The New York cyclist revolution started on 9th August 2008 when 11 km of streets, in concrete Centre Street, Lafayette Street, the Fourth Avenue and Park Avenue were closed to road traffic from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. This attempt to give streets to people was repeated the next two Saturdays. Two were the responsible of it: the former mayor Michael Bloomberg and, specially, the former Commissioner for Transport Janette Sadik-Khan.
The test was a success. More than 300,000 people enjoyed it by walking, riding bikes, playing and dancing. The mark of Janette Sadik-Khan in New York is undeniable: She transformed road space into bicycle lines, pedestrianized squares such as Broadway, Times Square and Herald Square, and launched Citi Bike, the larger net of shared bikes in the USA. This visionary of the bicycle, as was defined by the New York Times, explains that there are thousands of reasons in order not to transform cities on a sustainable mobility and human view, but authorities and the citizens who serve them can not accept dysfunctional streets. They should fight for it and inaction is inexcusable.