As winter loosens its grip on Rochester, I’m eager to get outside and enjoy the sunlight of longer days. Many of my cherished fair-weather memories share a common thread: the terrace and the plaza. Internationally, outdoor drinking and dining are cultural institutions. Town squares and city streets around the world are packed with tables. The air is filled with the sounds of conversation and the smell of fresh food. City planners and community members are intentional about creating safe, calm oases within the urban context to eat, drink, walk, and socialize.
Sadly, this experience is not the norm in our city. With so much of our public realm surrendered to travel lanes and parking spaces, there is little space left for people. Even downtown and in entertainment districts like Park Ave, cars are prioritized while humans are pushed to the margins. Where outdoor seating is available at all, it often encroaches onto already too-narrow sidewalks, creating conflicts between diners and pedestrians. And if you can find outdoor seating, it is frequently located within just a few feet of high-speed car traffic, with all the accompanying noise and fumes.
While I see this situation as a tragedy, defenders of the status quo insist that allocating valuable urban space for outdoor dining and recreation is pointless in a city like Rochester which is gripped by snow and ice for 3-4 months of the year. While on the surface this argument sounds logical, our neighbors to the north see things differently.
City streets around the world are packed with tables. The air is filled with the sounds of conversation and the smell of fresh food…in our city if you can find outdoor seating, it is frequently located within just a few feet of high-speed car traffic with all the accompanying noise and fumes.
Every year during the winter months, the city of Montreal, Quebec is pummeled by an average of 83 inches of snow, with average temperatures below 20 degrees Fahrenheit. To put it in perspective, that is almost as much snow as we get in Rochester with a lower average temperature! But rather than basing decisions about urban space for the whole year on the coldest three months, Montreal has a different philosophy. Every summer, they open up some of their most vibrant city streets for walking, biking, and outdoor dining. Local artists and community members are called in to beautify their thoroughfares with planters, murals, and street furniture.
Despite our smaller population, I think this is something we could emulate in Rochester; perhaps from the beginning of the Jazz Festival in June to the end of the Fringe Festival in September. Partnerships could be created with these festivals, as well as other events and local businesses, to active the newly available public space. Here are my nominations for Rochester Open Streets.
Gibbs Street between Main Street and East Ave:
Located directly in the middle of the Eastman School of Music campus, this is area is the closest thing that the prestigious college has to a “quad.” A pedestrianized Gibbs Street would act as an extension of the existing pocket park on the corner of Main and create enough space for small outdoor concerts. It would also allow expanded outdoor seating for Java’s Café, Ludwig’s Center Stage Café, and Max Chophouse; all of which front onto this section of Gibbs.
Elm Street and Cortland Street at Parcel 5:
Parcel 5 has been growing in popularity as a venue for events and public gatherings; however, Elm and Cortland currently separate it from the nearby pedestrianized areas of Midtown Commons and The Grove to the southeast. Pedestrianizing these two streets would connect existing assets into a proper public square with the capacity for larger community events. It would also provide additional outdoor dining capacity for Branca, Patron Saint, and the food trucks that frequently set up shop in the area.
Park Avenue from Berkeley Street to Culver Road:
This stretch of Park Ave is home to many beloved restaurants and cafes. While I would love to see the entire length of Park Ave receive the Open Streets treatment, this section is the most obvious and least disruptive. RTS service could be shifted to East Ave during the window. Alternatively, a 12-foot span in the center of the roadway could be left unobstructed to create a temporary transit mall. This intervention would truly bring the corridor to life during some of its most vibrant months.
Which of these locations would you most like to see receive an Open Streets treatment? Is there another location in the City of Rochester you would like to see temporarily or permanently pedestrianized? Let us know!
After weeks of collectively feeling underwhelmed by the City’s snow management, we welcome the time of year when Rochesterians bundle up for early spring walks and rides! Up until last week, a lot of our public right of way was icy and unrideable, but kudos to everyone (City and private property owners) who cleared their paths and sidewalks to make the melt go faster.
Below are a few highlights from the last few weeks in our Advocacy Team’s work!
We held our second community conversation of 2026 with Carter Lavin, author of If You Want to Win, You’ve Got to Fight. If you missed it, watch the recording here and buy Carter’s book! We also launched the Reconnect Rochester Road Project Advocacy Toolkit, outlining some of the most useful things we’ve learned while doing road project advocacy. Take a look and give us your feedback so we can improve the usefulness of the information.
Better Buses for Rochester
Transit Awareness Month in February saw a flurry of activity. We mobilized a joint letter with RMAPI, Climate Solutions Accelerator and Healthi Kids on transit funding, attended a legislative breakfast in Albany with the State Legislature Transportation Chairs, met with lawmakers to share support for DMV Surcharge, and put out the third edition of the Voices of Transit series. To better understand RTS’s funding crunch, read the Beacon’s great overview.
Supporting Crash Victims
As a follow up, we installed a Ghost Bike in 2025 for Jerome Blocker and his family members have been active advocates with Reconnect since then. The driver of the vehicle that struck and killed Blocker, then left the scene, was sentenced this week.
Coming up next:
Reconnect Rochester is getting ready to fly to DC for the League of American Bicyclists Summit and we will be lobbying on capital hill for funding to multimodal transportation projects in the next transportation reauthorization bill!
The City of Rochester installed its first raised cycle track on Lake Avenue in 2016 beside St. Bernard’s Seminary and the Holy Sepulchre/Riverside Cemeteries. Since then, raised cycle tracks and doublewide sidewalk “trails” such as the Eastman Trail along Ridgeway, have become the City’s go-to protected bike infrastructure. Raised cycle tracks and “trails” like Eastman are separated from the street and “above” the curb next to the sidewalk. Our friend The Urban Phoenix has done a great job examining these and his thoughts are a great complement to what follows.
Bike and scooter riders of all ages and abilities tend to be comfortable on those cycle tracks and this is great! Reconnect Rochester’s historical preference for most City streets, however, hasbeen for protected bike lanes in the street – the gold standard we see in great cycling communities who really grow their ridership. Well-designed raised cycle tracks have their place in some settings, especially for suburban higher speed roads, which we’ll get into in a future blog post.
Rochester’s Union Street cycle track (“above” & outside the street at sidewalk level)
If Rochester’s ideal Bike Spine Network is composed primarily of cycle tracks constructed during very rare, very expensive Reconstruction projects, we won’t have the Bike Spine Network in 100 years.
