NYC Bike Ridership At An All Time High

By Idy Perl

More and more NYC residents are ditching public transportation and opting to get around the city by bike. 

NYC DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez announced today that bicycle ridership on the city’s East River bridges has reached an all-time high for the 4th year in a row. According to NYC DOT’s annual bike traffic counts, those bridges, which include the Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Ed Koch Queensboro Bridges, saw an average of 28,108 cyclists every day this past year. Of those cyclists, 8,645 were on the Williamsburg Bridge, which remains the busiest bridge for bikes. 

Bike ridership in NYC has been steadily increasing in the last few years, with this year’s numbers showing an overall increase of 8.4% from last year. The Williamsburg Bridge alone saw an 11% increase. 

“More and more New Yorkers are opting to get around by bike because it’s a fast, convenient, and safe way to travel around the city. Another year of record-breaking ridership over our four iconic East River bridges illustrates how NYC DOT’s efforts to build safe cycling spaces has spurred tremendous growth,” NYC DOT Commissioner Rodriguez said. “We look forward to continuing this bike boom, which is good for our environment, the health of New Yorkers, and for reducing New Yorkers’ dependence on congestion-causing vehicles.”

The increase in bike ridership comes at a cost though, as the new bike lanes that have recently been installed on Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg to accommodate those cyclists have been causing incidents with pedestrians. As reported by W365, residents have filed complaints with local authorities and are demanding that the issue be addressed before more serious incidents happen.