Member-only story
It’s a Shiti-bike World
It was only a matter of time
Riding a bicycle in New York City is an art form unto itself. Just ask any bicycle messenger of yore (they’re almost extinct now). I never was a bicycle messenger. But I was about as close as you can get. Having no problem riding miles and miles over bridges into outer boros to collect money on two different jobs almost classifies.
Anyway — the point is — I’ve been riding a bike in New York for 30 years. I know how to navigate the road without endangering myself or anybody else in the process. But not so with everybody else who rides.
When the City of New York teamed up with Citi Corp to offer bike shares at the price of $100 a year to anybody with a credit or debit card, I knew the road would become a shit show of oblivious assholes who are either totally inconsiderate or completely clueless as to how to ride safely.
When I first started biking New York, there was almost nobody on the road. Just those aforementioned messengers. Now it’s way different. I don’t know the stats, but I’m guessing there are 10 times as many bicyclists in the city as there were 30 years ago. And half of them are on Citibikes. Somehow, I’ve managed to not get maimed owing to one of those Citibike rider’s incompetence. But I came close yesterday.
