Since you speak as someone who doesn't seem to know Manhattan at all:
There are already dedicated bike lines. The article even states:
"But as more pedestrians and cyclists filled the streets, she had to concentrate to avoid running into anyone or being run into"
A contributor to that crowdedness is the amount of other bikes and pedestrians.
And why on earth get rid of Taxis? There are plenty of legitimates needs for Taxis. Trains break regularly and there is always MTA maintenance where your train is not actually running or the route is being altered during maintenance to the point that it can't not get you where you need to go. Taxis are still the best way of getting to and from the cities airports.
Lower Manhattan is the oldest part of the city, the streets like John Street and Nassau mentioned in the article are typical of the area. They actually predate cars. They are single lane streets that are the narrowest in the city. They were designed during the era where horse and buggies were the dominant mode of transport.
It is not possible to widen the side walks. So no the solution is not to cut into space on the road. Those roads have businesses on them that need to get deliveries.
While I am big proponent of alternative transportation, just blindly stating "more bikes, less cars!" is a hugely naive oversimplification.
There are already dedicated bike lines. The article even states:
"But as more pedestrians and cyclists filled the streets, she had to concentrate to avoid running into anyone or being run into"
A contributor to that crowdedness is the amount of other bikes and pedestrians.
And why on earth get rid of Taxis? There are plenty of legitimates needs for Taxis. Trains break regularly and there is always MTA maintenance where your train is not actually running or the route is being altered during maintenance to the point that it can't not get you where you need to go. Taxis are still the best way of getting to and from the cities airports.
Lower Manhattan is the oldest part of the city, the streets like John Street and Nassau mentioned in the article are typical of the area. They actually predate cars. They are single lane streets that are the narrowest in the city. They were designed during the era where horse and buggies were the dominant mode of transport.
It is not possible to widen the side walks. So no the solution is not to cut into space on the road. Those roads have businesses on them that need to get deliveries.
While I am big proponent of alternative transportation, just blindly stating "more bikes, less cars!" is a hugely naive oversimplification.