Bicycle controversies sweep New York City

In city bicyclist Ehtesh Choudhury's eyes, danger can come seemingly out of nowhere.

"It's car doors," said the 21-year-old from Astoria, Queens, admitting he has nearly rammed into them as they opened and suddenly blocked his path. "Cars are kind of evil."

A threat to pedestrians crossing Louise Hainline's street also is hard to anticipate.

"The thing about bikes is that they're silent. People with kids, with dogs, particularly the elderly, are startled by them coming down the street," the Park Slope, Brooklyn resident said. "It's kind of terrifying."

Initiatives to build more bike lanes and establish a bike-sharing program are meant to encourage a cyclist community that has more than doubled in size since 2005. Making biking safer and easier is one major goal laid out in Mayor Michael Bloomberg's PlaNYC effort to green New York.

Residents such as Hainline, 64, however, want to make sure changes by the city don't come at the expense of those walking and driving in it.

New Yorkers on all sides of the debate say safety is their top concern, but their fight also centers around the congested city's most precious commodity -- space.

The bike-sharing initiative, which will allow users to rent a bike from one part of the city and return it in another, is lauded by advocates as ideal for traveling the few miles that separate the city's neighborhoods. The initiative, set to begin next April, is lambasted by opponents who said there's not enough room to install the sharing stations.

"Is bike-sharing good? Yes, I guess. Do we give up our sidewalks to the one out of 100 people who might want to ride a bike? No," said Sean Sweeney, director of watchdog group SoHo Alliance. "Why does bike-sharing get space over any other business?"

Another battle in the city's bike wars concerns the two-way bike lane on Prospect Park West, installed a year ago in Brooklyn's Park Slope.

Community groups Seniors for Safety and Neighbors for Better Bike Lanes, a group that opposes bike lanes, filed a lawsuit in March alleging the city distorted cycling statistics to justify the bike lane.

City Transportation Department spokesman Seth Solomonow said the lawsuit has no merit and the lane has had the intended effect of calming vehicle traffic and increasing safety.

"We call it [the lawsuit] a 'nontroversy' around our office," said Michael Murphy, spokesman for Transportation Alternatives, a nonprofit that advocates for walking, bicycling and public transit.

Another conflict rages on Manhattan's Upper West Side, where some pedestrians said they're regularly terrorized by zealous bicycle deliverymen who ride on sidewalks and break other laws.

"We're chipping away at the problem," said Mel Wymore, chairman of Community Board 7, which now withholds sidewalk cafe permits from restaurants that don't send their deliverymen to safety classes or dress them in identifiable uniforms.

For their part, Choudhury, who rides with a skateboard strapped to his bike in case a friend on foot needs wheels, and Hainline, a Neighbors for Better Bike Lanes member, agreed on at least one measure: They support a registry for bicycles similar to that for cars.

"If we're going to give them this much of the street, we should make them accept responsibility," Hainline said.

Choudhury put it more simply, "Why not?"

Basics of NYC bicycling

520,000 New Yorkers bike at least several times a month

-- NYC Health Department

262 percent increase in commuter cycling in NYC between 2000 and 2010

-- city Transportation Department

255 miles of bike lanes added in past four years

-- mayor's office

1,800 miles of bike lanes the city aspires to have in place by 2030

-- PlaNYC

56 percent of surveyed New Yorkers said bike lanes are good because they're greener and healthier

-- Quinnipiac University poll, May

39 percent of surveyed New Yorkers said bike lanes are bad because they leave less room for cars thus increasing traffic

-- Quinnipiac University poll, May