumpootuhruser9355]

@@coastaku1954 Dense single family homes? I hope that's a joke. Many cities in the United States have remnants of old of medium-density areas. The problem is new medium-density development is restricted, so the housing supply can't be increased to meet demand. Old actually-livable neighborhoods become more and more valuable due to their artificial scarcity, people who grew up in them get priced out of their own homes, and gentrification ensues.

[@davemengle4961]

Inspiring video! Not to mention the incredible timing of releasing it just as the UAW goes on strike, threatening to make car ownership more stupidly expensive and unsustainable than it already is. I literally just got back from an extended trip to Manhattan (far from my first ))) and I'm always amazed at how easy and efficient it is to get around the city using just the subway, to say nothing of combining it with buses, the LIRR, PATH... and of course walking! 🙂 It's like living in a dream world or different country compared to where I'm at now. Speaking of which, I'm seriously considering moving to Europe soon with a major part of my calculus being that I absolutely plan to go car-free once there. Keep up the good work Danny, and thanks to everyone at TA!

[@timshort9692]

Thanks, Guy. Very good. I have just forwarded this video to the City of Toronto's Transportation Group. In Toronto, we have made some good progress, but we still have a long way to go. But again, thank you.

[@kb_100]

Don't relent the pressure on Chow. She still needs to be pushed on these issues to know she has popular support to counter all the resistance she will face. Drivers don't give up an inch without a ferocious fight.

[@KJSvitko]

Walking, running, bicycles, escooters, green open spaces, electric buses, commuter trains and trams are all parts of a good transportation system. Speak up for improved transportation options in your city. Every train station needs safe, protected places to park and lock bicycles.

[@RussellHogan]

Yep

[@joefer5360]

Remove Alternate Side Parking and create a cleaning crew that actually scrubs the street. Use public funds to create Goliath sized parking buildings in desolate parts of the city. Create bus lines that are free to use that leads to that massive building with your car in it. Create a FCA loan that allows people to get their first economy vehicle and give a credit boost if you buy one of those super small "SMART CARS". Bicycles suck.

[@coastaku1954]

@@joefer5360 Bicycles do not suck, you're just using them wrong/your city doesn't let you use them properly. Even in Suburban Mississauga, they made it more easy to ride bikes with smooth Bike Paths next to their arterials, is it perfect? No, distances are still long, but it's a start and better than nothing

[@joefer5360]

Tell that to my mother's kneecaps when she's 65 in fifteen years. Tell that to my cargo van driver who has a stump arm, yet is loyal and gets the job done.Tell that to my boutique shops and unique foodstuff stores that will be charged an arm and a leg for a "permit for road access" that will end up being passed onto the consumer via cost of goods sold. Or maybe I can use a bicycle and a student book bag to move around 100+ pounds worth of merchandise. As long as I wear a helmet and go on the bike path - I'll be fine and I'll be able to not raise prices. Oh wait, silly me, I was suppose to use the bus and haul all of this merchandise "Bicycles do not suck, you're just using them wrong/your city doesn't let you use them properly." You delusional cyclist sycophants. You will never get people on bicycles in the manner you desire. It doesn't work - people cannot and will not be able to make round trips of a total of 4 to 12 miles SAFELY, of any significance on either an e-bike or worse, bicycle. @@coastaku1954

[@coastaku1954]

@joefer5360 Grasping at straws much? You know Cargo Bikes exist, right? You know they make 3 wheeled bicycles with a van-like box, right? Literally look it up, they are very very popular in Europe since they can get to places many cars and vans get. Also, people can ride bikes one handed easily, and riding a bike would strengthen your mom's knees, and if your city made good cycling infrastructure, you wouldn't need a helmet because you really wouldn't have any dangers. You need to educate yourself and stop thinking that the car is the answer for everything

[@cadriver2570]

Deep down everybody wants this. Nobody wants to walk around in a noisy area, motorcycles and cars blasting your ears, worrying about not getting killed just crossing the road.

[@FlyingOverTr0ut]

I hope this motivates people here in LA to come out in greater support for good urbanism and against car centric design. A lot of people currently are, but the pace of progress is too slow.

