New York Sign Language

N.Y. Is a Different Kind of Bicycle Town

By BOB YAMPOLSKY

I got my first bicycle when I was 7 years old. This was in Japan, in Wakayama, where my mother and I were spending the summer, staying at my grandmother's house. My grandmother was outraged that I, a boy of 7, had never ridden a bicycle before. So one of the first things she did after our arrival was to take me to a bicycle shop.

My grandmother did not speak a word of English, and I did not speak a word of Japanese, but the outing somehow went off quite smoothly. We got to the store and I understood that I was to pick out the bicycle I wanted. A purple one caught my eye. I pointed, and just like that, I had a bicycle. And of course it turned out to be the most wonderful bicycle in the world, and it seems to me that I spent the entire summer riding it.

Now the reason I had never ridden a bicycle before was simple: I lived in New York. And New York simply was not a bicycle town. First of all, no one used a bicycle for transportation. You got around the city by walking or taking a bus, subway or cab. And no one used a bicycle for recreation, either — at least no kids that I knew. Why? Riding around on a bicycle was just like asking to be mugged.

But after that summer with my purple bicycle (which of course stayed behind in Japan) I managed to persuade my parents to get me a bicycle. But it remains one of the major disappointments of my life. It was kept in a locked storage room in the basement, so I had to take the elevator down and ask the elevator man to open the storage room.

I wasn't allowed to go very far, just back and forth in front of our building. I rode that bicycle about twice and I don't even remember what became of it.

New York, indeed, was not a bicycle town. But as in so many ways, New York has changed in this regard too.

New York, in its own way, has become a bicycle town. And the biggest proof is this: The mayor has called for a crackdown on bicycles.

Most bicycles that you see on the street are out there on business. Many of them are ridden by deliverymen, who are usually delivering either Chinese (or Indian or Algerian or Vietnamese) food or pizza. They ride sturdy, inexpensive bicycles, and most often speak only the most rudimentary English. It was, in fact, just such a deliveryman who set off the crackdown on bicycles, when he collided with a pedestrian, who fell to the ground, hit his head, and died.

The other major tribe of professional bicyclists is the messengers. These are young men working in midtown and the financial district who courier packages from office to office. They are, from what I can tell, absolutely fearless types, who race their 10-speed bikes among the cabs and trucks of midtown traffic. They carry on their backs a large bag for carrying their packages, and a heavy chain for locking their bicycle.

Food deliveries are free, although you're expected to tip the deliverer. A tip is $2 or $3 at most, and most deliverers don't get a wage above and beyond this. It costs $10 (¥1,200) to have a bicycle messenger make a delivery, and he splits that fee 50-50 with the agency that hires him. I once asked a messenger how many deliveries he made in a day, and he told me that on good days he made about 15 — in other words, $75 (¥9,000).

So it's no wonder that these bicyclists are trying to get where they're going as fast as they can: The faster they go the more money they make. (Not to mention the fact that anyone who's ordered a delivery wants it to arrive as quickly as possible.) And this leads to a little recklessness, which leads to accidents.

That crackdown first focused on these commercial bicyclists, with the police handing out summonses for speeding, running red lights, riding on sidewalks, etc. But it soon expanded to cover recreational bicyclists and commuters, who, predictably, became outraged, since they were being ticketed for violations that everyone — including police — routinely ignored for years.

I can see their point, but to be honest, I'm not very sympathetic to them. Most recreational cyclists that I see have expensive racing bikes and wear expensive helmets and expensive skintight racing gear that shows far more of their physique than I care to see. They seem to take bicycle-riding so seriously. Whatever happened to just getting on your bike and pedaling around?

And you hardly see any kids riding bikes. When you do, more often than not they're with their parents, who are always telling them to slow down, or keep up, or not go too far off. And the look that you see on their faces seems to say, "Bicycles are supposed to be fun . . ."

No, for me, New York will never be a bicycle town — a certain purple bicycle spoiled me in that regard 30 years ago.

Shukan ST: Nov. 27, 1998

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