Rochester installed some protected bike lanes with bollards/posts on Broad Street and Chestnut ~2017. The bike community was excited, expecting those to be the forerunners of many. But the bollards/posts went missing, we never saw any more protected bike lanes and started seeing a regular dose of raised cycle tracks next to the sidewalk instead. There are 8 recently completed or in-design projects with cycle tracks. Some cyclists have grown concerned that City Hall has developed a raised-cycle-tracks-or-nothing philosophy when it comes to protected bike infrastructure. Fortunately, that seems to be changing. More on that in a bit.
The primary drawback of raised cycle tracks is cost: They’re typically only feasible during rare Reconstruction projects, which come along (if you’re lucky) once a lifetime to a given stretch of road. If Rochester’s ideal Bike Spine Network is composed primarily of cycle tracks constructed during very rare, very expensive Reconstruction projects, we won’t have the Bike Spine Network in 100 years. This goes against the recommendations and spirit of the City’s 2023 Active Transportation Plan, which urges concentrating political will on achieving that Bike Spine Network in the near term.
Luckily there is a cheaper way to build the bike spine: The lower hanging fruit when it comes to bike infrastructure is cheaper, routine preventative maintenance (resurfacing) projects, which roll along every few years and allow for space reallocation between curbs. This is where protected in-street bike lanes become possible, provided the design allocates the space to the bike lane.
This is also where things get thorny: We’d contend that there’s often room for protected bike lanes on many roads. But there’s often not room for both protected bike lanes and on-street parking. This trade-off and elephant in the room can’t be ignored. Along those proposed spines, the safety and comfort of vulnerable road users must override free on-street parking, especially in light of safety initiatives like ROC Vision Zero. If a City reconstruction project comes along to widen a road and enable both on-street parking and protected bike infrastructure, great. Safety above all in the meantime.
For the above reasons, these two tenets hold true:
Sidewalk level cycle tracks don’t require confronting bad driver behavior and take more money and time.
Protected bike space in the street confronts driver habits (like illegal parking and speeding) and is cheaper and faster to implement.
Other concerns about raised cycle tracks
Cycle tracks might subtly convey to motorists that cyclists shouldn’t ride in the road. Raise your hand if you’ve been yelled at by a motorist to “get out of the street” and “ride on the sidewalk.” Cycle tracks feed this thinking and are seen by some as bowing to car-dominance. Great cycling cities challenge that car-dominance.
So many cyclist crashes in Rochester involve sidewalk-riding cyclists. Raised cycle tracks are not much different than sidewalk-riding and they open riders up to some very common motorist mistakes, especially locally. Motorists pulling out of driveways and parking lots tend to pull right into the sidewalk/cycle track area as they wait for a break in traffic. (They’re required by law to come to a complete stop *before* the sidewalk and only creep up for a better view once they know it’s clear. Very few drivers do this). Bike riders in protected bike lanes are more visible and predictable in the street than they are outside the street.
Raise your hand if you’ve been yelled at by a motorist to “get out of the street” and “ride on the sidewalk.” Cycle tracks feed this thinking and are seen by some as bowing to car-dominance.
The line between sidewalk and cycle track have blurred in recent Rochester projects, which is concerning. See the new doublewide sidewalk on University, the shared path on State Street by MCC and the way cyclists are supposed to go up on the Culver sidewalk now over 490.
Cycle tracks, especially bidirectional ones on one side of the street, often create awkward, unintuitive, inconvenient, sometimes scary transitions when they end abruptly or switch sides of the road. See Elmwood/East Drive or Union/University for examples. (When regular bike lanes end, you just keep going straight).
Though this has gotten better, Rochester has a less-than-stellar record when it comes to curb cuts and smooth transitions for raised cycle tracks. Constant curb cut riding isn’t required when riding in the road.
As the cycle track on East Main Street has taught us, if a resident has multiple cars parked in their driveway, the cycle track is blocked and unusable. Garbage cans, hot dog stands, anything really – can make cycle tracks unusable.
Though Rochester doesn’t clear its bike lanes of snow (they’ve got a plan for (studying) that), at least the responsibility for keeping roadway travel space is clear: the owner of the road. With cycle tracks, it’s ambiguous who should clear the snow. Property owners are responsible for clearing sidewalks of snow, but not the cycle track right next to the sidewalk.
In sum, Reconnect Rochester would love to see more in-street protected bike lanes. They really drive up ridership, create less conflicts, and it’s the cheaper, faster way to realize the City’s vision. We’re excited for the City’s upcoming Protected Bicycle Lanes Demonstration Project, which will “trial a number of semi-permanent barriers…that can be left out during the winter season. These barriers will be evaluated on cost, their ability to create safe cycling infrastructure, their resilience to snow plowing, and their ease of maintenance.” These demo protected bike lanes are expected in 2027 on St Paul, State Street, Ford Street and East Avenue.
For a taste of what’s in store, check out the new protected bike lane segments on West Main Street! This seasonal barrier should be reinstalled in April.
Reconnect Rochester’s Complete Streets Makeover project transforms a neighborhood intersection through a temporary installation designed to make it safer for everyone passing through, whether on bike, on foot, or in a car. We selected the winning location for our 6th project from a pool of 48 trouble spots that community members identified as places in your daily travels where you don’t feel comfortable walking or biking. After carefully evaluating each location using established criteria, such as safety concerns and design improvement potential, our Program Steering Committee held a popsicle stick voting session and landed on this year’s winner!
(Drumroll please…)
Genesee Park Blvd & Pioneer St in the 19th Ward neighborhood!
Genesee Park Blvd & Pioneer St sees a high number of crashes under normal conditions but a recent detour has exacerbated the issue. With the detour recently removed and traffic flows returning to normal conditions, residents have since raised real safety concerns traveling through the intersection.
While pedestrian crashes have been less frequent than vehicle collisions, drivers failing to yield the right of way has led to residents feeling unsafe. Some report that they take a longer route to bike or walk to Genesee Valley Park because it feels safer than passing through this intersection. Genesee Park Blvd & Pioneer St sits just steps from the Empire State Trail and Genesee Riverway Trail, where people regularly walk, run, and bike. Its proximity to University of Rochester off campus student housing and School #53 leads many students and families to rely on this intersection on a daily basis.
This intersection also has extra road space to work with, and the layout presents strong potential for design improvements. Plus, Rochester is planning a reconstruction of Genesee Park Blvd in 2032 which creates an opportunity to test safer street design on a temporary basis. Through data collection, we can evaluate what works for all road users and center community voice to help inform the permanent redesign.
Next Steps…
We’ll hold a Community Workshop in March to gain insight from the residents of the 19th Ward about the enhancements they would like in the intersection. No one understands what it’s like to use our streets better than those who walk, bike, roll, and ride along them everyday.
