See New York City on two wheels: Bicycle ridership is growing as more biking options are being added

Last month, Mayor Adams and I bicycled from Washington Heights to the Bronx across the beautiful High Bridge, one of the restored gems of our city’s park system, to kick off the start of our peak cycling season. We took in spectacular views, and noted how cycling has become an even bigger part of our city’s sustainable transportation ecosystem over the past few years.
The administration has met the moment: on Saturday, we hosted the city’s largest-ever celebration of Car-Free Earth Day; we have engaged community groups in the creation of the country’s most diverse network of local Open Streets; and we have grown Citi Bike into the continent’s largest and most successful bike share system, one that regularly breaks daily ridership records.
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Mayor Eric Adams announced the expansion of the Harlem River Greenway to the Bronx on the High Bridge connecting Manhattan to the Bronx on March 22, 2023. (Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)
After this range of major announcements that involve cycling, I was proud to make more news yesterday as I testified before the City Council: namely, bike ridership has now reached an all-time high in New York City. Last year, on our East River Bridges alone, we saw 24,000 daily trips on weekdays during peak riding season. This is encouraging news because cycling is not only efficient and carbon-free, but it is also fast, healthy, and fun
To grow cycling even more, we need to make riding a bike as safe as possible, which is why we are delivering on an Adams administration promise to dramatically expand bike infrastructure and promote the safer operation of electric bikes.
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While riding a bike in New York City is about as statistically safe as it has ever been, we are heavily investing in bike infrastructure and street design to make our streets safer for all. After installing more than 26 miles of protected bike lanes in 2022, on Monday we announced that we are trending upward — and are on track for a record year.
Because equity is a focus in everything we do, new lanes will come to life in communities that have not seen as much cycling infrastructure. The mayor and I announced on the High Bridge that — recognizing the popularity of walkable and bikeable greenways for both commuting and recreation — we would begin community engagement for a new greenway along the Harlem River in the Bronx that in coming years will connect Van Cortlandt Park to Randalls Island. This year, we will also provide new connections across other bridges and complete other major protected bike lane projects, including in many communities that have not seen such amenities before, including Soundview, East New York and Staten Island’s North Shore.
We are also enhancing existing bike infrastructure to ensure cyclists stay safe. Building on our work from last year, are working to bring sturdier barriers to 10 miles of existing bike lanes and to five miles of new projects, an all-time record for New York City — a “hardening” project that will keep cyclists safe by making sure cars and trucks stay in their space — and out of the city’s growing network of green bike lanes.
Increased bike ridership has been fueled, in part, by the dramatic growth of e-bikes. In addition to our efforts to invest in infrastructure and street design that will help protect e-bike users, we also want to invest in the e-bike users themselves The mayor has already announced a major inter-agency effort — led by the FDNY — to stop the deadly fires started by the charging of faulty lithium-ion batteries. New York City has also suffered too many cyclist fatalities this year, and the involvement of e-bikes has been far too common. Of the 12 cyclists who have tragically died thus far in 2023, eight were riding e-bikes, half of which were solo collisions that did not involve another moving vehicle.
That is why later this year we will launch an educational campaign on the safe operation of e-bikes. E-bikes have only been legal in New York State since 2020 — and so our goal must be a new culture of safe riding, especially for less experienced riders. Our new multi-lingual public awareness campaign will focus on the unique risks of e-bikes, educating New Yorkers about how to properly accelerate, brake, and operate at a safe speed. The campaign, with public marketing and direct community education, will help newer riders know what to expect when they operate an e-bike.
Expanding the bike network in underserved communities as we create more comprehensive neighborhood networks, combined with groundbreaking work on e-bike safety, will create a more equitable and accessible transportation system. New Yorkers who ride bikes or are considering taking up this incredible transportation mode deserve nothing less, no matter their community or economic status.
Rodriguez is New York City’s transportation commissioner.