Ten years ago, on April 16th, 2006, NYCBikeMaps.com launched as New York City’s first interactive bike map.
Admittedly, it was slow loading, prone to crashing and incomplete, but it harnessed the power of Google Maps to help cyclists navigate the City as interest in cycling began to grow rapidly and the City increased investment in cycling infrastructure.
Looking back, it is incredible to see the progress that has been made: since 2006, more than 500 miles of new bike lanes and bike paths were added to New York City’s streets while the number of people cycling nearly tripled. The cycling community in New York City is robust, resilient and it is an honor for NYCBikeMaps.com to be a part of it.
Looking forward, it is exciting what New York City can achieve if momentum is maintained, Vision Zero becomes more than a political slogan and streets are designed for people.
Recent NYPD actions and lawsuits from powerful people indicate there is a ton of work still to be done, but support for cycling infrastructure is strong and more New Yorkers are cycling than ever before, so it is a great time to grab a bike and go for a ride.
A huge thanks is due to more people and organizations than can be thanked individually, but here are a few:
- The 1,750,000 people who have visited NYCBikeMaps.com and collectively viewed our maps more than 5 million times
- Transportation Alternatives for their tireless work advocating for bicycling, walking and public transportation
- StreetsBlog for their non-stop coverage of the NYC cycling ecosystem
- Google for providing the Google Maps API, a steady stream of traffic from search and a nice call out a decade ago during the Summer of Green initiative
- Gothamist for frequent coverage of cycling in NYC, as well as being the very first website to link to NYCBikemaps.com
- Janette Sadik-Khan and Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who together ushered in a sustained period of growth in NYC cycling infrastructure
- The NYC DOT for building out the bicycle network and providing detailed printed bike maps
- CitiBike for bringing bike share to NYC
- Vaccaro and White for providing legal representation to cyclists
A look back at the growth of cycling in NYC