Complete Streets Makeover Community Workshop in 2025
Our friends on the complete streets design team at Stantec will use community input from the workshop to create conceptual design enhancements of an improved streetscape. We’ll then see these concepts transform into reality through a temporary on-street installation in May. This transformation is only possible through the input and support of neighborhood residents coming out to help with the installation. Keep a look out for updates along the way!
*Community Partners
The Complete Streets Makeover of Genesee Park Blvd & Pioneer St is a collaborative venture with the following community partners:
Is there an intersection or trouble spot in your daily travels where you don’t feel safe to walk or bike? Nominate it for our next Complete Streets Makeover project!FILL OUT OUR NOMINATION FORM.
Reconnect Rochester presents Voices of Transit, an ethnography profile blog series that shows how our current bus system helps (and sometimes hurts) transit-dependent riders in their daily lives. Each year since 2023, we spend the winter interviewing RTS riders to hear about their experiences firsthand to share with state legislators in the name of funding public transit. Read more about how the initiative began in 2023 here.
Click on a name below to hear that rider’s story.
Esther
1. Did you grow up riding public transportation?
I didn’t ride transit until my 20s. I was born in Rochester and moved around a lot then didn’t use RTS until I came back in 1991. Back then the buses were really good. I was living out in Greece at Long Pond in and the buses took us to Irondequoit mall for $1 and you didn’t even have to transfer. It would take you downtown and I could get to a lot of places.
I would prefer to use the OnDemand bus but it doesn’t come downtown.
3. Do you own a car?
I used to. Now I will get rides when I can afford it.
4. How does RTS play a role in your day to day life?
I take it to work. It’s unfortunate because I’m a substitute [teacher] and this one school on Bryan St. kept offering sub jobs but I couldn’t get there because I can’t get a bus there. There are other schools too where I’ve had difficulty getting to jobs and I can’t work.
I used to work security near Marketplace mall but the bus went all the way around where I needed to go so I had to walk a while. It took a lot to get there but it was a good paying job but I lost it because I was late whenever the bus was late getting me there.
When I think of all the doctors appointments I go to, and I go to quite a few different areas, I don’t know many that are accessible by bus. RTS doesn’t go to Red Creek or Fairport, at least where I need it, so I have to get medical transportation which requires authorization from your doctor.
5. How do you pay for RTS?
When I went to MCC I was happy to get an ID to pay for the bus. Now I am lucky because I have agencies that help me with monthly passes.
6. What doesn’t work for you about RTS service, and what would you change?
Why don’t we have better service to the suburbs? To use OnDemand, I have to get another bus to get to the zone and then I’m standing out in the cold again? We need to fix that because there are a lot of places people need to go.
There are a lot of organizations hiring but they’re out in the suburbs and people can’t get there. There’s a few buses to Fairport, East Rochester or Pittsford but they don’t go where the jobs are. I have friends who walk a mile to get to a job because the bus doesn’t take them all the way. That’s a lot to walk then work an eight hour job and then walk a mile back. We shouldn’t have to be stronger than our own transportation. If we had transportation to the hub, people would be able to do better and help themselves.
The 41 (Culver/Goodman Crosstown) should definitely be 15 minute service. Everyone uses that one. The 15 (Plymouth) bus goes out to the hospital but it takes forever. I don’t know why they did that. Or the 5 (Portland) which also goes to a hospital but they discontinued it. What if people don’t have money to catch an ambulance? If buses came every 15 minutes I wouldn’t be stressing about how to get to the emergency room. They also need more double buses like they have on Portland.
Or what about working off hours? There should be early morning buses for people who need to be at work early or late. Some buses run until midnight but what happens if I work at a bar and it doesn’t close until two? They should have buses near that area in Alexander with all the bars because you don’t want those people driving after being at the bar all night.
7. What works for you about RTS service?
I like that they go to grocery stores. The 4 (Hudson) goes to Walmart and the 12 (S. Clinton) goes to Tops.
I love that the 22 (Lake) goes to Charlotte beach which is great. It’s easy to get to schools like Nazareth or St. John Fisher or MCC which is nice for people who don’t drive.
It’s nice that you get to meet new people. I met this family going to School #12. Every time I ride there I get to see her and the kids. That’s a good feeling when you communicate with the community. You won’t get that in a car.
8. What are your thoughts on bus amenities?
I live across from the Transit Center and that’s great but coming home is a hassle. Standing out in the snow with no shelter. I’m 54 now so it’s not easy to just stand on my feet for 20-30 minutes waiting. It’s very important to me to have benches.
Why did they take down all the shelters? I know homeless people are sleeping in there but what about the riders? I can’t stand for a long period of time. We’re out in the cold and there are no windows protecting you from the wind.
9. What is your hope for the future for public transportation in Rochester?
I’d really like to see the 15 minute service go back. And more coverage. They should look at where people need to get to and what’s more important for customers then put a bus there and back. There are so many buses that are not active all day that could be used.
William
1. Did you grow up riding public transportation?
No, not until college where I used the Centro bus system in Utica NY. The campus I went to was a commuter campus so it was very car-focused. It had one bus stop and I would take that to get the train home. Before that I maybe used the bus in NYC once or twice visiting and maybe Boston as well.
2. What RTS service and routes do you use?
I started riding RTS around 2023 when I moved into an apartment in Rochester. I would often take it downtown to meet friends. I primarily ride routes 8 (E. Main) and 41 (Culver/Goodman Crosstown) which are both great. I haven’t had any problem with them. I don’t necessarily know if they followed the schedule because I just use the real time arrival tracking on the Transit app.
Yes I’ve used OnDemand, but I tend not to use it much because it just doesn’t work. It’s hard to book trips. When trips are booked I’ve been sitting at a location for 45 minutes before the driver showed up. I really can’t rely on using it to get to work. Also you cannot go from one zone into any adjacent area no matter how close they are. There’s no overlap. So if I want to go from Charlotte to Durand Eastman, I would have to go all the way to one of the connection hubs in Irondequoit. Now instead of it being a 5 min trip across the bridge to the location, it’s a 15-20 min drive across Irondequoit.
3. Do you own a car?
I do have a car but I wanted to try using the bus system here when I don’t have huge time restrictions. I ride RTS because I don’t want to drive. I don’t want to find parking. It’s definitely nice especially in the summer when I can combine it with my bike easily to not have to spend as much on gas money. Also I’m paying a minimum of $2,000 to own my car between maintenance and insurance. I would get rid of my car if I could reliably commute to work in less than 45 minutes.
