The New York Post’s Third World Vision for New York City

Lincoln Tunnel traffic in Manhattan a.k.a. "Little Karachi."

Dear Pulitzer-Prize Winning Columnist Michael Goodwin,

I was impressed with the way you smuggled that anti-bike lane crack into your anti-union column the other day. That’s not easy to do. I see why they gave you a Pulitzer:

Our town spends millions to in stall bike lanes and pay workers to shovel the snow from them, even on a holiday weekend. But the same Department of Transportation lets streets and highways crumble until they resemble something from the Third World. Silly me, that’s the point! When the roads completely collapse, we’ll all have to get bicycles because only bike lanes will be passable. And then New York will be a Third World city, with First World taxes, of course

I just wanted to correct a couple of egregious errors you had in there:

1. The total amount that NYC DOT spends on bike infrastructure is miniscule. It barely merits a line item in the city budget. Most bike lanes are made of white Thermoplastic paint striped over asphalt. Most of this striping is done as part of regular street maintenance and repair and folded into existing contracts. Bang-for-the-buck, bike lanes are a tremendous value. DOT is, essentially, creating an infrastructure for an entirely new mode of transport on a shoe-string budget. And most of these costs are paid for by the federal government anyway. Over the next four months, DOT will spend more on emergency pothole repairs than it has spent on its entire bike program since 2007.

2. You say that bikes made NYC seem more like a Third World City. Have you recently visited a Third World city? Or a First World city? Take a look at the streets of London, Paris and Copenhagen — cities that I think we can safely call “First World.” You’ll find that these cities have made major efforts in the last ten years to increase bike transportation, to prioritize and improve buses and transit, and to reallocate street space away from private motor vehicles to pedestrians and public space. NYC is only now just playing catch-up to these First World competitors. Now go take a look at the traffic-choked, streets of Mumbai, Karachi, Bangkok or Mexico City. Breathe in the exhaust fumes. Listen to the honking. Try to cross the gridlocked streets. Or just watch this YouTube video.

You with me?

Now go stand near the Lincoln Tunnel entrance in Manhattan on a hot, sweaty, Friday afternoon in July. Does that really look “First World” to you?

Best,

–Aaron