When planning to settle in New York, the question of transportation is one of the great unknowns because, despite your good will and the knowledge you have of the city, you will always tend to think too small. Plus, you won’t find it impossible to cycle across New York to get your kids to school, whether it’s windy, rainy or snowy. After all, you were doing it in France, Paris or elsewhere. It’s the same, right? No not at all. And not just for the distances.
Do you overtake cars on a bike in New York?
Although the situation has changed significantly in a few years with the construction of cycle paths and the supply of bicycles for hire, CitiBike – the equivalent of our beloved Vélib’ – the car totally dominates the traffic. As in most cities of the world you will tell me. But in New York the avenues are very wide and very suggestive. In bad condition, full of holes and dents.
But above all, the cars are, for the most part, really oversized. To the point of being considered, after a few months, an Audi Q5 or a BMW X3 as a small car. This tells you the size of cog you may need to slide your flimsy CitiBike between. There really is something to be terrified of.
Living in New York, you realize pretty quickly that the car is unassailable, above criticism; that he is permitted to do anything without attracting the slightest remark. She is everyone’s top priority. The bus driver will stay a little longer if you prevent him from dropping off his passengers at the designated place. The other cars will silently leave the colossal Cadillac Escalade make a U-turn in the middle of the avenue. The cyclist will leave his reserved lane to go around the black tank that occupies him. All this without even thinking about it. The car has priority in everything.
But it must be said that the bike also performs very badly.
I’ll tell you right away: no cyclist stops at the traffic light. Nobody. Really. Nor when approaching a pedestrian crossing. And besides, no officer will ever fine you for starting a fire. (lighting a fire… what an expression anyway!) You get used to it quickly, I mean, when you’re a cyclist. Not when you’re a pedestrian. Bicycling behavior is among the top 10 behaviors that annoy New Yorkers the most. With pawns not advancing. Or that they take up all the space.
If everything I’ve told you hasn’t discouraged you, let’s take a slightly more practical look at the bike issue. New Yorkers don’t buy e-bikes unless they’re Uber Eat deliverymen, but they use cool racing gear to zip around Central Park at breakneck speed, often in colorful (and skintight) clothing. And it’s true that, even at CitiBike, the experience is magical. No car, everyone has their own pace, salt enough to make you lose a few calories, but not enough to dissuade you from pedaling an extra ten kilometers.
When they’re not circling Central Park, they escape on the weekends by walking up the greenways along the Hudson through Riverside Park, riding the Washington Bridge to go far, far, over land and sea. Either Brooklyn or Queens.
However: To reach these greenways, you will still have to go through Manhattan and ride these famous bike paths.
They are of three types.
- The tracks cycle paths, theoretically protected from traffic by parked cars or a physical barrier. We feel quite safe there.
- The lanes cycle paths they are painted on the road, generally in the immediate vicinity of the parking lot, and are identified by symbols representing a bicycle. Everything is fine until the vehicle has parked in your lane or the door has opened a little abruptly.
- Common ways, accessible to cyclists and motorists. They are identified by bicycle and chevron symbols, as well as markings. Avoid if you have a choice, as you won’t get away with it.
CitiBike?
Finally, I wanted to conclude this article by making a specific point about the CitiBike – funded, by the way, not the Citi Bank.
If you’re a resident, I recommend you take out an annual pass, around $180 which allows you, among other advantages, not to pay every time you take your bike, which gives you a lot of flexibility to make several short trips during the day.
E-bikes often break down, but when you can find a fresh one, you’re the king or queen of New York and zipping around the city with almost no effort. Note that with these bikes, you need to pedal to activate the electric assistance. But, subscriber or not, the use of an electric bike is quite expensive, almost the price of a taxi if you stop for a while.
The application also hides a secret and very useful function: it shows you the movement of the buses in real time.
Finally, for regular users, you can request to become a “Bike Angel”. Every time you take a bike from a full station or return it to an empty station, you earn points which, when combined, allow you to rent electric bikes for free, weeks of membership and even cool pins. .
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