Originally posted on Nearsay.com by contributor Grant Braswell
One goal of any urban area should be to make available options for clean, quick and relatively cheap transportation. We can’t ask people to not use cars – that would (lamentably) be un-American. Buses are helpful, but they are painfully slow. While a full bus is one smallest per person/mile polluters, often buses are not even half full and also pollute the immediate area with extremely loud noise from engines and brakes. NYC is blessed with a fairly exhaustive subway system, but even that can fall short when you’re looking to go 1-3 miles. Going from where I live at Second Street and Avenue B to work at University Place and 10th Street is at such an angle, that neither bus nor subway can really help, and walking is 20 minutes, the same commute that some take to cover miles by train.
Fortunately, thanks to the Pierres – the presumed inventors of the modern bicycle – there is a great short-mid distance option for transportation that is potentially clean, quick and relatively cheap. After a reported crackdown on ‘mass biking’ in the mid-naughts, the last couple of years has seen an effort in NYC to make biking a more attractive option to its residents. In 2007 The NYC Department of Transportation started its LOOK campaign to create safety awareness for bikers. Now there are bike lanes being built all around town, from just paint on a road to full on separate lanes (on some of the avenues). Of course, with change comes controversy (our own 1st Avenue is protesting the new bike lanes. Hopefully bikers, shop owners and motorists will soon sort out their difference and figure out how to share the road.
If only respectful communication was the last hurdle to biking bliss. There has been an uptick in bicycle and bike parts thefts (of which I have been victim 3 times). I’ve personally seen the rise on the streets of the Alphabet where it has become veritable graveyards for bikes left out too long or under-secured. Only bikes with 2 locks and chains winding through the wheels have a chance to survive. This is not localized to the East Village – it seems to be a problem everywhere. On Monday, NearSay chronicled both the rise in theft this year, but also a recent victory with the arrest of 3 suspected bike thieves in the Union Square area.
Being downtown is the perfect place to bike, where everything is closely packed and you often don’t need to go miles before getting to your destination. If there were better storage options near public transportation, it would make the absence of a subway line in the Alphabet much more palatable as a five minute bike ride could take you to any train going around the city. But with rampant theft and few great options for locking up your bike, taking 3 guys off the streets from Union Square will not curb the problem. It is discouraging as a proponent of biking to have your ride stripped while you sit in the office, or while you sleep. How can we improve the situation?
Is it possibly reminiscent of the broken window panes and graffiti issues investigated in the thesis by James Wilson and George Kelling (discussed famously in Freakonomics)? The picture above, taken of a long forgotten bike at East 2nd Street and Avenue A, is almost a welcome mat for bike thefts. Having them around almost encourages theft by letting someone know they can get away with it. By leaving the remains around fellow bikers just take the possibility of loss as granted. I was told moving to the East Village to expect my bike to be stolen. That’s a sad statement on humanity as well as a creepy condemnation on the future of my bike (bikes really, they were right).
The easiest move is to properly lock up your bike. Transportation Alternatives has a great article on how to lock it up right. Get the appropriate tools to do so at your local bike shop (many of which are really funky and helpful, my recs are listed below).
Another option is to encourage landlords to provide space to lock up bikes indoors or outback. While many buildings are starting to advertise themselves with bike storage space, there is still not enough supply given the demand.
It is naive to dream of a place where pedalists and motorists get along, where you can lean your bike against a store window while you shop (do NOT try this) and where a dejected but responsible bike owner would clear their bike trash after an unfortunate incident. But if everyone did their part – not parking in the bike lanes, riding the right direction down the road, properly locked up their bikes and dealing with them when your security failed, it would be a momentum producing turn and could help lift the bike to its proper station as a cheap, clean, quick and reliable method for downtown transportation.
Recommended East Village Bike Shops:
Landmark Bicycles (Third Street between Avenues A and First)
Continuum Cycles (Avenue B, near 12th Street)
This Braswellian Life 
Posted on October 19, 2010
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