Has bicycle riding become safer in New York City? On July 28, 2011 the New York City Department of Transportation answered “Yes” by presenting statistics that showed that bike riding was 72 percent safer in 2010 than it was 2001. How good are DOT’s statistics?

Despite significant efforts, the absolute number of bicyclist fatalities and severe injuries has hardly moved. In 2000 there were 18 fatalities and 351 severe injuries. In 2010 there was no change: 19 fatalities and 361 severe injuries. During the year 2010 New York City experienced the decade’s second highest total of fatalities and severe injuries. And there was a worse statistic for bike advocates; while there were only 12 fatalities in 2009, fatalities jumped to 19 in 2010. 

The taxi/ livery plan the legislature passed in Albany is sure to fail because it ignores economic reality. Giving 30,000 liveries the right to accept street hails will disappoint supporters, disrupt beneficial relationships, and likely ruin cab service for everyone.

The law’s purpose is to provide street hail service in areas presently without street hail service. But street hail service is only viable in dense areas where cabbies know that riders regularly appear. Taxis nowhere in the world provide regular street hail service in neighborhoods that lack the requisite density of demand. Instead taxi service is provided on-call. New York liveries provide good on-call service. True, there are areas throughout the City like Fordham Road which could support street hail service or cab stands to serve as street hail locations. The Bloomberg Administration wrongly rejected both options.

Instead, the Bloomberg Administration has opted for a plan that has the potential to destroy the taxi industry. Many successful on-call taxi businesses will likely fail without the control of drivers that calling in provides. This means worse on-call taxi service for much of the city since street hail cabbies cruise where the business is, not where an occasional passenger wants a ride.