5 ms·

How popular is biking in New York - eg, do people bike in the winter?

by kansface 7y ago

robbyt 7y ago
Yes, biking in the winter isn't too bad, as long as there isn't precipitation. The winters here are fairly mild.
ch4s3 7y ago
It's fairly popular, and many people bike at least some year round. Citibike is quite popular for short trips.
maximente 7y ago
killer is summer imo, where 2-4 months are swamplike so any professional (attire wise) is bringing a change of clothes and/or showering but it's nice 7-8 months out of the year!
- bobthepanda 7y ago
  What‘s nice to help with that are e-bikes, so that you don‘t necessarily have to exert all that much energy.
- lonelappde 7y ago
  The city and subway is dirty and hot in general, so dressing at work is just smart.
crazygringo 7y ago
A lot of biking isn't for your commute but rather a quick way to run an errand 5 avenues over using Citibike -- it's a 6 min ride instead of a 20 min walk. For that, super common to bike even in the winter. After all, you're already bundled up and will probably stay warmer just because you'll be outside for less time.
- philwelch 7y ago
  Also, biking itself keeps you warm. But I would be concerned about ground conditions.
  - snazz 7y ago
    I was impressed with traction on the Citibike-style bicycles here in Minneapolis the last time I tried one in the snow. The tires aren’t so huge that they always stay on top, but they get pretty decent traction.
- chadlavi 7y ago
  Lot of this. Most bikehsare rides in NYC are quick one-way jaunts like this. Anecdotally, I know a lot of women who ride bikeshare bikes for the 5-6 blocks it takes them to get home from the subway in the early-sunset months as a safety precaution against sexual harassment.
  - lonelappde 7y ago
    This must be a niche use case -- there aren't docks every 6 blocks or less
    - crazygringo 7y ago
      Of course there are! Just take a look: https://member.citibikenyc.com/map/ https://member.citibikenyc.com/map/ I mean they're not evenly distributed according to a perfect pattern or anything, but there's generally a bike within an avenue and a few streets.
OutsmartDan 7y ago
If it's not snowing or raining, I'll bike in the winters. It's not too bad if you have the right gear to stay warm.
francisofascii 7y ago
It is a factor of how safe it is. Weather is not the limiting factor.
datashow 7y ago
"How popular is biking in New York" You can have a sense of it by checking with Google Maps street view on different places in Manhattan. It seems that there are way more cars and pedestrians than bike riders in most places.
- bobthepanda 7y ago
  This is not a good measurement, because one person on a bike takes up much less space than one person in a car. (Average car occupancy in the US is around 1.5.)
- jeromegv 7y ago
  Surely someone with a username that says "datashow" would think that this isn't the proper way to measure it.
  - datashow 7y ago
    I said "have a sense of it".
SwellJoe 7y ago
It'd be more popular if it were safer/easier. Which is true pretty much everywhere. Some of the places where biking is the most common also have quite harsh winters (e.g. Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, etc.).
- simonsarris 7y ago
  Tons of winter biking in Montreal too.
- rb808 7y ago
  Netherlands and much Denmark aren't that cold in winter, many years it wont even snow. Further the summers are cool.
  - CydeWeys 7y ago
    It doesn't snow that often in NYC either. These past few winters it's only snowed a few times in any significant amount (i.e. actual accumulation on roadways; flurries or snow that doesn't stick doesn't count).
  - SwellJoe 7y ago
    Not unlike New York City. But, how about Finland? They also ride bikes a lot more than most US cities, and Finland definitely has harsh winters. Edit: As for summers, I've regularly biked in Texas throughout the summer over many years (I've lived without a car quite a bit in Austin). The peak of the day is rough, but the usual commuting hours aren't too bad. New York has nothing on Texas summers.
    - rb808 7y ago
      I know AMS and NYC well, Finland - do people bike all winter? The snow is one thing, the icy roads and cold make it tough.
      - SwellJoe 7y ago
        https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/feb/12/ice-cycles-northerly-world-cities-winter-bicycle-revolution https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/feb/12/ice-cycles-no...
TulliusCicero 7y ago
I'm guessing right now, not very. Cyclists will deal with bad weather or bad infrastructure, but not many will deal with both at the same time. The solution is good infrastructure.
xxxtentachyon 7y ago
I live and work in lower Manhattan (about a 15 minute commute each way by bike) and I will ride a Citi bike to work unless there are multiple inches of snow on the ground
oh_sigh 7y ago
I don't bike for fear of ice patches unless weather has been above freezing for a few days straight. I bike maybe 10% of days in winter and 90% in summer(from UWS to Chelsea via Hudson river bike paths)
fernyellow 7y ago
lots of deliveries are made on high speed motorized bikes they go year round
CydeWeys 7y ago
I bike to work year-round in NYC, and so do many other people. It doesn't actually snow that much, and when it does, it's generally cleared pretty quickly. One thing the city should do to be better on that front is buy some bike-lane-sized snow clearing machines; we currently only have truck-sized snow plows, so the streets are cleared better than the bike lanes. The biggest problem I have with biking in the winter is when it gets brutally cold, which doesn't happen that often, hardly at all in the past few years. There was this one particularly horrible winter several years back when it was terribly cold for weeks on end, and that was rough.
apaprocki 7y ago
CitiBike data (if it could be used as a proxy) shows about half the number of daily rides in Jan as in the summer. That’s still > 40k rides a day. https://www.citibikenyc.com/system-data https://www.citibikenyc.com/system-data
pedantsamaritan 7y ago
May 2019's NYC Cycling in the City [0] provides some overview. About 12% of New Yorkers ride a bike several times per month (higher than I expected). There are automated bike counters in certain places (e.g. bridge crossings), but I haven't been able to find the data for winter months. Citi bike data is probably a pretty good proxy, though. It's in the report I linked and in sibling from apaprocki [0]: https://www1.nyc.gov/html/dot/downloads/pdf/cycling-in-the-city.pdf https://www1.nyc.gov/html/dot/downloads/pdf/cycling-in-the-c...
Alex3917 7y ago
Depends whether you're looking at people using bikes for commuting, take out delivery, exercise, etc. Ostensibly 800,000 people are biking multiple times a month, but this can mean wildly different things. As a data point, the most popular bike path in the city (and country) has had 6,600 Strava users this year.
rasz 7y ago
Very, even in heavy rain. Some vlogs on a bike: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9KUGQ3rfaI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9KUGQ3rfaI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rkw45Zz72W0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rkw45Zz72W0

