Lane Rage

Stu Bykofsky's attacks on city bike lanes are flawed.

by Brian Howard

Some things you just don't let slide. Last week, in his Daily News column ("City Bike Report Is a Flat Tire") my considerably more esteemed colleague Stu Bykofsky continued his crusade against the river-to-river bike lanes on Pine and Spruce. Maybe you've heard about them. Upon their installation, the city promised to study the effects on traffic on those streets. In December they presented their unsurprising findings: The lanes dramatically increased bike traffic and somewhat hindered auto traffic. Bykofsky used his column last week to criticize the city's report for being incomplete with an analysis that itself gets an "I" at best. 

He slammed the Streets Department for failing to count the number of cars that make it through Spruce and Pine's Broad Street intersections during the PM rush hour, which is true. (Streets says those counts were scrapped due to rain.) Why he failed to point out that the report's AM rush hour counts support the idea that auto traffic at Broad Street is being snarled is a mystery to me. I guess a rigged system makes a better story.

But that's picking nits. There's a bigger hole. In his now-frequent columns condemning the lanes, Bykofsky has cherry-picked stats. Like on Nov. 23, when he said this: "What kind of a perverted quota system gives 50 percent of any city street ... to bikes, which account for 1.2 percent of Philadelphia commuters?" as if a) it'd be feasible or meaningful to just give 1.2 percent of a street to bikes; b) two-thirds of those streets aren't still designated for cars, thanks to parking lanes; and c) commuters are the only street users.

Last week, Bykofsky again waved around his 1.2 percent: "The issue is how much of a concession the city should make to a noisy minority — the tiny 1.2 percent ... who commute by bike."

The real real issue is: How much of a concession is being made? I called the Streets Department to find out just how massive these concessions are. Steve Buckley, deputy commissioner for transportation at the Streets Department, was kind enough to dig up the actual square footage of asphalt devoted to bike lanes. This, of course, factors in lanes devoted to parking (because parked cars are still cars, Stu). Turns out, in the entire city of Philadelphia, just 1.9 percent of streets is dedicated to bike lanes (we're waiting on a Center City number). Yes, 1.9 is higher than 1.2, approximately 58 percent higher — albeit two-thirds of a percentage point. It might be a concern if this were simply an issue of accommodation. Which it's not. The city's Greenworks plan calls for increased ridership and "a citywide system of on- and off-street bike trails." So Bykofsky either doesn't believe in reducing the number of cars clogging the streets and the air, or he's using his bully pulpit for the sole purpose of being a bully. Because this fact remains: The overwhelming majority of Philly streets have zero bike lanes.

(bhoward@citypaper.net)