8 Tools NYC’s Mayor Has to Improve Bike Infrastructure in 2026
Lots of media coverage has centered on Zohran Mamdani’s campaign to get fast and free buses. Less coverage has been focused on his consistent messaging in favor of making biking safer and more accessible in New York City.
The mayor can improve bike infrastructure without a lot of money and without the state’s input.
So while this article is specifically about New York City and the excitement for the most pro-cycling mayor, probably ever, this toolkit will apply to cities across the country.
Let’s get into the tools the mayor has to improve bike infrastructure. While I focus on bikes here, of course, this is related to many other political fights, from more green spaces and safer streets to priority for buses.
Usually something that makes streets less dominated by cars makes a street both safer for pedestrians and cyclists, and often adds green space.
I’d like to give a huge shout-out to The Road to Affordability Plan put together by the non-profit Transportation Alternatives. I stole a lot of these points from them. For a platform that goes beyond bikes, check that out.
The Summary: What the Mayor Can Do to Improve Bike Infrastructure
- Build more protected bike lanes. Protected bike lanes are where the magic is. It’s already city law that they have to build 50 miles per year.
- Install Bike Parking citywide. Lack of safe and secure bike parking is a real issue.
- Expand Citi Bike (New York’s bike share system). Even better, subsidize it.
- Make the speed limit 20mph on local streets. Citywide. For cyclists and drivers. Enforce it.
- Retime lights on major bike routes for 15mph. That way cyclists hit more green lights.
- Support bike education and bike buses. Help kids bike to school.
- Regulate delivery app companies. This will slow down ebike delivery drivers.
- Add ebike charging stations. We want ebiking as an alternative to driving.
Why Better Bike Infrastructure is Good For All New Yorkers
Better bike infrastructure is not a niche issue.
Nearly 30% of adult New Yorkers ride a bike at least occasionally, and roughly 900,000 people ride regularly.
Those are huge numbers for a mode of transportation that makes up less than 1% of the city’s dedicated road space.
Even more striking: surveys consistently show that around 50-60% of people fall into the “interested but concerned” category. They’re interested in biking, but don’t feel like it’s safe or practical.
In other words, demand isn’t the barrier. So if you make it safer and better, more people will bike.
And that’s rational. I can tell you firsthand that biking on most New York streets is treacherous.
More bike infrastructure, I believe, is better for even those who will never bike under any circumstances.
- Less traffic. Every person on a bike is one less person competing for road space, parking space, or ride-hail pickups. Even people who will never bike gain time back.
- Healthier streets. Cycling is one of the cheapest ways to move around the city. Making it safer means more New Yorkers—including seniors and people using mobility devices—can get around without needing a car.
- More space for people. If we dedicate even a small amount of road space to bikes, the remaining streets become calmer, quieter, and easier to navigate. As cities worldwide have shown, taking just a bit back from cars creates room for trees, benches, stormwater infrastructure, and small public spaces.
- Economic benefits. Businesses along protected bike lanes see higher foot traffic and increased retail activity. Cyclists stop more often and spend more over time. Making cycling an option provides a basically free transportation option for more people.
- Safer streets for everyone. Streets designed for cyclists and pedestrians, not cars, reduce reckless driving, slow traffic, and create a visual cue that streets are shared spaces. Pedestrians benefit as much as riders.
Cycling is not the whole solution, but it is an important lever. And unlike major capital projects, this is a lever the mayor can pull right now, without Albany’s permission and without enormous budgets. The benefits ripple across every neighborhood.
1) Build More Protected Bike Lanes
Far and away, the #1 action that the mayor can take to make a city more bike-friendly is to build more protected bike lanes. I’ve written about the benefits of protected bike lanes here, but the short version is that they are the foundation for a safe and usable bike network.
It’s already the law to do this, in fact. In 2019, the city council passed Local Law 195, which required the city to build 250 miles of protected bike lanes by 2026. The Adams administration did not meet that obligation. Meeting and surpassing that requirement should be one of the first goals of a mayor who is serious about safe streets.
A few priorities are obvious.
Upgrade ordinary bike lanes to protected bike lanes
Paint is not protection. Ordinary lanes become double parking zones and delivery lanes, which forces cyclists into traffic. They are better than nothing, but they do not create the safety or comfort that most people need to ride regularly.
