New York, NY – According to the editors of Bicycling Magazine, New York City now ranks number 1 on its biennial list of the 50 most bike-friendly cities in the United States.
CBSLOCAL.com (http://cbsloc.al/1qqDjTR) reports that the editors say the reasons behind NYC grabbing the top spot are in large part due to the city’s “commitment to keep making progress.”
Bicycling Magazine editor Bill Strickland said the city’s installation of bike lanes and the Citi Bike program were factors too, but it is the overall package that solidified the top spot for NYC.
“New York has just shown the way for urban areas going forward,” Strickland said during a recent interview, while adding that increased bicycle use is often used now to measure the “robustness” of a city’s economy and the “safety of its streets.”
“And New York is really leading the way,” Strickland said.
Ironically, the same metrics were used by the magazine in naming Suffolk County on Long Island as the nation’s worst place for cyclists, citing 2008 data that showed the county accounting for 23.8% of all cyclist fatalities in the state.