I’ve taken my parents on the bus. Both times it was their first time ever riding the bus in Rochester. Mind you, they have both lived here for decades. Definitely the pains you come to expect between frequency and connections were there. Luckily we weren’t going too far; we were mostly going on the 8 (E. Main) to downtown and then out. But that was a neutral experience. The most recent time I went with my mother from my house, we left the car there and took the 8 to Eastman where we then walked to the Christmas market. We did end up taking a ride share back because we had just missed the bus and couldn’t wait 30 minutes for the next one.
4. How does RTS play a role in your day to day life?
My doctor’s appointments have a 5 minute window of arrival so I take the 41 (Culver/Goodman Crosstown) to the 40 (Ridge Crosstown) to go out to the Greece office and that works perfectly. It drops me right off in front and I make it to the appointment on time. If I have a strict time table then I choose to drive because I don’t want to be late.
I work at a U of R building on E River Rd. which is difficult to access from my location on RTS. There is a route close to the office but it doesn’t go to my building. It would probably be a 5 min walk but it would be down a busy street. It’s not exactly a low-stress environment to be walking there. So I take the 41 from Beechwood to College Town then I have to wait for the U of R bus to take me to my office. This makes transfers difficult because the different bus lines don’t sync their schedules. I can only take the U of R bus because I’m an employee so not everyone has this option.
5. How do you pay for RTS?
I’ve been really happy since they introduced tap-to-pay. Before that I used the QR code scanning from the Transit app which I didn’t really like; it felt bulky and not very nice. Depending on your screen dimness or if my phone died, or the reader functionality it wouldn’t always work so I would always carry an RTS Go card on me connected to my account so it was the same balance.
6. What doesn’t work for you about RTS service, and what would you change?
Lack of bike capacity. Only being able to put two bicycles on the front of buses is quite a drawback. Last summer I biked to Brockport, which turns out is quite far, so I biked back to Greece before I decided to take a bus home since I was tired. The bus had two bikes on it so I just had to bike the rest of the way home.
A similar thing happened to another rider who I saw taking the number 7 out to Webster. I had just put my bike on the bus so now there were two and it was full. At the next stop was another person who couldn’t get on because they had a bike. They worked at the Walmart in Baytown. They now had to ride their bike down Empire Blvd. to get to their job. Unfortunately the other person who put their bike on got off at the last stop before going down that hill on Empire. It’s not a great place to ride.
There is a bus stop on the Empire hill on the Webster side. I don’t even think it should be allowed but the outgoing bus stop on the uphill section there you get thrown on the shoulder and then you have to cross 5 lanes of traffic to get to that housing development. I’ve talked to some people who will take the bus out to the end of the line and all the way back because they feel so unsafe getting off at the other side of the road.
7. What works for you about RTS service?
The reliability of RTS Connect is amazing. I can rely on it being there on the times when it says it’s there. I haven’t experienced much cancellation, really just one or two times. Knowing that I can take the bus when I want to is great.
8. What are your thoughts on bus amenities?
I wish there were more shelters. Also maybe some actual benches. The cube things are nice but they aren’t the most comfortable thing in the world. Plus they like to collect water. Over time people sit on them and they slowly deform. When it rains water pools on the cubes. It’s not great.
Another thing is the curb to the sidewalk could be better. I took the bus out to Brighton on Monroe Ave and the bus stop was right in a bush. Someone had planted something between the sidewalk and the curb and it looked really nice but the bus stop is there and I had to walk through it. I feel bad ruining someone’s garden.
I will say there are some very nice bus stops along Monroe Ave. in Brighton. They have a full shelter and a bench, not the standard RTS shelter, it’s more artsy. Then they had a full surface material like asphalt or reclaimed rubber between the curb and the sidewalk which was nice.
9. What is your hope for the future for public transportation in Rochester?
I really want to see higher frequencies. The network in my opinion has very good coverage but frequencies leave something to be desired. I’d also like to see more crosstown routes. The 41 (Culver/Goodman Crosstown) crosses University, East Ave and Park but it’s very difficult to transfer between 41 and one of those main routes unless you’re at the end point.
So there’s a 50 (Fairport/Penfield) out to Fairport that doesn’t connect to the 8 (E. Main). There’s a transfer point at Blossom which connects the 50 to the 9 (University) and the 10 (Park) but the 8 is a high frequency route that doesn’t connect with anything at the end. So if I want to go to Fairport, I either have to take the 8 to Winton then bike to the Blossom transfer or go all the way in to the Transit Center. It’s a lot of work so I’d love to see some kind of crosstown route that connects these routes.
Madeleine
1. Did you grow up riding public transportation?
I’m from Amherst and yes I did but pretty rarely. Those buses have a similar vibe to Rochester where they’re not terribly frequent and I lived farther away from a hub. I just had the B43 line that took you to North Hampton and I did take that on occasion. But once I got a car it was easier and faster.
2. What RTS service and routes do you use?
I ride RTS most days. Most everywhere except work because I work at U of R and there isn’t really a bus that [connects] from my [RTS Connect bus line]. The shuttle isn’t very convenient and I never know if they’re coming or not.
I take the 13 (South Ave) most frequently. Sometimes the 12 (S. Clinton) to get to Brighton. The 14 (Marketplace) to the Wegmans in Henrietta. It was super convenient when I lived between the 13 and the 14. Essentially I had a 15 minute bus window to get downtown.
The 41 (Culver/Goodman Crosstown) is probably my second most-used line. It’s really efficient to get to Park Ave or East or University. You’ve got the Little Theatre, Red Fern, Stevers…that whole area.
3. Do you own a car?
My fiance and I collectively own one car. We got that car for free and we’re trying to use it as long as possible. We don’t want to pay for a new car and be on credit. Most of my friends who have cars are paying them off with a lot of money per month. We also both like being more ecologically responsible.
4. How does RTS play a role in your day to day life?
I use it for groceries, work, doctors appointments… I’ll use the 14 (Marketplace) or 41 (Culver/Goodman Crosstown) to go to Wegmans. Sometimes bigger bulk items make it difficult. I have a cart that I use but it can be unwieldy.
The 12 (S. Clinton) is best for my errands. It goes to my doctor, my dermatologist, and my dentist because they’re all in a line over there. Also my tailor which is in the strip mall where the Tops is.
I took the 41 to get my wedding dress in a store that was there called Scarlet Bridal. It’s not there anymore. I took it home on the bus sitting in one of the seats holding it above my head so it didn’t trail on the floor.
5. How do you pay for RTS?
I pay with my work [University of Rochester] ID because I have a U-pass (a universal pass that employers pay RTS for). [Before having a U-pass], I mostly paid with the app. I tried cash but it’s a pain.
