NEW ORLEANS — For a city known for hospitality, it seems natural that New Orleans is increasingly welcoming all bicycle riders.
There are more bike lanes in the city than ever before. Stephen Haslag is grateful for that.
"Cyclists have the right to the road already, but it's nice to let everyone kind of know that there's a safe place for them to ride," Haslag said.
Haslag says he bikes about 100 miles a week, but it's gotten more crowded in those bike lanes thanks to the blue bikes, a bike sharing program that started in New Orleans two years ago. It gives people more access to rent bikes, but they're also left scattered throughout New Orleans waiting to be picked up.
"It happens especially near where their service points end up on Galvez and stuff like that. I'll see a bunch just scattered waiting to be picked up you know, for days on end," he said.
The city is planning to replace the current blue bikes with electric motored bikes next year and there's going to be more of them. There will 900 new bikes compared to the 700 current blue bikes. Haslag worries about what electric bikes than can go up to 20 mph might bring to the mix.
"I’m concerned about things like allowing people to go up to 20 miles an hour without a helmet on or anything and not knowing the rules of the road, in particular, not being in bike lanes with those electric bikes," he said.
It wasn't that long ago when the blue bikes program got push back. They're pretty much part of the landscape now. When the city moves ahead with the upgrades, that landscape will be highlighted with red.
Plans call for expanding the bike sharing program to other parts of the city including Central City and Algiers by the middle of next year. The city council will consider an ordinance on electric bikes on Thursday.