[@setholson2878]

With all of California's talk of the environment it amazes me how slow they are to move away from car infrastructure and the "we just need one more lane to solve traffic" mentality.

[@jamalgibson8139]

​@@setholson2878There's a lot of institutional inertia when it comes to these things. Not only does it take time for city planners and engineers to overcome decades of training and experience, the city leadership and community members often fight anything that reduces car dominance just because it's different and scary. This is on top of the fact that federal policy still basically requires car dependence. It's very difficult for California to overcome these obstacles in its own, especially when the state itself has very entrenched interests in maintaining car dependence.

[@blores95]

Those CycLA events are cool and we're starting to see more streets close in the summer for events but I feel like there's just some disconnect with the general populace to realize that it can/should be that way more/all the time instead of some special event. Kinda like the Disneyland problem of walkability.

[@keithnewton1966]

Never living in a big city and watching this, it’s evident how decades of back scratching to line pockets has made for one big mess. Seeing the delivery trucks lined up both sides of the street is just one that is necessary.

[@r.pres.4121]

I would love to see smaller and medium sized cities like Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Toledo, Columbus all pursue programs like this to make these and other cities much more bike and pedestrian friendly and not everything being dictated by the automobile. This would greatly help in urban revitalization of these cities and help build up their density as well. Plus it could also help in making most of these places safer with less crime which could attract more major investment.

[@christianokolski9701]

Originally from NY, I'm now in Houston and so badly miss NY's transit, walkability, and bikeability. I know it's not Copenhagen, but NY is far better than what the rest of the U.S. has to offer. Excited to soon move back to the Northeast.

[@wenkeli1409]

I grew up in Houston and now live in Manhattan. Visited my parents for the first time since the pandemic started, and man I forgot what a hot slab of asphalt and concrete Houston is. I forgot what it was like having to drive everywhere, and walking in the parking lot in the summer heat. All in all, I forgot what an uninteresting and stressful way of life it was. NYC isn't perfect, its subways can do a LOT better (compared to the rest of the world), it still over-prioritze cars, and it's a dump. Unfortunately, this dump is still heads and shoulders above all of the major cities in this country.

[@christianokolski9701]

​@@wenkeli1409 Man that's sad to hear. And Houston didn't have to be this way. I did some research after moving here and found that that Houston used to be have East-Coast/European style city design, but it was all literally paved over for highways and parking lots due to direct and indirect actions/lobbying by the oil and auto companies after WWII. What a shame =(

[@b.griffin317]

You need to talk about this new proposal from The City to allow 4-foot-wide UPS pedelec quadcycles in the bike lanes.

[@m.r.6264]

I would love if we had fewer cars. Currently there are streets by me that are blocked off for an infrastructure repair. And it’s lovely with less noise from cars. It’s also super funny seeing so many people still try and get through via their car even though signs are up in multiple spots saying the road is closed.

[@felixwood8693]

I think you are absolutely right about scaling solutions that already exist. Part of my commute is along the Hudson river bike path, which is incredible. Then at some point I have to get east into midtown and then it get really bad, really quick! Take this incredible bike path, where I see so many other cyclists everyday, as an inspiration for an east-west crossing of midtown.

[@dgmithril]

I never knew about TA so this was enlightening. I also think the timing of this video, released during the autoworker strike, is perfect. It really points out that progress is usually done as a group, as a community like Transportation Alternatives. As Americans, we tend to romanticize this idea of a lone woodsman pulling up his bootstraps and clearing his path one tree at a time. But most of the time, whether you're fighting for better working conditions or for safer streets and neighborhoods, the story of humanity is usually a story of people coming together to get something done. Chris (and Tara) creating this content and talking with Danny is a part of that but let's not forget to go all the way to City Hall and advocate as a group for what we want. Thanks as always to Propel for the video!

[@sercancelenk7131]

Every pedestrianisation project at every single corner of the world was a massive, MASSIVE success. Noise and pollution levels dropped, people became happier, and retail volume hugely increased.

[@harlimaw]

Really love this format. Interviews while riding is so natural.

[@mharley3791]

This is sick! Is Transportation Alternative thinking about expanding to other cities?