6. What doesn’t work for you about RTS service, and what would you change?
The two biggest things that I would change are frequency and we need another crosstown line. Preferably more than one. Being near the 41 (Culver/Goodman Crosstown) has been such a game changer in convenience. It’s helped me avoid so many transfers or trips to the transit center.
It can be hard planning out all the details. It would be incredible to have regular buses every 10 minutes. Even 15 minutes would be great. Then you wouldn’t have to plan because you know another bus is close by. A lot of RTS routes only run every hour after a certain time. It’s difficult planning on weekends because it’s an hour wait. Imagine missing that bus.
If I’m taking a 20 minute bus ride and a 5 min walk, the difference between that and a 15 min car ride is negligible. But if it’s a 10 min car ride versus a 50 min bus ride with two transfers…then I get why people don’t want to choose the bus.
7. What works for you about RTS service?
I get to read on the bus which is great. I can mend a shirt. You can do stuff on a bus. So what if it takes 45 minutes to get there? If you get in a car for 20 minutes there’s nothing to do. Also I hate parking so much. Looking for it or paying for it. When we go to The Little Theatre or the Dryden, if we get on the bus we’re dropped off right there.
Also we have better conversations on the bus. In the car the driver is distracted while focusing on not crashing the car. I was getting on [the bus] the other day and I ran into a friend I hadn’t seen in a long time and I met his girlfriend.
8. What are your thoughts on bus amenities?
Yeah most of the bus stops that I use most commonly have neither seating nor shelters. I think honestly probably seating is the bigger deal especially if it’s 60 minute service. I like Reconnect Rochester’s bus cubes.
9. What is your hope for the future for public transportation in Rochester?
I hope I can get people to use it more. I use it to get to most places. Our car was in the body shop for a month and a half last November. We were still able to get 95% of the places. We never had to use an Uber.
I just want more people to try transit! I want more people to see it as a valid option.
OnDemand doesn’t work. If we’re trying to go to Victor or East Rochester, we have to travel so far and take 2-3 buses. Then after that we have to meet an Onemand bus? How do we schedule that? Why not just have buses run all the way out there? People from the suburbs need to come into the city and OnDemand doesn’t make sense to get them there. Anywhere people need to go should not be a struggle to get to.
2. Do you own a car?
No.
3. How does RTS play a role in your day to day life?
I take it to doctors appointments, for errands. I also take it to go to meetings for my kids’ school which is challenging because the superintendent hosts meetings at different schools and some of them aren’t accessible by RTS.
4. What doesn’t work for you about RTS service, and what would you change?
There are places the buses just won’t go and that’s challenging. They’re also discontinuing some of their stops which they should not be doing. Especially near some of the schools which is especially hard for parents.
Crowded buses are not cool. People have to stand up and that’s not right or there’s no room for wheelchairs or parents with strollers. We need better access for them. I understand there is a designated area but it needs to be better so parents can sit up front with their strollers without issue.
Also they need to stop shutting down the bathrooms at the transit center when something goes wrong. You should not shut down the bathrooms.
5. What works for you about RTS service?
I really like some of the operators who make us smile. When we say, “Good morning,” they’ll say it back. They’re willing to help us if we need. We have some really good operators out there willing to do their job. I like that.
6. What are your thoughts on bus amenities?
It’s winter now and it’s so hard for everyone when bus stops aren’t shoveled out. Wheelchairs have to go on the side of the street and just sit there. It’s also not safe for people with walkers or canes or kids who have to walk on the side of the street since the sidewalk is not shoveled. The city needs to make that better. It doesn’t make any sense.
We need shelters. So many stops don’t have them. We need something to keep people warm especially when it’s cold out or when it rains. At the hospital they have a timer showing when the bus is coming. I’d like to see that at all the shelters. If the bus is running late they can let us know.
Some stops have the little square things (bus stop cubes) but a lot of people from the neighborhood just hang out on them and don’t get up for riders. So we need more seating all over.
7. What is your hope for the future for public transportation in Rochester?
We need it in our city, we need it in our suburbs. We need it all over. To help everyone. When you have single mothers, single dads, single grandparents without cars who don’t have money and they’re missing appointments or they can’t take their kids to school when they miss the school bus. They deserve better.
I’m asking and begging to get more help for RTS. For families that keep being denied RTS Access [RTS service for physically disabled]. My health is not great and I have a hard time going back and forth to bus stops. And going back and forth to my doctors. Make sure RTS works for everybody.
Zach
1. Did you grow up riding public transportation?
Not often. I grew up in a suburb with a couple bus lines in the town but I didn’t ride the city buses until I moved to Rochester for college. I started riding RTS to get to places I couldn’t get to by walking or biking. This way I didn’t have to bum a ride off a friend or get an Uber.
2. What RTS service and routes do you use?
On average I take it every other day but it’s weather dependent. I’ll bike when the weather works but when there’s three feet of snow on the ground or it’s raining, I’ll take the bus.
I share a car and we don’t want to have to get a second car because of the financial burden. RTS allows us to make the most of our every day trips without having to use the car.
4. How does RTS play a role in your day to day life?
A big role. Especially in the winter. I use it to get to work. I also take it to get to other activities, to restaurants or stores…lots of places.
For my previous job, I took the 13 (South Ave). The office was downtown so I’d walk from the transit center. Now I have a longer bus ride in the morning. But it gives me time to sit on the bus and now I’ve been reading more books. It’s something I did a lot when I was kid in elementary and middle school and riding the bus has given me an opportunity to get back into that. I find that valuable.
5. How do you pay for RTS?
I use the Transit app. I add funds to my account and scan the QR code. I find it to be pretty easy for route finding and tracking the bus.
6. What doesn’t work for you about RTS service, and what would you change?
For the most part I’m happy with the routes but I would like it if there were more crosstown buses. Specifically there is nothing to cross the Ford St. bridge which is a significant gap between Elmwood and downtown. Also along Winton Rd. running parallel to the 41 (Culver/Goodman Crosstown). I could see that to allow connection to the Twelve Corners Plaza and to North Winton Village.
Honestly, the biggest thing I would want to change is frequency. That is the biggest barrier that prevents me from riding RTS more often. For instance, I’m taking a flight tomorrow and it’s an 18 min drive but over an hour on RTS. If there were more lines that would enable a lot more people to see it as a better option.
Also having frequency cut in half after 6 or 7pm is a big issue for me. I would like to be able to go places conveniently in the evening. If I’m out to dinner and I miss the bus by a few minutes, I have to wait over an hour for the next one.
7. What works for you about RTS service?
The buses themselves are really pleasant to ride. I almost never have an issue getting on to the bus or finding a seat. You could say that that’s a downside since it shows how the ridership could be higher. But the buses themselves are comfortable. The operators are by and large quite nice.