Upgrading these painted lanes to protected lanes often does not require removing a large amount of parking. In many cases, the city uses floating parking lanes as the “protection,” and in other spots, they can use flexible delineators, small concrete barriers, or curb extensions.
Target existing two-way streets
The mayor can direct DOT to focus on two-way streets that can be converted into one-way streets.
There are so many local streets in New York that are two-way streets without a good reason, other than that’s how they designed outer borough streets in the 20th century, prioritizing cars.
Converting a two-way street into a one-way street frees up space that can be used for a protected bike lane or a bike boulevard. This is a low-cost way to create a continuous and intuitive bike route through dense neighborhoods.
Broadway below 59th St is a good example of this. It used to a be a two-way boulevard, and slowly has been made a one-way street or even for bike, pedestrians, and emergency vehicles only.
Build the greenway connectors that already exist on paper
The city’s Department of Transportation has already drawn up and planned routes along greenways, from the Bronx’s Harlem River Greenway to the Queens Waterfront Greenway.
The city knows exactly where these greenways need to go. What we lack is the coordination and staffing to build them.
Completing these connectors would link the city’s patchwork of existing greenways and waterfront paths into a true interborough off-street network.
This would allow people to bike across boroughs while staying away from car traffic as much as possible. It would also create direct links between parks, transit hubs, and the protected on-street bike network.
2) Install More Bike Parking
One of the most common reasons people choose not to bike is simple. There is nowhere safe to leave a bike. New York has a theft problem that scares people away from cycling. Even experienced riders often say they will bike only to places where they know they can bring the bike indoors.
The city knows this is a barrier. For years, it has piloted different ideas for bike parking, including secure bike storage pods. Streetsblog has covered how these pilots have stalled or expanded very slowly. Some of this comes down to bureaucratic overlap, unclear agency responsibility, and community boards that resist any use of curb space that is not free car parking.
The result is that thousands of people want to bike, but they worry that their bike will be stolen or vandalized.
When the city provides safe and reliable parking, more people choose to bike for commutes, errands, and everything in between.
3) Expand and Subsidize Citi Bike
Citi Bike is one of New York’s most successful transportation initiatives, yet it still does not reach large parts of the city.
Many neighborhoods fought Citi Bike when it was first proposed, and now it provides an inexpensive, accessible transportation option.
Make it Citywide
If the city wants biking to be a real alternative to driving, Citi Bike needs to go to the whole city.
More bikes at Subway and Bus Connections
Expansion alone is not enough.
The city should place Citi Bike stations at every major subway and bus connection so riders can combine biking with transit.
A fast and reliable bike share system fills gaps in the transit network and shortens commutes. Every city that has expanded its bike share network has seen ridership jump as soon as docks appear.
Subsidize Citi Bike
Citi Bike already has a $5 per month membership for people on SNAP or living in NYCHA housing.
This is a strong start, but the city can go further. There should be discounted memberships for students and seniors.
And for the first time, the city should invest public money into Citi Bike.
It is the only bike share program in the world that operates without public funding, and this limits its ability to expand into neighborhoods with lower ridership or longer distances between destinations.
4) Make a 20mph Speed Limit, Citiwide
If New York wants to take cycling seriously, it has to change how it thinks about speed. Right now, the city treats some biking infractions as criminal offenses and sets a separate, lower speed limit for ebikes alone.
This does not make sense.
A person on a bike traveling 20 miles per hour is far less dangerous than a person in a two-ton vehicle traveling at the same speed. The laws of physics make the difference clear. A car has far more mass, so the risk it poses is dramatically higher.
A citywide speed limit of 20 miles per hour for everyone would reset expectations about how streets should function.
It would shift the purpose of local streets away from moving cars as fast as possible and toward serving the people who live on those streets. Pedestrians, cyclists, and transit riders would benefit immediately.
Enforcement is essential. The NYPD has a long record of targeting cyclists for small violations while ignoring widespread dangerous driving by motorists. This pattern undermines safety and trust. A fair system would enforce the 20-mile-per-hour limit on all road users, including drivers and ebike riders.
5) Retime Lights for 15mph (Green Waves)
Another simple step the mayor can take is to retime traffic lights so that cyclists traveling about 15 miles per hour will hit a series of green lights. This is called a green wave. It is inexpensive, quick to implement, and incredibly effective. It makes bike routes smoother and more predictable, and reduces the number of times cyclists need to accelerate from a full stop.
