Bicycle Advocacy Love Your Lane Favorite 

On April 7, 1973, some 400 cyclists chanting “Bikes don’t pollute” rode through midtown Manhattan in a “Bike-In” that called for separate lanes to encourage bicycling and provide safety on city streets.

Bicycle advocacy had been building since the 1960s, when pioneering activists in American Youth Hostels (AYH) began demanding better and safer street conditions. In the early 1970s, the energy of the growing environmental movement, with its concerns over urban pollution and traffic congestion, fueled the call for a more bike-friendly city.

Grassroots bike activism evolved alongside changes in city government and planning. Bike advocates worked with the mayoral administration of Edward I. Koch during the transit strike of 1980 to facilitate commuting by bike, setting up emergency bike routes on city streets. During the 1980s, bicycle advocacy evolved from a “fringe” grassroots movement to a viable political force influencing city government.

Biking infrastructure has expanded dramatically in recent years. The annual Five Boro Bike Tour, inaugurated in 1977 with 200 riders, has over 30,000 participants today. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg dramatically expanded cycling in the city by creating hundreds of miles of new bike lanes in Manhattan and Brooklyn between 2006 and 2012, an expansion Mayor Bill de Blasio has vowed to continue across the five boroughs.

While some community members and neighborhood groups have argued that bike lanes add to gridlock and hazards for pedestrians, more New Yorkers use bicycles to navigate the city than ever before.