[@christopher6267]

I'm very excited for people in the US 😀 Great video dude

[@b.griffin317]

NYC isn't the US.

[@duck8dodgers]

One great feature in the bike infrastructure here in NYC is the West Side Greenway. It is a gorgeous bike path that stretches from 207th st to the Battery. It is the main reason I still occasionally bike to work even though it usually is 20 min longer than the subway.

[@realityblooms]

Life long NYER here, I never thought biking in Times Square and midtown would be so pleasant in my life time. I now do it every chance I get, the times when I lived in Manhattan and biked to work were some of the funnest times in my young career.

[@geisaune793]

I'm originally from St. Louis. I moved away after college but I'm moving back within the year and the last time I visited, I discovered there's an Urbanist group in St. Louis called the StL Urbanists. I will definitely be joining them when I move back.

[@ahsanurr4219]

When I get a job, I will ride a bike to work

[@braxtontroxel1389]

I visited NYC last year w/ my Bike. I live in DC and go to school in Philadelphia and am into alleycats. I ride fast and cut up in traffic and am a confident rider. In NYC though, I was just doing some casual riding on the bike lanes there and compared to Philly & DC I felt so unsafe.. Even though the bike infrastructure is far greater in NYC, the lanes are narrow, and I was almost hit by 5-6 taxis just turning across the bike lanes without looking. I came away from that trip thinking that how would any average road user possibly be safe to ride on the bike lanes in NYC, nevermind put their kids on there... There is a lot of work to be done in all 3 of those cities, but having bicycle traffic signals, widening bike lanes, not allowing any turning by cars besides on a green turn signal, and having raised bike paths/more protections from double parking would go a long way in making it an actually ridable system for the average person. These thoughts were confirmed when I visited Amsterdam this summer, it seems like NYC just puts in bike lanes just to put in bike lanes. But a vast majority of people won't use them If the roads are not made safer in general with traffic calming. That is how it was done in Amsterdam.

[@joetilman7227]

If you haven't read Janette Sadik-Khan's "Street Fight," then I highly recommend it as a fascinating historical and advocacy read.

[@billharker5424]

We need this everywhere- everywhere!

[@yuriydee]

The change on Broadway has been insane. I still remember being a kid in early 2000s and walking around Broadway and Times Sq and being on the super crowded sidewalks. Its night and day today. The seating is super nice and there is way more space for pedestrians to walk around. I love to just sit down around Flatiron district and just grab a drink and people watch. The only negative is cars are still too loud, but otherwise it has become so much nicer.

[@georgelaxton]

Remember it's cars that are loud, not cities :)

[@Zalis116]

Plenty of apartment-dwellers with neighbors stomping around and yelling at 2 AM would disagree :(

[@topolojack]

chicago is slowly trying to catch up to new york, and right now i'm jealous of nyc. at least our new mayor rides a bike!

[@eleanormattice3598]

We want walkable neighborhoods with all services available within walking distance. Park the car and walk/bike/ride the train. A new America!

[@nonegone7170]

Not a new America, you want the old America back, before it got taken hostage by the automotive industry. We had to do the same thing here in Europe in the 70's, take back the public space!

[@mbtravel7294]

The NYC ferry has made life so easy. I can get my bike into the city from the northeast Bronx in 20 minutes. btw thanks for all you do

[@sabercat2178]

End car dependency! Go NYC!! :)

[@peterring9114]

I live in Copenhagen downtown, pls send more people here or to the NL to experience for them selves how you can make cities more liveable, more efficient, more happy, more better. We love to inspire as well as discuss how we can make our own city even better.

[@kellinbonilla3507]

17 minutes in, I love that you encourage people to try something different! While I bike commute, I also love walking and I love taking the bus. They are great alternatives to my primary mode of transportation. And I so wish that folk, especially those who are driving cars, chose to try something different and out of their comfort zone. Can we normalize feeling a little out of our element, a little stupid?? Being a tourist in your own town can be so special!

