- Biking is probably
having the biggest moment
it's had in 100 years.
I've been doing advocacy in the
bike world for over 10 years
and I've never seen so
much progress as I've seen
in the last few weeks.
- Since COVID-19,
there's been a huge surge
of interest in biking
A combination of bored
Americans stuck in their homes
as well as fear of
transportation safety this spring
made bike stores begin to sell out
and the US facing a shortage of bikes.
This interest in biking
is great for the climate
because biking is a virtually
carbon free way to get around.
But just because people
are now jumping onto bikes
doesn't mean that cities
and towns are ready to
handle the influx of riders.
On this episode presented
by Brita I wanna know,
how do we make the US
more bike friendly?
(bell ringing)
To find out I'm going to connect
with biking advocate Doug Gordon.
Then I'll talk to Shabazz
Stuart, the founder of OONEE,
a bike parking startup.
- This is New York's
first permanent secure
bike parking facility.
- I'm Lucy Biggers, and
this is One Small Step.
(upbeat music)
I actually have experienced
living in a bike friendly city.
In 2010, I studied abroad in Amsterdam,
and for 14 months, I biked everywhere.
In The Netherlands 27% of
local trips are done by bikes
compared to just 1% in the US.
I've experienced what
it's like to use a bike
as my main form of transportation.
And yet in New York, I
don't feel safe biking.
I'm excited to connect with
biking advocate Doug Gordon
to understand how cities can
get more people onto bikes.
What are you looking for
to improve a neighborhood
to make it more bike safe,
obviously bike paths.
- I have a 10 year old daughter
and my dream test for what
makes a safe neighborhood
would be could she go to
the local convenience store
to get a popsicle.
That means a safe route
(bell chiming)
from her school
(bell ringing)
to that store.
From that store to the park.
From the park to a friend's house.
That also means really great places
for her to park her bike.
(metal clanking)
Slow traffic speeds are a
huge, huge part of that.
I think you need to
make cycling as natural
a choice for people as walking.
We don't question when
we leave our apartments
that there's gonna be a
sidewalk right outside.
We need those things for cyclists
to make it sort of the default
choice so that it's walking,
cycling, transit and way down the list
if you absolutely have to, is driving.
- over the past three decades,
New York City has greatly
invested in bike infrastructure,
including 1250 miles of bike lanes
on which 510,000 cycling
trips are made every day.
This investment has worked.
There's now five times the
amount of New Yorkers biking
on their daily commute compared to 1980.
But, we still have room for improvement.
In a city with over 8 million people
less than 800,000 adults
say they get on a bike
at least several times a month.
Doug's dream of having
his daughter safely bike
to a grocery store is still not a reality.
If you take a look at this map,
what you can see you can go 10 blocks
without a protected bike lane.
Farther you move out into the city,
the less bike lanes become available.
What do you think has to change
to make the city more bike forward.
- There's never been more demand
for safe streets for people on bikes,
safe streets for people of
all ages and all abilities.
But the ways in which the city
makes those changes happens
still remains stuck in a very
car centric way of thinking.
If you wanna get bike
parking for 12 bicycles
in the space that it
takes to park one car,
you have to appeal to
your local community board
or your city council member.
And that process can take six
months it can take two years.
When in reality the city could just decide
we want to provide bicycle parking
and overnight switch that.
- When it comes to improving
bike infrastructure,
parking is key.
This green and gray structure
behind me is an OONEE pod
which provides secure and free parking
to New York City bikers.
Founder Shabazz Stuart started
OONEE because he understands
that not having a secure
place to hold your bike
is a huge deterrent for bikers.
What I've been trying to
tell New York City is,
look if we're gonna get
people on their bikes,
if people are really gonna
regard this as convenient, fast,
reliable and effective,
then we need a secure
protected bike parking system
across the city with dozens and dozens,
if not hundreds of structures.
The idea was that how do
we create an experience
that's seamless, that's
easy to use for the cyclist,
but also one that is easy to maintain.
It's fully illuminated
during the evening hours,
light and air does come
through so it's ventilated.
There's power for E-Bikes
and there's a pump to take in
what I think has normally been associated
with this kind of like
wild west like experience
and turn it into something
that's really convenient,
easy to use.
400 people on a regular
basis, use the pod.
Most people leave their
bikes in for under a day.
8-16 hours is our most
common duration set.
With that you're able to
really make this accessible
to the whole community on a regular basis.
- It's free for the bikers to use.
- Yeah, 100%.
- And there's just an app on
your phone where you sign up.
- Yeah, right.
- And then that's what gets
you through the keypad.
- Correct, correct.
- Got it.
- We really think that
sponsors and advertisers
should be paying for this infrastructure
and not the cyclist.
We thought that maybe
a $2 charge could work,
$1 charge a month work, but we
saw a really steep drop off,
in who would actually use it.
- During this video,
most of the numbers come from
The New York 2019 cycling
in the city report.
But Shabazz told me that delivery drivers
who used bikes every day,
were not included in the count
for that report.
We are a mostly white community
of planners of advocates.
I'm in that community, right?
We're planning for folks who
are probably mostly of color,
and mostly working class.
And we're not engaging with
the front of them enough.
When we release reports that
don't even feature those folks
right, that sends a message.
And I think that's internalized
in our priority set.
Let's make Black Lives Matter
in how we plan for cycling infrastructure.
These are things that
Black and brown people
who are more likely to rely on their bikes
than motor transportation.
These are things they need now.
And let's lead with that.
- What's one small step people can take
to support your work.
- To quote Barack Obama, you can vote.
If we're gonna support cycling,
then we need to send a message
to our elected officials
in cities who are responsible
for the public right of way
and for public planning policy.
This is something that we need.
- What's one small step
that people can take?
- If you're really nervous
about cycling in New York City
or really anywhere,
find a friend who bikes
and have them accompany you.
And the beautiful thing
about the bike especially now
is it's kind of its own
social distancing machine
because you can't get too
close to another person.
I think that's a really great
way to take those first steps
towards bike commuting.
- I've taken Doug's advice,
and today I'm teaming up
with Josh, my coworker
who's an experienced biker,
and we're gonna bike around the city.
Let's go.
(upbeat music)
