You are reading

City Comptroller Proposes Bike-to-School Plan for NYC High Schoolers

Photo: Lesly Juarez on Unsplash

Sept. 3, 2020 By Allie Griffin

City Comptroller Scott Stringer proposed a “bike-to-school” plan for New York City high school students Thursday.

Stringer called on the city and philanthropic partners to provide free bikes and Citi Bike memberships to low-income public high school students. He also wants the city to build one and a half miles of protected bike lanes around 50 high school buildings across the city in the next year.

He said the proposal offers a sustainable, safe and healthy transportation option for young people to get to school at a time when the MTA is facing a major deficit and the the Department of Education (DOE) has yet to finalize any contracts with school bus companies.

“Building out bike lanes around New York City high schools and providing bikes to lower-income students would open the door to biking for hundreds of thousands of young people,” Stringer said in a statement. “By taking this action, we can allow New York City’s youth to get around their city, improve health and educational outcomes, and connect with their communities.”

As of 2015, about 18 percent of high school students biked or walked to school — down from 23 percent in 2009, according to the NYC Youth Risk Behavior Survey.

Stringer said that number should be much higher, as 40 percent of high school students attend school within their home district and 83 percent within their borough of residence.

“We have a unique opportunity to make biking easier, safer, and more accessible and fundamentally shift how the next generation thinks about getting around our city,” he said.

The comptroller also pointed to a number of studies that show daily exercise, such as biking to school, significantly improves concentration, cognitive skills and school performance.

email the author: news@queenspost.com
No comments yet

Leave a Comment
Reply to this Comment

All comments are subject to moderation before being posted.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Recent News

Holden calls out Mayor Adams—will he reopen ICE office on Rikers Island and tackle migrant crime?

One day after Mayor Eric Adams expressed his willingness to collaborate with the incoming Trump administration on addressing the migrant crisis and signaled a readiness to meet with former U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) head Tom Homan, Council Member Robert Holden called on the mayor to reopen the ICE office on Rikers Island.

Holden, who represents District 30 in Queens, which encompasses Maspeth, Middle Village, and parts of Glendale, Ridgewood, Elmhurst, and Rego Park, has been advocating for changes to the city’s sanctuary policies since July. In a letter, he previously urged the mayor to roll back laws that restrict local law enforcement agencies—including the NYPD, Department of Correction, and Department of Probation—from cooperating with ICE.