The city has already done this on parts of 3rd Avenue. It should extend the idea to other major cycling corridors. Any street with a protected bike lane and consistent traffic signals is a good candidate for a green wave.
Green waves reward people for choosing to bike. They reduce conflict between drivers and cyclists. They make trips faster without requiring new construction or major redesigns. I wrote about this in more detail here.
It is one of the clearest examples of a low-cost change that produces immediate benefits for safety, comfort, and speed.
6) Support Bike Education and Bike Buses
If New York wants to build a long-term culture of safe cycling, it cannot focus only on infrastructure.
It also needs to help people, especially kids, learn how to ride confidently. Bike education programs teach safe riding skills, how to navigate intersections, and how to share the road respectfully.
Cities that invest in bike education see higher ridership and safer behavior among both children and adults.
One of the most promising ideas is the bike bus. A bike bus is a group of kids and adults who ride to school together on a set route.
The group picks up more riders at each block, the same way a regular bus would. This makes the ride safer, more predictable, and more fun.
Several New York schools have done small pilot versions of this, and parents consistently say they would let their children bike to school if the route felt safe and supervised.
A mayor who supports bike education can expand DOT’s existing programs, offer grants to schools, and create small protected routes near schools so families feel comfortable letting kids bike.
7) Regulate The Delivery App Companies
There is a real issue with delivery app workers feeling pressured to ride fast, run red lights, and take risks during their shifts. This is not simply a problem of individual behavior. It is a consequence of the delivery apps themselves. Companies like Uber Eats, DoorDash, and Grubhub create pay structures that reward speed above all else. Workers often say they cannot earn enough money if they do not rush. When pay depends on completing as many deliveries as possible in a short window, unsafe behavior becomes rational.
Zohran Mamdani has already spoken about this. If the city wants to reduce dangerous riding and excessive ebike speeds, it should focus on the companies that control pay rates and incentives.
8) Add Ebike Charging Stations
Electric bikes are one of the most powerful tools for reducing car dependency. They let people travel farther distances, carry groceries or kids, and ride without worrying about hills or sweat. For many people, an ebike can replace a car entirely. But for that to happen, New York needs a safe and accessible charging network.
Right now, charging is a major barrier. Many New Yorkers live in apartments that do not allow indoor charging or do not have outlets near where bikes are stored. This pushes some people to charge batteries unsafely or not ride at all.
Public charging stations would give riders reliable places to recharge during commutes, errands, or work shifts.
Installing charging stations at transit hubs, libraries, schools, and commercial corridors would make ebiking far more convenient. Maybe next to Citi Bike docks? It would also support delivery workers, many of whom depend on ebikes but lack safe charging options. This is a public safety issue and a transportation issue.
What’s The Trade Off? Free Parking and Public Investment
Many of these ideas have one shared obstacle. The city has to decide whether free street parking is really the best use of so much public land.
New York dedicates an enormous amount of space to storing private cars.
This comes at the expense of protected bike lanes, Citi Bike docks, wider sidewalks, safer crossings, and bike parking.
The trade-off is right there in front of us.
If we want a safer and more efficient city, we will have to repurpose some of the curb space that has been given away for free.
The average car owner in New York makes roughly twice as much as the average non-car owner. Yet our streets are designed around both their movement and their storage. Almost every improvement people want, from more bike infrastructure to stronger transit, sits on the other side of a political fight over free parking.
The call for Mayor Zohran, for every future New York mayor, and for mayors across the United States is to face these political battles directly. You cannot build a bike-friendly city without taking on the politics of curb space. You cannot make streets safer for pedestrians and cyclists if you are not willing to reduce the dominance of parked cars.
Public Investment Is Minimal Compared to the Benefits
Some of these changes require money. Building protected lanes, subsidizing Citi Bike, adding bike parking, and installing charging stations all require investment. But these are relatively small investments compared to the benefits they unlock.
Better bike infrastructure boosts local business activity. It reduces congestion. It lowers household transportation costs. It improves public health. It cuts emissions. It avoids expensive road projects and reduces wear on existing streets. Study after study shows that bike infrastructure is one of the highest return investments a city can make. The economic case is as strong as the safety case.
Switching mode share does take time, especially in transit deserts. People cannot instantly change the way they travel.
But every city that has built a connected bike network has seen steady growth in ridership once the improvements are in place. The long-term gains far outweigh the short-term costs.