[@JerEditz]

Yes, make this stuff, it is fundamental to give many forms of transport and ability to get around. It's not impeding on the car if we make dedicated infrastructure for said things. It's just all that space for the car is like 30% waisted space on the conservative end. We can take away a few feet of car lanes for bike and walking infrastructure and cars will still basically have plenty of space.

[@jasonturnbull9418]

This highlights so many amazing points about the barriers created by car first thinking, and potentials of streets and transport modes truly accessable by all. It's great you are bringing light to solutions that already are proven to work. 🎉 The city differences in expectations between the U.S. and Europe was a great point too. Time to evolve our expectations.

[@lbergen001]

Danny is riding a Dutch🇳🇱 styled bike. Awesome ❤ Such a powerful message (for the trained eye)

[@markhemsworth2670]

My guess is we'll slowly get more streets that are car free in Manhattan...to the point where it might be entirely car free in large sections (other than delivery vehicles)

[@Certago]

Keep fighting the good fight, thank you guys. I live in London and my family cannot safely cycle in the city despite me cycling there every week...

[@ivondavid]

Mr. Propel, thank you for that wonderful information, and yes, when i was a kid living in NY, it was very Car Oriented and there was no real place where you could feel Safe. Much less with a bicycle

[@babeage]

I appreciate the alternatives in the city. Just wish that they made walking safer. I have so many near misses by cyclists and motorized scooters because people are so inconsiderate. I hope that people will really be more considerate because these alternatives ARE amazing improvements to the quality of life in NYC and beyond. Such a great thing! Thank you for your labor. Let’s get the word out about this.

[@TriniFietser]

This is a great video and, unfortunately, resonates so much in tiny Trinidad and Tobago!

[@unclegeorge7845]

Another great show. Thanks, Getting people used to bicycles as a handy cost effective method of getting around town is a tough goal. I took a bus to Seattle last week. The first time in 40 years. Not bad. $5.50 (round trip). So $15.00 in fuel and $10 in parking fees starts to make sense. Don't forget transfers.

[@MikeStarr1000]

advocacy is for the heartiest of ppl, nice vid!

[@sometwo7429]

As a person who has biked to school through central park for the last 2 years and uses the loop all the time, it seems insane to me that cars were ever allowed in the park at all. The park should have always been car free, but im glad the changes were made to make central park the ideal cycling area either for leisure or to travel quickly and safely around Manhattan.

[@steve19811]

You need to have a leisure mindset... NY could be great if everything wasn't about efficiency at all cost. Sometime comfort and beauty should reign supreme.....

[@LazarusLong10]

I stopped taking taxis and subway during Covid lockdown and started Citibike. Can’t explain how happy I am about it. NYC has been amazing to bike through, even the crowded places. Some of the routes they are on I take every day.

[@FadkinsDiet]

This was such a good discussion. I wish youtube had recommended this to me earlier.

[@honolulualex]

Cool video!

[@jakobpeters6068]

Great video! Keep up the good work. Also consider the effect on noise pollution when there are fewer cars. It makes a massive especially in NYC which is incredibly noisy.

[@apergiel]

Thank you Danny! From Portland Oregon.

[@concretejungle9608]

I have gotten around NYC on my two wheels for over ten years . First two on a really well/-engineered kick-scooter and then a bicycle (with a crate for groceries and stuff on it) It has elevated the quality of my life stile to unimaginable to most non- biking people’s level. Turned my commute and getting around town into a peaceful meditation instead of stressful encounter with the city’s subway system. So the dark underworld creatures of nyc subway are not part of my New York reality, bringing groceries home is a breeze and I biking is the fastest way to get places around town . When it rains, I put a perfect dutch desigber rain coat for biking on , which keeps me dry.

[@kookamunga2458]

After riding a bicycle from A to B regularly the rider soon realizes shortcuts can be made to shave off some time . These shortcuts aren't on Google maps . It's trial and discovery most of the time cheers .

[@ThreeRunHomer]

Great video. Interesting coverage of what’s been done and how much more is possible.

