Okay, now I can speak from first-hand experience: Summer Streets, New York City’s experiment with creating a car-free haven for pedestrians and cyclists, is truly fantastic! A group of us departed from Vox Pop Cafe in Flatbush to ride our bikes through Prospect Park and across the Brooklyn Bridge for this historic event. I must say I never thought I’d have the opportunity to cycle through Manhattan – with no fear of cars – from City Hall to 72nd Street; riding through the streets of Soho, around Union Square, under the Met-Life building and up Park Avenue to 72nd Street… it’s just a beautiful thing.

The weather couldn’t have been better (apparently whoever handles such things is a supporter), and the streets were filled with folks enjoying themselves. The question I kept hearing was “Why is it only until 1pm??”

photo: Flatbush cyclists get ready to ride to Summer Streets! (courtesy of innocent bystander)

Union Square, car-free!

Words cannot describe the excitement of seeing Park Avenue populated with pedestrians and bikes on a beautiful summer day. It may not look like much here (this was literally five minutes before the event’s end), but I’m sure Streetfilms will have plenty of front-line footage up tomorrow! For now, check out coverage from:

- WCBS
- Gothamist
- NY1

Livable Streets advocates in New York City have dreamed of this for years, and now it’s all happening very fast…

Emulating similar experiments in Paris, London, and Bogotá, Colombia, New York City will close off to traffic a 6.9-mile route from the Brooklyn Bridge to East 72nd Street on three consecutive Saturdays, giving New Yorkers to a chance to explore and enjoy “car-free recreation corridors” — well, for six hours a stretch, at least. (NY Times)

“We anticipate that hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers and visitors will take advantage of streets temporarily opened for recreation,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “We hope the Summer Streets experiment will become as much a part of the New York experience as strolling the Coney Island boardwalk, participating in the 5-borough bike tour, or listening to the Philharmonic in the park.” (NYC press release, via Streetsblog)

(Photo: John Marshall Mantel for The New York Times

Yes, that’s David Byrne and Lance Armstrong bringing some celebrity power to the proceedings. The dates are August 9th, 16th and 23rd — can’t wait! For an idea of how fun this will be, check out the Bogota’s Ciclovia on Streetfilms. Next… BROOKLYN Summer Streets!!

Gas prices knock bicycle sales, repairs into higher gear

Four-dollar-a-gallon gas is good for business — if you run a bike shop. Commuters around the country are dusting off their old two-wheelers — or buying new ones — to cope with rising fuel prices, bicycle dealers say.

Hey, if the Parisians can do it, why not New Yorkers? Look how much fun they’re having!

Paris Bike Culture – Cycling Sociably, originally uploaded by [Zakkaliciousness].

And, on a similar note:

Gas Prices Send Surge of Riders to Mass Transit

Michael Brewer, an accountant who had always driven the 36-mile trip to downtown Houston from the suburb of West Belford, said he had been thinking about switching to the bus for the last two years. The final straw came when he put $100 of gas into his Pontiac over four days a couple of weeks ago.

“Finally I was ready to trade my independence for the savings,” he said while waiting for a bus.

His *independence*… wow!! Personally, I love the independence of letting someone ELSE do the driving while I read, listen to podcasts, look out the window…