On Bicycles : A 200-Year History of Cycling in New York City

Subways and yellow taxis may be the icons of New York transportation, but it is the bicycle that has the longest claim to New York’s streets: two hundred years and counting. Never has it taken to the streets without controversy: 1819 was the year of the city’s first bicycle and also its first bicycle ban. Debates around the bicycle’s place in city life have been so persistent not just because of its many uses―recreation, sport, transportation, business―but because of changing conceptions of who cyclists are. In On Bicycles , Evan Friss traces the colorful and fraught history of cycling in New York City. He uncovers the bicycle’s place in the city over time, showing how it has served as a mirror of the city’s changing social, economic, infrastructural, and cultural politics since it first appeared. It has been central, as when horse-drawn carriages shared the road with bicycle lanes in the 1890s; peripheral, when Robert Moses’s car-centric vision made room for bicycles only as recreation; and aggressively marginalized, when Ed Koch’s battle against bike messengers culminated in the short-lived 1987 Midtown Bike Ban. On Bicycles illuminates how the city as we know it today―veined with over a thousand miles of bicycle lanes―reflects a fitful journey powered, and opposed, by New York City’s people and its politics. In Its Most Recent Ranking, Bicycling Magazine Named New York The Number One American City For Cycling. But Long Before The Citi Bike Era, New York Has Stood Out As An Important City In The History And Development Of Cycling--as A Pastime And A Mirror Of The City's Shifting Social, Economic, And Structural Developments. In Bicycles And The Boroughs, Evan Friss Traces The Storied History Of Bicycling In The Big Apple, From The Bicycle-like Draisine In 1818 Adopted By A Small Number Of Enthusiasts; To New York's Ascent To The Capital Of The Cycling World In The 1890s, Which Among Other Things Triggered Increased Female Mobility And Corresponding Conversations About The Propriety Of Women Cyclists; To Mayor Koch's Bike Ban Of 1987 After The Stock Market's Collapse, Which Shed Light On The Ways Bankers, Lawyers, And Other Professionals Relied On This Labor Force And The Immediacy Of The Information They Delivered. Finally, The History Shifts To Michael Bloomberg's Citi Bike Initiative, The Largest Bike Sharing System In The Country, In An Effort To Make New York A Greener City. But Even In The Wake Of The Program's Mass Adoption, Friss Brings To Light Ongoing Public Debates Over The Location Of Bike Lanes, The Dangers Of Biking In Certain Areas, Whether The Program's Financial Model Is Sustainable, And The Ways In Which Cycling Will Continue To Shape And Be Shaped By The City-- Rough Start -- Up And Down -- Moses -- The Ban -- Bloomberg. Evan Friss. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 191-233) And Index. "In its most recent ranking, Bicycling Magazine named New York the number one American city for cycling. But long before the Citi Bike era, New York has stood out as an important city in the history and development of cycling--as a pastime and a mirror of the city's shifting social, economic, and structural developments. In Bicycles and the Boroughs, Evan Friss traces the storied history of bicycling in the Big Apple, from the bicycle-like "draisine" in 1818 adopted by a small number of enthusiasts; to New York's ascent to the capital of the cycling world in the 1890s, which among other things triggered increased female mobility and corresponding conversations about the propriety of women cyclists; to Mayor Koch's bike ban of 1987 after the stock market's collapse, which shed light on the ways bankers, lawyers, and other professionals relied on this labor force and the immediacy of the information they delivered. Finally, the history shifts to Michael Bloomberg's Citi Bike initiative, the largest bike sharing system in the country, in an effort to make New York a "greener" city. But even in the wake of the program's mass adoption, Friss brings to light ongoing public debates over the location of bike lanes, the dangers of biking in certain areas, whether the program's financial model is sustainable, and the ways in which cycling will continue to shape and be shaped by the city"-- Provided by publisher