Need a City bike? Check out this story.
Bicycles are on vogue now in New York City. Ten years ago there was not much going with regard to bikes in the City. Yes, we saw bike couriers and messenger bags but wide public use of bicycles like in European Cities? Not really.
Now we see bicycle lanes, bicycles shops, bicycle garages and bike tours. This is great. I have two bikes myself and I love it. But what do I do if I have to use the subway in Manhattan? Or, say, I need to commute between the City and Hoboken with the PATH train? If I have to commute but I do not want to take the bus and ride to the station instead, what do I do? Well, I could leave the bike at the station and take the subway or PATH. But do I really want to do that? Leave my bike at the station? Abandoned? No. And strictly speaking I am not allowed to take the bike on the train between 6.30am and 9.30am and between 3.30 pm and 6.30 pm (see here for rules and scroll down until you find bicyles).
Here is the solution: Take bike like from Brompton. If this young lady can do this and still wear a dress, well then anyone can. I saw her climbing up the stair at Hoboken station coming from the City and she allowed me to take a picture. She actually carried the Brompton bike in a shoulder back when she climbed the stairs. In Europe we call them femme velo (for French: women with the bike). I spoke to her and asked if she new about the rules about bicycles on PATH trains and she said that because she carried the bicyles in a shoulder back she is fine. How cool is that, I said to myself. Check out Brompton.
 A Brompton bike in action |
 femme velo with Brompton bike |
Incidentally, this reminds me that I should really write to the Port Authority of NJ/NY and ask them to revise their rules about transportation of bikes. I have seen empty trains during the day past rush hour and there as sufficient space for bikes.
Best regards,
Mark