Easy Urban Travel By Bicycle

It's wonderful to see bicycles becoming more integrated into urban transit systems. People are re-learning that cycling is an excellent and efficient mode of basic transportation.

For years I've had it in mind to ride into New York City by bicycle.  The city has a very impressive cycling infrastructure that includes dedicated lanes and bike trails as well as good signage. Great maps are available from the NYC DOT.

But the George Washington Bridge is the only place you can cross by bike.  That would be a long ride from here before even entering the city!

Alternatively, Google Maps bicycle option suggests the Paulus Hook Ferry. That would be a 65 mile ride from Pennington and would be a pleasant way to access lower Manhattan. We could take the train back after riding around.


A third option would be to hop on NJ Transit and ride up to Penn Station. There are now hundreds of bike rental stations all over the Manhattan and into Brooklyn. Pedal around all day. Lock it and leave by train again that evening.

We saw these while driving in Manhattan today:

The concept is quite common in modern cities. It's called Velib in Paris and Bixi in Montreal.


Time to do some urban riding!