Commercial and recreational bicyclists are facing a steep hill in the coming year as the City Council looks to strictly regulate cycling in the five boroughs.
The council’s Transportation Committee will consider a group of bills that would rein in biking — an activity that has greatly expanded, with controversy, under Mayor Bloomberg and Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan.
Vacca will consider bills that require reflective gear for commercial bikes, mandate signs at shared bike and pedestrian paths, require bike-lane master plans, and register and insure commercial bikes.
The back of each piece of apparel would have to indicate the business name, along with an identification number.
Vacca also supports a measure mandating that city agencies post prominent signs warning cyclists to slow down and yield to pedestrians who share their bike paths.
His committee also will consider a bill that would require the city Department of Transportation to submit to the council and other local politicians master plans for the installation of bike lanes on city roads. The plans would have to indicate whether the lanes would require the elimination of driving lanes and parking spots.
Last week, the council also introduced a measure that would prohibit cyclists from chaining their bikes to trees — a particularly big problem in Jackson Heights, Queens, said bill sponsor Julissa Ferreras (D-Queens).
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