Mapping Abandoned Bikes, One Rusty Chain at a Time

Bikes! First we were stealing them and then we were sharing them and then we had heated discussions about building lanes for them!  The perennial hot topic in Brooklyn media (momentarily bumped for an endless discussion of whether or not HBO’s Girls is racist, or maybe just America is racist, or possibly it’s television that’s racist: discuss!), bikes are once again in the news. Yesterday, WNYC’s Transportation Nation reported on the opposite of stolen bikes — abandoned bikes.

The unwanted bikes — usually chained to public property — dot the city (WNYC listeners have submitted more than 500 pictures since the station called for photos in April), but according to Transportation Nation, the Department of Sanitation can only remove those that are absolutely, for sure abandoned — junk beyond a reasonable doubt. Which means that for the most part, the abandoned bikes are here to stay.

Transportation Nation built an interactive map charting the locations of listener-submitted abandoned bikes around the city, including well over a dozen reported in Park Slope. If you’ve got updates (or you successfully get one removed), WNYC is hoping you’ll update the map with the new info.