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Guest: Professor John Surico
I really love having the chance to talk with my NYC friend and colleague John Surico – Professor Surico actually.
Today, John joins me from his local coffee shop, so you’ll hear a bit of 
background chatter at times, but the conversation is – as always – enlightening. And, I don’t mind a bit of ambient noise.
As many of my listeners know, my conversations with John are focused on his work in NYC, where he was born and raised and where he teaches, writes, and works on a great many projects, including his monthly Substack column, Streetbeat. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t sleep.
As we reported in the past, many cycling and walking projects that were in the works – whether shovel ready, already in process, or even completed, are being shut down or even torn up. The administration in D.C. thinks bike lanes are “ugly” and a waste of money.
Case-in-point is the already in place bike lane on Arizona Avenue which was reduced to painted lines from a separate protected lane, sparking a debate between federal policies and local transportation needs. And on it goes.
John and I talk about how congestion pricing has worked so well that, using a newly coined term, there is a space dividend – meaning things are opening up with less traffic, pollution, better safety, and the extra space created – so what can we do with that?
We begin our conversation with the snow-ma-geddon winter storm, how the new Mayor of NY handled it, and how Lyft’s much relied upon Citibike system was impacted.
After the break, John and I will dive into the ongoing dilemma of eBikes and the impact of the higher-powered Class II and III bikes that, frankly, aren’t bicycles at all.
In our ongoing conversations about NYC’s cycling and walking culture, we often see what the future might look like elsewhere in the country. My sense is that today was no different and, in fact my next several episodes will focus on eBike issues and the bicycle industry’s role in making sure that an eBike is truly a bicycle!
If you want to know what is happening in NYC and beyond as it pertains to urban culture, subscribe to John’s Substack Streetbeat. It’s a monthly compilation of the work he is doing as well as some networking opportunities. I always find it enlightening and interesting. You can find him at streetbeat.substack.com.
My next episode features the iconic mountain bike star Hans Rey in a heartfelt conversation about eBikes and the consequences he sees if we don’t act on some clarification of terms and the industry doesn’t push for them.