NYC bike rack (DOT via Flickr)
Feb. 3, 2021 By Allie Griffin
The New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) has pledged to install 10,000 bike parking racks throughout the city by the end of 2022.
The promise was made today by new DOT Commissioner Henry ‘Hank’ Gutman — whose appointment was also announced today by Mayor Bill de Blasio.
Gutman said the bike racks will be added throughout the five boroughs in an effort to make the city more bike-friendly. There are currently more than 28,000 bike racks across the city and each rack can hold two bikes.
The new 10,000 bike parking racks will be installed over this year and next.
“At two bikes per rack — if you do the math — that’s 20,000 spaces for bicycles,” Gutman, a retired partner of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, LLP, said.
The DOT wants New Yorkers to weigh in on where the new bike racks should be placed, Gutman said.
“We want you to tell us where they should be, so please go to nyc.gov/cityracks and give us your opinion,” he said. “We do want your input.”
Residents can suggest locations for the racks on the DOT website.
Along with public suggestions, the DOT will prioritize locations along bike lanes; sidewalks near subway stations and other transit hubs; commercial zones and shopping districts; and areas near municipal facilities like libraries, schools and hospitals for bike racks.
The bike rack expansion builds upon policies de Blasio announced last week in his “State of the City” address to improve bike and pedestrian infrastructure in the city.
The mayor promised to make Open Streets permanent, increase public space in neighborhoods hit hardest by COVID-19, expand the city’s protected bike lanes with “Bike Boulevards” in every borough and create additional pedestrian/bike lanes on the Queensboro and Brooklyn Bridges.
Gutman said the bike parking expansion will help New Yorkers to be greener.
- “The mayor and I believe if you give people more and better alternatives to car culture, they’ll us them,” he said. “Safe and equitable bike parking is a major part of that equation and this announcement today and what we’re doing in the next two years will help transform biking in our city.”
Gutman will head the DOT after former Commissioner Polly Trottenberg resigned to take a position within President Joe Biden’s administration.
Transportation Alternatives Executive Director Danny Harris congratulated Gutman on his appointment and applauded the DOT’s promise to add more bike racks.
“Today’s announcement to build 10,000 new bike racks, on the heels of our report detailing the lack of bike parking across the five boroughs, is also a strong policy push by Commissioner Gutman, and a great indication of his priorities,” Harris said.
