Pandemic stokes upsurge in city bicycling, DOT data reveals
There seems to be little doubt that the coronavirus pandemic, and the fears it has created, have created a big interest in bike riding in Brooklyn and the city as a whole.
This trend, reported on as early as mid-March, has given rise to other concerns, such as the potential for accidents, crowding in bike lanes — and the fact that it’s very difficult to buy a new bike nowadays.
According to data provided to the Brooklyn Eagle by the city Department of Transportation, the number of rides across the East River bridges and on important Brooklyn streets such as Prospect Park West has been increasing on and off since early March, although the gradual changes and fluctuations in the weather are certainly responsible for part of that change.
“While all trips by all modes decreased by almost 50 percent during PAUSE … there was an initial spike in cycling of more than 20 percent in the run-up to PAUSE,” a DOT spokesperson said in a statement.