Manhattan, Brooklyn among country’s most bike-friendly places: report

A new report ranks Manhattan and Brooklyn among the top 10 most bikable cities in the country. In PeopleForBikes’ second annual city ratings report, both boroughs ranked individually among the top 10 of 500 cities surveyed on issues of safety, appeal, and biking infrastructure.

In the ranking, Manhattan claimed the fourth spot and Brooklyn the seventh, joined by Boulder, CO (1), Fort Collins, CO (2), Eugene, OR (3), Arlington, VA (5), Lawrence, KS (6), Portland, OR (8), Madison, WI (9), and Minneapolis, MN (10). The rankings are based on five points of data collection: ridership, safety, the ease with which bikers can get around, how quickly the area bike network is expanding, and reach, or how well the network serves all neighborhoods in the community.

PeopleForBikes draws on existing data to create its ranking, including the U.S. Census American Community Survey and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System. PeopleForBikes also collects city-specific data based on mapping, city planning information, and survey responses from people in the communities.

Although they ranked among the top ten, Manhattan garnered a score of just 3.4 out of 5 stars, and Brooklyn scored 3.3 out of 5 stars, demonstrating that there’s some room for improvement. (The highest ranking city, Boulder, had an overall score of 3.7.) Of the top 10 cities, Manhattan ranked the highest in terms of ridership, but the lowest in terms of reach. Both Manhattan and Brooklyn ranked high among the top 10 on ease with which bikers can get around.

The survey includes bike share options like Citi Bike in its analysis under its acceleration category, where how quickly a community is changing its biking infrastructure or adding riders is ranked. Both Manhattan and Brooklyn ranked at 2.9 out of 5 stars in this category.

Queens isn’t too far behind those boroughs, ranking 16th in the mix with an overall score of 3.1 out of 5. The city’s largest borough by land mass ranks low on ridership, but equal to Manhattan and Brooklyn on ease of getting around. For a look at how the three boroughs compare, head this way.