How popular is biking in New York - eg, do people bike in the winter?

robbyt 7y ago

Yes, biking in the winter isn't too bad, as long as there isn't precipitation. The winters here are fairly mild.

ch4s3 7y ago

It's fairly popular, and many people bike at least some year round. Citibike is quite popular for short trips.

maximente 7y ago

killer is summer imo, where 2-4 months are swamplike so any professional (attire wise) is bringing a change of clothes and/or showering but it's nice 7-8 months out of the year!

bobthepanda 7y ago
What‘s nice to help with that are e-bikes, so that you don‘t necessarily have to exert all that much energy.
lonelappde 7y ago
The city and subway is dirty and hot in general, so dressing at work is just smart.

crazygringo 7y ago

A lot of biking isn't for your commute but rather a quick way to run an errand 5 avenues over using Citibike -- it's a 6 min ride instead of a 20 min walk. For that, super common to bike even in the winter. After all, you're already bundled up and will probably stay warmer just because you'll be outside for less time.

philwelch 7y ago
Also, biking itself keeps you warm. But I would be concerned about ground conditions.
- snazz 7y ago
  I was impressed with traction on the Citibike-style bicycles here in Minneapolis the last time I tried one in the snow. The tires aren’t so huge that they always stay on top, but they get pretty decent traction.
chadlavi 7y ago
Lot of this. Most bikehsare rides in NYC are quick one-way jaunts like this. Anecdotally, I know a lot of women who ride bikeshare bikes for the 5-6 blocks it takes them to get home from the subway in the early-sunset months as a safety precaution against sexual harassment.
- lonelappde 7y ago
  This must be a niche use case -- there aren't docks every 6 blocks or less
  - crazygringo 7y ago
    Of course there are! Just take a look: https://member.citibikenyc.com/map/ https://member.citibikenyc.com/map/ I mean they're not evenly distributed according to a perfect pattern or anything, but there's generally a bike within an avenue and a few streets.