Since I’ve been commuting on the bus more recently I’ve been getting to know the people on my route. I’ve built some of those acquaintances. The environment encourages that sort of thing.
I find biking part of the way then putting my bike on the bus really helps me get anywhere. I can bike to work one way and take a bus to go home if it’s raining or something. Or if I want to reach a destination that is not on a bus line, I can bring my bike to avoid a lengthy walk to get there. It’s a really powerful combination especially at night when RTS is less frequent.
8. What are your thoughts on bus amenities?
My bus stop has a bench. It’s on a sidewalk with a nice curb which works for me. However there is a wheelchair user at my stop and even though there is a curb cut, when it’s snowy and they don’t plow the sidewalks it’s an issue. When RTS puts out the ramp it goes on the snow and she has to roll over the snow. Some better winter maintenance on the pads and bus stops is important. Also making sure each bus stop has those concrete pads so people can get on the bus without having to walk through the mud and snow.
9. What is your hope for the future for public transportation in Rochester?
I would be thrilled if we had some kind of light rail at some point. We used to have the subway here. I think that’s a relic of a time when public transportation was seen as the first choice and I think that we should work to go back to that.
JP
1. Did you grow up riding public transportation?
I was born in NYC and I rode transit a lot. When I moved here I realized how much I missed the transit there. I wouldn’t say RTS is terrible they just need more orbital or cross town routes.
When I was in high school back in 2021, the yellow school buses for RCSD had a huge driver shortage. We were stranded until RTS had to step in and help students get to school. This resulted in resource shortage for RTS where only four of the eight frequent routes are running every 15 minutes. My school happened to be one of those schools briefly until they got one of those yellow bus operators for us. This snowballed into me riding RTS. That same school year I attended after school programs and would take RTS fixed routes from school to home. I’ve been a frequent rider ever since.
2. What RTS service and routes do you use?
I basically live on the 6 (N Goodman) though if I miss it I use the 5 (Portland) to get home albeit with a longer walk. I take the 13 (South Ave) for school. To get home, the 41 (Culver/Goodman Crosstown) takes the throne and the 2 (N. Clinton) as well. The other routes are just for exploration.
I don’t use OnDemand though the fare increase did annoy me somewhat. People rely on this. By increasing it to $3 it may turn away some people who can’t afford it or they may decide a car is better. With fixed routes you can just show up at a stop and go which is better.
3. Do you own a car?
No. I bike as well but that’s it.
4. How does RTS play a role in your day to day life?
I use it mostly for school during the day. In the evenings after 6pm the headways get way worse. But it’s a decent experience.
5. What doesn’t work for you about RTS service, and what would you change?
Controversially, I would convert some of Main St. into a bus-exclusive street at least in the downtown area. It is the busiest corridor. I would like to see transit signal priority as well, especially at the transit center, so the buses don’t have to wait so long to get out of there. Transit signal priority is when a bus arrives at an intersection the signals detect the bus is there and turn green sooner or remain green if it’s about to turn red.
I also don’t like how the routes feel a bit more “suburban-y” with big parking lots and big houses and not even a curb for bus riders to use when getting off.
6. What works for you about RTS service?
It’s a nice way to get to know the city. On weekends I’ll head to the transit center and ride a random route. Recently I took the 23 (West Ave/Airport) to the airport to see how it would work. I just like public transit in general as a service and I definitely would like to see it funded more.
Since I’m an MCC student, I can ride for free. I can save money for things that are more important like equipment for college or other things.
7. What are your thoughts on bus amenities?
A countdown clock like what Chicago has with their ink paper displays could be helpful. Also some bus stops are way too close together. Merging them would help those on board so we can all go quicker.
8. What is your hope for the future for public transportation in Rochester?
I want more frequency but all things considered they do a decent job of providing a service for what I need. Though I’d definitely like to see more routes. If I’m pushing it, I’d like more suburban routes with double decker buses. As controversial as it sounds, we can use highways for public transit corridors. We can connect people in the city with those in the suburbs. Maybe once we have higher ridership, we can introduce a light rail to connect the city from one line to another.
Reconnect Rochester would like to thank all of the RTS riders for the time and effort they’ve dedicated to our community, and for taking the time to answer our questions. We are proud to elevate these voices and ask for the funding RTS needs to expand service.
People power this movement for more transportation options and a vibrant community – through riding, walking and raising your voice. Your voice can make a difference speaking to your municipal, county, state and federal leaders to get improvements made to your street, bike lanes and sidewalks in your community.
This toolkit is a compilation of everything we’ve found useful and important in understanding different road projects, national trends and local plans to enhance our multimodal transportation network! It contains links to other partner resources that go deep into all aspects of safe road designs for all users – from kids to seniors and every ability in between.
Why is this important to Reconnect?
All of us on staff are residents and advocates. None of us have degrees in urban planning or traffic engineering. We’re self-taught and we have lived experiences riding the bus, a bike, and walking. We all decided at a certain point that this was a topic we wanted to learn more about, and joined with others to identify a project we wanted to fight for.
In advocacy, there’s a ladder of engagement and we want more residents to be engaged, knowledgeable and powerful in advocating for their neighborhood’s needs. That means having access to the same information, resources and frameworks that we have. It’s fine if you want to trust us and copy the talking points from Mobility Action Alerts, but we also think it’s important to share the knowledge and inspiration while we advocate.
We want to hear your perspectives
Whether you spend time with this guide or not, we always want to hear from you about local projects. Send your thoughts and ideas to our email. Our input to the City, County, State and Federal partners should always be grounded in your feedback.
An invitation
Our blog and social media are great ways to share an idea you’ve had for your community. Write up a 300-500 word post with original pictures and share them with Reconnect and we’ll work with you to get your idea out there. We’ve previously featured ideas about High Falls that might get real treatments in upcoming projects, visions of Bus Rapid Transit on Lake Ave, and proposals for a mixed-use trail on the east side of Irondequoit.
Most of us move through our communities the same way every day. Buckled into a car, windows up, music on, brain half‑occupied with the next thing on our list. We glide past storefronts, sidewalks, bus stops, crosswalks, and front porches without ever really experiencing them. In a vehicle, the world becomes a backdrop, a blur of shapes and colors that we register only long enough to navigate from Point A to Point B.
But the moment you step out of the car and onto the street, everything changes.
That’s the quiet power of a walk audit, defined by a simple, intentional stroll through a neighborhood with the goal of observing how the built environment actually works for the people who use it. It’s not complicated. It’s not technical. It doesn’t require a planning degree or a clipboard full of jargon. It just requires your feet, your eyes, and an open mind.
And yet, this humble act can completely transform how you understand your community.