[@ethanh6557]

Love to see the progress. So grateful for all the hard work to make it happen

[@Timberbeartrail]

How are you in New idea how much I enjoyed this. I’d love to get in on meetings and stuff like that with you guys talking about topics and white night. Really really enjoyed this. The economic developer in my small town of 3000 people is getting somebody involved to help redesign a small town for Bicycle pass, but I mentioned to him we need to work with other towns around us that are bigger so that I’ve bicycle path me theirs and they build their bicycle path out to meet ours so we can get to some of them biggest places where we all go for shopping and they’re not doing that so we gotta somehow start that conversation to work towards that

[@nikolascormican6033]

WE WANT WALKABLE INFRASTRUCTURE

[@user-my4jz2ed5r]

we want a bikable, walkable NYC!

[@michaelgeisert289]

Wow! Excellent video!! Last time I rode a bike in NYC was from Varick and King to Yonkers on 9/11. On a ‘borrowed’ bike.

[@patrickgielis8981]

Good video! I enjoyed it very much! Patrick Belgium

[@trymellow8914]

17:31 Hi Danny 👋 great talk

[@1957mattes]

You know what strikes me? I saw the videos in the Netherlands from Propel with Not just bikes and in Delft with, I don't remember the name. But now listen to the background noise in NY. How those 2 men try to talk loudly over the sound. How quiet is the Netherlands?

[@thomasj318]

We want this!!

[@Lucardini]

All good plans! Best of luck from a Urban Planner from the Netherlands!

[@DavionWest]

I really want this!! After traveling throughout Europe, cities should be for people not for Cars.

[@brimbles4999]

i heard that 1/3 of manhatten is entirely dedicated to motor vehicles which is insaaaane, with so many trucks it would be so much better just have one large freight rail station instead of all the cargo trucks that come into the city, sure manhatten is a large island so a freight station won't be close to everything but i feel then u won't need trucks to transport goods to further ends of the island, at most just vans but mostly just cargo bikes will be able to create a great enough flow of supply

[@Demopans5990]

Cargo rail in general. Long Island is a terminal for many deliveries as well.

[@henryreinach8328]

Amazing video!!

[@theepimountainbiker6551]

I find it crazy how a city like New York can find space for bike lanes yet much more open cities use the excuse there is no room

[@user-fc7lc2mi7j]

wonderful

[@GeeksGets]

This video was really good!

[@kudosbudo]

ha not sure theres any advocacy groups in my country. the drivers here sometime try to bully you off the road. thats the uk up north for you. rural area so very few cycle unless its for sport. we have tons of room for netherlands style separate bicycle infra but even our CYCLISTS say they dont want it.

[@KJSvitko]

Electric bicycles are bringing many older adults back to cycling. Ebikes makes those hills much less of an issue.. Every city needs to beaa bicycle city. We all need to support healthy exercise and fossil fuels free transportation options. Add a little more green space, bike lanes and outdoor dining to the city and it is a winner. Speak up for bicycles in your community.

[@totoroben]

Yes! I agree with this. I've always been a bicycle commuter, but got an ebike because the distance is just too great for my unassisted bicycle to complete it within a half hour. I live in Cleveland and think of ebikes as a good way to negotiate this city versus a more compact city. Ideally if I lived in a more compact, mixed use, higher density community, I wouldn't need an ebike, but it's a good way to bridge this gap for so many places that are designed for cars.

[@JustANervousWreck]

About time for the city to go back to its roots: New Amsterdam!

[@ellward10]

The end of the video is my overwhelming experience 😂

[@mattgalper5397]

Now they just need to close 7th Ave to vehicle traffic from 42nd to 47th and it will be an actual public square. Like is Times Square really not an iconic enough landmark and tourist attraction to the city for it to prioritize the people actually trying to spend time and money there instead of the people trying to drive through it? The Manhattan grid isn't perfectly uniform. The standard block configuration gets broken up plenty of times, so the idea that cars need a completely unbroken grid through the whole island or the city will breakdown is demonstrably false.

[@setholson2878]

Yeah I like Barcelona's super block idea. Cars still move through the city but it gives much more public space back to the people.

[@edwardmiessner6502]

A better idea would be to close Broadway to cars everywhere it cuts through the grid below Columbus Circle/59th Street first. I remember crossing with a walk light in Times Square and getting rubbed on my hip by a taxi making a left against a red light in 1997.