OutsmartDan 7y ago

If it's not snowing or raining, I'll bike in the winters. It's not too bad if you have the right gear to stay warm.

francisofascii 7y ago

It is a factor of how safe it is. Weather is not the limiting factor.

datashow 7y ago

"How popular is biking in New York" You can have a sense of it by checking with Google Maps street view on different places in Manhattan. It seems that there are way more cars and pedestrians than bike riders in most places.

bobthepanda 7y ago
This is not a good measurement, because one person on a bike takes up much less space than one person in a car. (Average car occupancy in the US is around 1.5.)
jeromegv 7y ago
Surely someone with a username that says "datashow" would think that this isn't the proper way to measure it.
- datashow 7y ago
  I said "have a sense of it".

SwellJoe 7y ago

It'd be more popular if it were safer/easier. Which is true pretty much everywhere. Some of the places where biking is the most common also have quite harsh winters (e.g. Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, etc.).

simonsarris 7y ago
Tons of winter biking in Montreal too.
rb808 7y ago
Netherlands and much Denmark aren't that cold in winter, many years it wont even snow. Further the summers are cool.
- CydeWeys 7y ago
  It doesn't snow that often in NYC either. These past few winters it's only snowed a few times in any significant amount (i.e. actual accumulation on roadways; flurries or snow that doesn't stick doesn't count).
- SwellJoe 7y ago
  Not unlike New York City. But, how about Finland? They also ride bikes a lot more than most US cities, and Finland definitely has harsh winters. Edit: As for summers, I've regularly biked in Texas throughout the summer over many years (I've lived without a car quite a bit in Austin). The peak of the day is rough, but the usual commuting hours aren't too bad. New York has nothing on Texas summers.
  - rb808 7y ago
    I know AMS and NYC well, Finland - do people bike all winter? The snow is one thing, the icy roads and cold make it tough.
    - SwellJoe 7y ago
      https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/feb/12/ice-cycles-northerly-world-cities-winter-bicycle-revolution https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/feb/12/ice-cycles-no...

TulliusCicero 7y ago

I'm guessing right now, not very. Cyclists will deal with bad weather or bad infrastructure, but not many will deal with both at the same time. The solution is good infrastructure.

xxxtentachyon 7y ago

I live and work in lower Manhattan (about a 15 minute commute each way by bike) and I will ride a Citi bike to work unless there are multiple inches of snow on the ground

oh_sigh 7y ago

I don't bike for fear of ice patches unless weather has been above freezing for a few days straight. I bike maybe 10% of days in winter and 90% in summer(from UWS to Chelsea via Hudson river bike paths)

fernyellow 7y ago

lots of deliveries are made on high speed motorized bikes they go year round

CydeWeys 7y ago

I bike to work year-round in NYC, and so do many other people. It doesn't actually snow that much, and when it does, it's generally cleared pretty quickly. One thing the city should do to be better on that front is buy some bike-lane-sized snow clearing machines; we currently only have truck-sized snow plows, so the streets are cleared better than the bike lanes. The biggest problem I have with biking in the winter is when it gets brutally cold, which doesn't happen that often, hardly at all in the past few years. There was this one particularly horrible winter several years back when it was terribly cold for weeks on end, and that was rough.

apaprocki 7y ago

CitiBike data (if it could be used as a proxy) shows about half the number of daily rides in Jan as in the summer. That’s still > 40k rides a day. https://www.citibikenyc.com/system-data https://www.citibikenyc.com/system-data

pedantsamaritan 7y ago

May 2019's NYC Cycling in the City [0] provides some overview. About 12% of New Yorkers ride a bike several times per month (higher than I expected). There are automated bike counters in certain places (e.g. bridge crossings), but I haven't been able to find the data for winter months. Citi bike data is probably a pretty good proxy, though. It's in the report I linked and in sibling from apaprocki [0]: https://www1.nyc.gov/html/dot/downloads/pdf/cycling-in-the-city.pdf https://www1.nyc.gov/html/dot/downloads/pdf/cycling-in-the-c...

Alex3917 7y ago

Depends whether you're looking at people using bikes for commuting, take out delivery, exercise, etc. Ostensibly 800,000 people are biking multiple times a month, but this can mean wildly different things. As a data point, the most popular bike path in the city (and country) has had 6,600 Strava users this year.

rasz 7y ago

Very, even in heavy rain. Some vlogs on a bike: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9KUGQ3rfaI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9KUGQ3rfaI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rkw45Zz72W0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rkw45Zz72W0