Buffalo, NY
What Exactly Is a Walk Audit?
A walk audit is essentially a guided exploration of a street or neighborhood with the goal of noticing what works, what doesn’t, and what could be better. You pay attention to things you never see from behind the wheel:
How wide (or narrow) the sidewalks feel
Whether crosswalks are visible or faded into oblivion
How fast cars are moving compared to how fast they should be moving
Whether a bus stop has a bench or just a lonely sign in the dirt
How easy it is for someone with a stroller, wheelchair, or cane to get around
Whether the street feels welcoming, intimidating, or somewhere in between
It’s a chance to slow down and let the built environment speak for itself.
Syracuse, NY
The View From the Street Is a Different World
When you walk a street you normally drive, you start to notice the small things that shape the daily experience of the people who live, work, and move through that space.
That “quick” intersection you breeze through in your car suddenly feels like a gauntlet when you’re on foot, waiting for a walk signal that never seems to come.
That “wide open” road you love driving becomes a speedway that makes crossing on foot feel like a dare.
That “cute little business district” you pass every day reveals itself as a place where the sidewalk is too narrow, the lighting is dim, and the storefronts are hidden behind a row of parked cars.
Walking forces you to confront the reality that our communities often weren’t designed with people in mind. They were designed for vehicles. And once you see it, you can’t unsee it.
Schenectady, NY
Why Walk Audits Matter for Community Change
Here’s the beautiful thing: you don’t need a city budget, a planning commission, or a consultant to start understanding what your community needs. A walk audit is one of the easiest, most accessible tools for identifying the strengths and challenges of your built environment.
It helps you:
Spot safety issues that aren’t obvious from a car
Understand accessibility gaps that affect neighbors every day
Recognize opportunities for beautification, traffic calming, or public space
Appreciate what’s already working well… the shade trees, the benches, the storefronts that make a street feel alive
Most importantly, it gives everyday residents a voice. When people walk their streets with intention, they start to see not just problems, but possibilities.
College Town, Rochester, NY
The Urban Phoenix Started With Walk Audits Without Even Realizing
When I first started this blog over a decade ago, I would travel to cities exclusively by train or bus (when possible I still do!). To get to the places I wanted to go, I had no choice but to walk, or take my electric scooter at the time.
In places like Utica, New York, I was able to tell stories of walking the streets, the people I met, the amenities that made the experience better, and the problems with design that made me feel unpleasant or unsafe… all new concepts to a city of people who never bothered to walk further than from a parking space to a front door. Without realizing it, my spontaneous walk audits and the subsequent reporting of my experiences helped entire populations see their communities differently.
The First Step Toward Better Streets Is… Walking Them
Communities don’t improve because someone in an office decides they should. They improve because people who live there start paying attention, asking questions, and imagining something better.
Buffalo, NY
A walk audit is the simplest way to begin that process. No special equipment. No big event. No permission slip required. Just you, your neighbors, and a willingness to see your streets with fresh eyes.
Once you do, you’ll understand your community in a way you never have before, and you’ll be better equipped to advocate for the improvements that truly matter.
Sometimes the most powerful change starts with the smallest step.
Car Lite Rochester is a blog series that highlights the stories of Rochesterians living a car-lite lifestyle. The term “car lite” encompasses a variety of multimodal transportation lifestyles, featuring little dependence (but not NO dependence) on a car. It typically looks like sharing one car within a household or only using a car when absolutely necessary.
So, we hope you’ll continue to follow along. Maybe you will be inspired to join our bloggers in living a car-lite lifestyle!
Let me start by saying that I’ve never driven a car. I was born with a condition called optic atrophy (an underdeveloped optic nerve) which has rendered my eyesight poor at best. I’m not blind but operating a motor vehicle, plane or anything that moves fast is likely not a good idea. It mostly affects my ability to see things at a distance. Often I can’t read street signs unless they are directly in front of me and, at night, that can be a problem too.
That doesn’t mean that I’m immobile. At 71, I’m an avid bicyclist, love to walk and get deep pleasure navigating mass transit offerings – even when they seem designed to defeat the most intrepid traveller. I take distinct pride in getting places and doing things that sceptics claim should be impossible. I’ve biked from Jerusalem to Eilat in Israel and from Pittsburgh to Easton in Pennsylvania. My inconvenience is lessened by being married to a woman who is an excellent driver. I try my best not to rely on her for all of my travel needs.
My wife and I moved to Brighton several months ago. We had been living in Hoboken, New Jersey; a paradise for the carless (and a massive Vision Zero success story!). For those that have never been, it’s a city that in its one square mile contains every possible service you could need. Great shopping, restaurants, entertainment, schools, medical facilities, churches and synagogues, artist studios and galleries, gyms and lots of green space. Transit was a dream with NJ Transit buses and trains, bikeshare, light rail, even a ferry to New York City in easy striking distance.
So why would we leave for the wilds of western New York? That damn word affordability. In 8 years our rent had risen over 50% and there was no end in sight. Buying a home was not a viable option either as 2 bedroom apartments in our area were starting at $1M. Living In Rochester, we estimated, would bring down our housing costs by 80%. On our visit to scope things out, we found a rich and welcoming environment. So far this has all proven to be true and more.
The transit landscape that we arrived to in Monroe County, though, has been less than paradise-like. We are walking distance to a Tops, a dollar store, Starbucks, the post office and a wonderful Korean fast food spot. We are serviced by the #12 South Clinton bus line, giving us easy access to downtown and with the 50 cent senior fare makes me just want to take it for fun.
We love to walk and in our first weeks, ventured from our home on treks to the Public Market, Neighborhood of the Arts and Highland Park. It was encouraging to be able to navigate the city so easily on foot. We were delighted that every destination that we put into the GPS when we did decide to use the car seemed to be 9 minutes away.
While the temps remained above freezing all was well; even biking was a viable option for me. Then the winter set in for real with icy sidewalks, temps in the teens (and lower who knew?) and snowbanks everywhere.
At the end of December, while out on a walk after a snowfall, my wife slipped and fractured her wrist. Unfortunately, it was her dominant hand. Fortunately, no surgery was required but driving for the next 6 weeks and perhaps longer was not an option. She was hesitant to venture out with her arm in a cast and the sidewalks still snow covered. This created a whole new dimension to our car lite existence
I am fortunate that my employer, an international NGO, allows me to work from home. I travel to NYC once a month for a full day of meetings with my colleagues. Every part of this journey is do-able by public transit except from my home. Sure, RTS offers service but their own trip planner says the trip will take 1 hour and 20 minutes with switching buses at the Transit Center. A rideshare will take 11 minutes. My employer will graciously cover the expense.