[@person-yu8cu]

policy makers don't put cars first, they put rich oil companies and auto makers first.

[@alleyne361]

I'm not sure if Manhattan should be a car free zone but I definitely believe it shouldn't be what we design for. Public transit, walking, and biking should be the primary forms of transportation until you get out into the more suburban areas of the bronx, queens, and Brooklyn.

[@garyharty1902]

Yea!

[@inthehouse9062]

Nice I wish all our streets were 1/2 devoted to bikes and walking lanes

[@adambuesser6264]

Can Paramus, NJ, or any other suburb in the NY Metro do the same thing by providing alternatives to car-dependent infrastructure?

[@b.griffin317]

To a degree biking infrastructure can be built, but the biggest problem is the degree to which suburbs and even most urban centers in the US are fundamentally designed from the top to bottom to be car-centric and hostile to anything else to a degree you don't realize unless it is shown to you. See Not Just Bikes and Build The Lanes for more.

[@edwardmiessner6502]

If Paramus has a grid layout in even one of its neighborhoods it's salvageable but if it's all ant trails feeding into collectors feeding into arterials feeding into Routes 4 & 17 and the GSP, you basically have to wait until the Westfield Mall (Garden State Plaza) becomes a dead mall. After that you can knock it down and build a proper walkable town center with shops, offices, apartments, row houses, and small offices and maybe a tram (streetcars, not gondolas). The typically badly designed suburbs basically need wholesale regeneration and redevelopment and that won't happen until they become slums. ☹️

[@Demopans5990]

​@@edwardmiessner6502 Om the bright side, slums are cheaper to develop if you take a page out of Moses

[@eric106071]

I live in LA. I like the 3 mile idea. Basically if it's less than 3 miles just walk or take a bike.

[@lesterroberts1628]

Property values will go up. I'm just baffled by how few cities are doing this.

[@an_der4856]

assistindo aqui do Brasil, ABC paulista . substitui o ônibus pela bicicleta uns anos atrás. antes eu esperava cerca de 20 minutos até o ônibus chegar no ponto e mais uns 20 minutos até chegar onde precisava descer. agora em 20 minutos pedalando chego no centro da cidade. ainda tenho esperança de ver as cidades aqui com uma infraestrutura adequada para caminhar e pedalar.

[@Zadesniper]

If not for citi bike/covid I dont think jersey city would have ever added/updated so many of the bike lanes

[@macbaryum]

What do we do about bike dirtbags that ride 40+ mph electric bikes like Super 73s?

[@haighter5115]

I recently travelled to NYC and there are some car-free places featured in the video that I cannot imagine having cars. Times Square, Central Park, Broadway in the Flatiron Districts... It's bonkers that these places used to be dominated by cars and not pedestrians and bikes.

[@coastaku1954]

Downtown areas especially NYC are so shit to drive through already, it's stressful with many people walking, taxi drivers that will cut you off, people double parked, accidents closing lanes, construction closing lanes, one way streets, and endless bumper to bumper traffic, so why not end car traffic in general in our urban cores? I'd really really hate driving through Manhattan and love walking and taking transit, even my car brained mother loved taking the train to NYC and walking around. This is a piece of car infrastructure I can never defend, even though I grew up in the suburbs around Toronto and loved cars since childhood, but I still have that transit and cycling urge

[@valeryamusica]

I cackled when he said Boston, I work at a bar and often end around 1-2am and if it wasn't for my bike I don't know how I would get around. I can't afford a car and the bus and trains stops running before my shifts end. My only option is to learn how to ride my bike in the winter as well.

[@lightning366]

Big step

[@marcusrawls2125]

Chris, fascinating as always. Where can I get one of those hats?

[@Sblatus]

Hopefully they will remove pavement from Central Park where there were cars and change it to something prettier looking

[@ThreeRunHomer]

Huge numbers of bikers and joggers use that nice wide pavement in the park every day.

[@saranbhatia8809]

Great content great presentation great message!!! Thanks 👍 from Saran Bhatia Lifeline rah initiator a public Campaign for walking n cycling and to have Walking cities all across India and World at large!