The Vanderbilt Open Streets program effectively creates a two-way protected bike lane during its operating hours, in an area that is lacking a safe north-south connection, on a key route from north Brooklyn to Prospect Park and beyond. To assess the impact of and demand for a permanent protected cycling route on Vanderbilt Avenue, we counted bike lane users during Open Street operations and compared these with counts on regular weekdays when the Open Street was not operating¹. Key results from this study:

• On average, we observed 486 bike lane users/hour on the Vanderbilt Open Street (range: 172-824 bikes/hr). This is on par with some of the busier cycling routes in the city. For example, as of September 17, 2025, the Prospect Park West bike lane sees a daily average of just over 2,600 cyclists — an amount easily comparable to the over 400 cyclists/hour on Vanderbilt Avenue. These observations were consistent over the 5 years counts were conducted.
• We observed significantly more bike lane users at 6pm than at 2pm (513 vs. 455/hr). It is likely that part of this difference is explained by a higher number of deliveristas on the road around dinner time.
• We observed significantly more bike lane users on Vanderbilt Avenue while the Open Street was operating — providing a safe, protected cycling route — than on regular weekdays².

The high bike lane usage observed on the Vanderbilt Open Street, and the ~30% increase compared to regular weekday usage, demonstrate both the popularity of the Vanderbilt Open Street, and the need for a protected bike lane on this corridor. When you provide safer infrastructure — even temporarily — cyclists will use it.

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1. Counts were done at 2pm and 6pm, in two locations (the block between Dean and Bergen, and the block between Prospect and St. Marks), for 15 minutes each, over 5 years of the Vanderbilt Open Streets program (N=111 counts during Open Streets operation, N=28 on regular weekdays). Bike lane users included bikes, e-bikes, and other micromobility; north- and southbound counts were combined.

2. Disclaimer: This is not a perfectly controlled study; data were collected by volunteers with limited resources, and without the kind of automated data collection DOT is able to perform. Some of the sample sizes are on the smaller side. However, the patterns are very consistent over the years, and the combined dataset with >100 observations is substantial. The with/without Open Street observations warrant further study.