Streetsblog New York City

On Monday afternoon the City Council's transportation committee will take up the Bikes in Buildings Bill, which addresses a major obstacle to bike commuting. The legislation would give people who work in commercial buildings the right to bring their bikes inside the workplace, if they have the consent of their employer. Transportation Alternatives director Paul White calls it "one of the easiest ways to enable much greener travel in New York City." The bill's prospects look promising: Bloomberg reports that it enjoys the active support of the mayor, and most of the City Council is expected to sign on.

The public can testify at Monday's hearing, scheduled to begin at 1:00 p.m. in the main council chamber at City Hall.

Opposition stems from the Real Estate Board of New York, which is expected to testify against the bill. "I'm sorry but bringing a bike into a narrow or crowded lobby is not necessarily a safe thing," REBNY President Steve Spinola told Streetsblog soon after the hearing was first scheduled. "If somebody brings a bike in and hits somebody, whether it's a woman -- a pregnant woman -- or a man, or whatever, and hurts them, well number one, not only will possibly that bicyclist be sued, but I can guarantee you that they're going to be suing the building owner, arguing that they left an unsafe situation."

Empirical evidence of the supposed hazards posed by bicycles is in short supply. "REBNY has been raising the liability issue for months now," said White. "The fact is they haven't marshaled a single example of a building that has sustained damage or incurred liability or otherwise experienced problems with allowing bicycles inside." T.A. has been compiling a dossier of buildings that let bikes inside, and White says they've found that "it's completely doable, completely easy, and actually is a valuable amenity to tenants."

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The Bikes in Buildings Bill is back on the table. Yesterday City Council member David Yassky re-introduced the legislation, co-sponsored by Council member Gale Brewer, and a transportation committee hearing is scheduled for December 8. The new bill, Intro 871, stipulates that building managers and landlords must allow tenants to bring bikes inside office buildings.

The bill also includes language requiring bike parking in new buildings, mirroring a zoning amendment unveiled by the Department of City Planning earlier this week.

Yassky spokesman Jake Maguire stressed that the bill is about access. "It's a no-brainer that if you want people to stop driving and relieve crowding on subways, you need to allow people to bring their bikes to work," he said. "Hopefully this bill will have a speedy hearing and a speedy debate in the Council. With the support of 30 members we expect it to pass before the end of the year."

To review: The bill provides for bike access to existing buildings (which will constitute the vast majority of commuting destinations long into the future), and bike parking in new buildings. A few weeks ago transportation analyst Charles Komanoff gave us a quick-and-dirty estimate that bike commuting could rise up to 50 percent as a result of universal access to workplace buildings.

Crain's Insider has reported that the Real Estate Board of New York opposes the Bikes in Buildings Bill. REBNY President Steve Spinola sent a letter to Streetsblog Wednesday outlining his organization's stance, and confirmed his opposition to the new bill in a phone interview this morning. He questioned the city's legal authority to mandate bike access and cited concerns about liability, arguing that access should be expanded voluntarily by building managers. More on that exchange later.

Photo: kate at yr own risk/Flickr

As the push to pass the "Bikes in Buildings Bill" (Intro 38) ramps up in the City Council, DOT has been engaged in a separate but parallel effort to promote bike access and parking in office buildings. The Real Estate Board of New York has posted material on its web site -- prompted by a letter from DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan [PDF] -- about how building managers can help their tenants who want to commute by bike [download the presentation].

In a letter to his members [PDF], REBNY President Steven Spinola gets behind indoor bike parking in principle, but opposes the creation of a legal mandate:

Dear REBNY members,

Mayor Bloomberg's PlaNYC has a focus on making New York City more bicycle-friendly. I encourage REBNY members to assist in that effort by voluntarily providing a means for bicycle storage in their buildings. Bicycle parking has been identified as a major obstacle for many commuters to make the switch to biking to work. By providing safe bicycle parking and storage, you will make it easier for your tenants to bike to work and contribute to the goals of a cleaner, greener city.

We have strongly urged the City not to consider legislation requiring office buildings to provide bicycle parking and will continue to do so. But we do need to meet the needs of our tenants and to contribute to the City’s efforts to make it easier for bike riders to ride to work. So I hope you will survey your buildings and find a means to accommodate bicycles within them where possible.

There are a couple of interesting things going on here. One, it's important to note that Intro 38 does not "require office buildings to provide bicycle parking." Many building managers are already in compliance with that bill's open-ended language simply by virtue of allowing tenants to bring bikes inside their offices. Spinola is probably referring instead to stronger language in PlaNYC about the need for indoor bike parking (see the bottom of this page).

Two, Spinola's encouragement of bike parking is a step forward, but will voluntary measures be enough? A few workplaces have gotten past the strange cultural aversion to bike parking. If they remain the exception despite this DOT campaign, a more forceful law than Intro 38 may be in order.