I can recall three transit strikes in New York City. The first began with the new year in 1966. I was a child then, and the main thing I recall is my father missing a couple of days of work, then taking cabs with co-workers.
The second lasted nearly as long, and began on April Fools' Day in 1980. I was a student at Rutgers but was making frequent trips into New York. Back then, buses along the Princeton-to-New York/Port Authority Route had large luggage hatches on their undersides. Since they were almost never used for the intended purpose, and because the bus operating company didn't seem to have any written policy against using those hatches for any other purpose, I and a few other cyclists would stow our bikes in them. I recall one friendly driver who'd help us angle our bikes into the compartments and make sure the door was shut; other drivers simply looked the other way. So, once I arrived in the city, I had a convenient way of getting around.
The last strike I recall began just before Christmas in 2005. Subway and bus workers walked off their jobs for three days. I was teaching at another college and, since the strike coincided with the end of the semester, we were concerned that exams would be postponed until January--and that I'd have to postpone or cancel a trip I'd booked for then. Thankfully, that strike ended before the holiday and only a few classes and exams, none of which were mine, had to be rescheduled.
During the 1980 and 2005 strikes, many commuters walked or rode bicycles to work. (In fact, the practice of wearing a business suit with sneakers and carrying dress pumps or wingtips in a bag is said to have begun with the 1980 strike.) I have had a difficult time finding statistics to confirm my observation that, while some continued to pedal to their offices, stores, factories or schools after each of those labor stoppages, more people continued to ride to work after the 2005 walkout than after the 1980 halt to the trains and buses.
If my observation can indeed be borne out by empirical data, it would indeed be interesting, especially because the conditions of each strike were very different: The 1980 strike unfolded with some of the blooms in the city's gardens, while the 2005 strike coincided with both the official beginning of winter and that season's first cold spell.
Also, because the 1980 strike was much longer, one might expect the habit of cycling or walking to become more ingrained than it would have during the 2005 stoppage.
Then again, some who weren't so inclined to ride or walk might have seen having to do so during the long 1980 strike in the way people viewed shortages and other privations during World War II or other protracted national emergencies: They were eager to get back to their old ways. On the other hand, having to bike or walk for only three days might leave people with more pleasant memories.
Moreover, as I recall, 1980 was a "year without a spring". A cold, damp April gave way to a heat wave in early May that presaged a hot, dry summer. Perhaps such weather was a disincentive to continue cycling, at least for some people. On the other hand, after the cold wave during the strike, the winter of 2005-2006 was mild. Perhaps it is no coincidence that the surge in the number of commuters and recreational cyclists began to surge right around that time.
I mention all of these things because the strikes in France--which include greves on the Transports Parisiens et Transiliens--have ended. The trains and buses, with a few exceptions, came to a halt for most of December and January. So there is a valid basis for comparing the change in transportation habits as opposed to the previous year.
Turns out, on the whole, the number of January cyclists in the City of Light--at least as measured on its major bike lanes--increased by 131 percent--over the first month of 2019. That is to say, the numbers more than doubled and on two--the Voie Georges Pompidou and le Pont National--more than three times as many cyclists rode by.
It will be interesting to see how many of those "new" cyclists continue their riding habit as Metro and bus services return to normal. I suspect they will, simply because cycling culture, while not as prevalent in Paris as in other parts of France, existed to a greater degree than it did in the Big Apple when its conductors, drivers and maintenance workers walked off their jobs. Also, Paris' system of bike lanes and other infrastructure is more extensive and generally more useful than what New York has even now, let alone 15 years ago or 40 years ago, when it was all but nonexistent.
All I can say is to Paris is Vive la Velo!
The second lasted nearly as long, and began on April Fools' Day in 1980. I was a student at Rutgers but was making frequent trips into New York. Back then, buses along the Princeton-to-New York/Port Authority Route had large luggage hatches on their undersides. Since they were almost never used for the intended purpose, and because the bus operating company didn't seem to have any written policy against using those hatches for any other purpose, I and a few other cyclists would stow our bikes in them. I recall one friendly driver who'd help us angle our bikes into the compartments and make sure the door was shut; other drivers simply looked the other way. So, once I arrived in the city, I had a convenient way of getting around.
The last strike I recall began just before Christmas in 2005. Subway and bus workers walked off their jobs for three days. I was teaching at another college and, since the strike coincided with the end of the semester, we were concerned that exams would be postponed until January--and that I'd have to postpone or cancel a trip I'd booked for then. Thankfully, that strike ended before the holiday and only a few classes and exams, none of which were mine, had to be rescheduled.
During the 1980 and 2005 strikes, many commuters walked or rode bicycles to work. (In fact, the practice of wearing a business suit with sneakers and carrying dress pumps or wingtips in a bag is said to have begun with the 1980 strike.) I have had a difficult time finding statistics to confirm my observation that, while some continued to pedal to their offices, stores, factories or schools after each of those labor stoppages, more people continued to ride to work after the 2005 walkout than after the 1980 halt to the trains and buses.
If my observation can indeed be borne out by empirical data, it would indeed be interesting, especially because the conditions of each strike were very different: The 1980 strike unfolded with some of the blooms in the city's gardens, while the 2005 strike coincided with both the official beginning of winter and that season's first cold spell.
Also, because the 1980 strike was much longer, one might expect the habit of cycling or walking to become more ingrained than it would have during the 2005 stoppage.
Then again, some who weren't so inclined to ride or walk might have seen having to do so during the long 1980 strike in the way people viewed shortages and other privations during World War II or other protracted national emergencies: They were eager to get back to their old ways. On the other hand, having to bike or walk for only three days might leave people with more pleasant memories.
Moreover, as I recall, 1980 was a "year without a spring". A cold, damp April gave way to a heat wave in early May that presaged a hot, dry summer. Perhaps such weather was a disincentive to continue cycling, at least for some people. On the other hand, after the cold wave during the strike, the winter of 2005-2006 was mild. Perhaps it is no coincidence that the surge in the number of commuters and recreational cyclists began to surge right around that time.
I mention all of these things because the strikes in France--which include greves on the Transports Parisiens et Transiliens--have ended. The trains and buses, with a few exceptions, came to a halt for most of December and January. So there is a valid basis for comparing the change in transportation habits as opposed to the previous year.
Turns out, on the whole, the number of January cyclists in the City of Light--at least as measured on its major bike lanes--increased by 131 percent--over the first month of 2019. That is to say, the numbers more than doubled and on two--the Voie Georges Pompidou and le Pont National--more than three times as many cyclists rode by.
It will be interesting to see how many of those "new" cyclists continue their riding habit as Metro and bus services return to normal. I suspect they will, simply because cycling culture, while not as prevalent in Paris as in other parts of France, existed to a greater degree than it did in the Big Apple when its conductors, drivers and maintenance workers walked off their jobs. Also, Paris' system of bike lanes and other infrastructure is more extensive and generally more useful than what New York has even now, let alone 15 years ago or 40 years ago, when it was all but nonexistent.
All I can say is to Paris is Vive la Velo!
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