In NYC, the transit ecosphere I am most familiar with, It’s a fool’s errand to drive to the airport. There is almost always traffic, the fees to park are more like a ransom and, if you know your way around, mass transit is the smarter choice. Note that this option isn’t widely publicized. There’s an airport bus from Newark for $18 but I can get you to midtown in the same time for $4.50. Just travel light!
On our transit journey in Rochester we’ve needed to become more patient. The cast will soon come off, my wife will regain the confidence to take long walks (and make more frequent use of those crampons) and the temps will eventually rise. In the Scandinavian countries they have a concept called hygge which is translated to a cozy, contented mood that folks adopt during the winter months. They wear warm comfortable clothes, surround themselves with the things they love and hunker down. There are only six more weeks of winter according to the groundhog.
Still, I am out there every day. My neighbors have commented to me that they admire my trekking on foot to the grocery store and my morning runs on frigid days. They have suggested that they will join me when things warm up.
Rochester and its environs are full of places that I’m going to explore; George Eastman House, the Genesee Valley Trail system, the Strong Museum of Play to name a few and I’m determined to do it car free and I’m determined to convince my family and friends to join me. I’ve always felt that I’ve wanted to live my life as an exclamation, not an explanation. I want to model the behavior I expect in others. That’s why you’ll see me at the bus stop, tooling along in my bike when I can find the proper gloves and checking out every walking trail. I’m sure I’ll have company.
At Reconnect, we’re inspired by the stories of people in our community, like Leverett Copeland, Josie McClary, and Jasmine Burley who are passionate about living a car lite or car free lifestyle. If you want to support our work and make it easier for others to go car lite please donate and sign up for Mobility Action Alerts to stay in the loop with opportunities of how to advocate for safer streets and transportation options.
Let us know if you want to share your mobility story! What’s in it for you? The intrinsic reward of knowing you’ve inspired others, and a free t-shirt from our online shop! Contact Chaz to submit your story.
The Advocacy Team has kicked off 2026 with a slate of meetings with our local leaders to advocate for the things you care about: safer streets, more bike infrastructure, and places that feel safe to walk in.
City of Rochester Mayor Evans & New Vision Zero Report
We should lower the speed limit to 25 MPH in the City of Rochester as soon as possible. The Mayor confirmed the City is moving forward with this change, as reflected in the ROC Vision Zero report.
The City can establish more quick-build mechanisms to quickly respond to traffic safety concerns, build confidence in ROC Vision Zero, and try new approaches to multimodal safety.
We are committed to working together with the City’s Vision Zero task force to help bring national examples from Pittsburgh, Portland, Sacramento and even small municipalities like Keyport, NJ to the table.
We also followed up with Mayor Evans about the building of the Intermodal Station Bus Terminal Phase 2, which NYSDOT has funds to build and Amtrak has responsibility to operate. We understand they are working behind the scenes on several issues, but we are also advocating to NYSDOT in Albany to press forward on the design of the station.
Last week, the City also released its first ROC Vision Zero report to the community. It contains a ton of useful information about what the City, partners and community stakeholders, including Reconnect Rochester, have been doing on the initiative over the past year. We’re excited about the year ahead because the report outlines several tangible projects that residents will start to see in their communities, like protected bike lanes, pedestrian enhancements, new bus amenities, and slower speeds. Driver accountability will also take center stage this spring with more public engagement around how drivers who break the law speeding or running red lights should be held accountable.
County Executive Bello Check-In
Monroe County government has been leading the charge to encourage Active Transportation Planning, expanding how community members can report traffic concerns, and to plan for sustainability. During our meeting with CE Bello, we emphasized that now we need to amp up implementation of active transportation. Towns and Villages in Monroe County have some local roads, some county roads and some state roads, and the county maintains 664 centerline miles of roads. The CATP calls for building out a network of bike lanes, but the county budget only envisions 4 miles of bike lanes per year and 10 miles of shoulder widening to make it more suitable for biking and walking per year. At that rate, we won’t have a connected network for a very very long time! Some of the town roads are state roads, which is why we’ve put so much emphasis on building a movement for safer state roads.
For example, upcoming projects like Monroe Avenue in Brighton are state projects, and so we need those to also include active transportation features…speaking of which!
Monroe Avenue Public Meeting and Follow-up
Finally, we mobilized advocates to speak up at the Monroe Avenue project public meeting on Jan. 20th. NYSDOT officials heard from Reconnecters who are Britonians and everyone else who just likes to visit Brighton’s businesses by bike, by bus or on foot. As a follow-up to that meeting, we are calling on our advocates to send Action Network emails to the NYSDOT project managers to keep up the pressure. We have a meeting with the new Regional Director of NYSDOT Region 4 in early February where we’ll keep echoing our call for safer state roads.
Coming up next:
We’re launching Voices of Transit soon with a push for transit equity and state funding to RTS
Currently, the Governor’s budget proposes to allow for-hire Autonomous Vehicle (AV) operation in New York State outside of NYC. The proposal leaves licensing and regulatory decisions to the DMV. A scaled AV deployment could nearly double vehicle miles traveled, reduce transit ridership by three quarters, and hinder emergency response operations. We encourage the legislature to act with caution and ensure the following nuances are clearly addressed:
Allow municipalities a say in managing their streets: The Governor’s proposal requires a demonstration of local support as defined by the commissioner of the DMV. The NYS legislature should define public support to be in the form of a municipal resolution by the local governmental body (Town Board, Village Board, County Legislature, City Council) and these bodies should be explicitly allowed to create incentive zones, exclusion zones, and other regulations tailored to local needs to address transit deserts, congestion, and other specific local issues.
Transparent data collection & public release: The NYS Legislature should require that metrics including but not limited to disengagements, traffic violations, mileage, incidents involving vulnerable road users, all crashes, and video of crashes should be reported to New York State and posted publicly. Transparency will allow lawmakers, advocates, and academics the opportunity to evaluate the AV pilot program and build trust with the public.
Time-limited process which requires reauthorization: We support the NYS Legislature requiring a licensing and reauthorization process which evaluates safety traffic control, traffic enforcement, the local workforce, and emergency services.
AV operators must be held accountable: Law enforcement must be able to issue tickets to AVs which violate vehicle and traffic laws.The Governor’s proposal says vehicles must remain compliant with traffic law but does not provide a framework to incentivize safe operation.
Remote operator oversight: The NYS Legislature should require that remote AV operators working with vehicles driving on New York’s roadways have a driver’s licence valid in New York State. Companies should be required to disclose training procedures and regulators should establish specific requirements to ensure operators have enough remote operators to respond to their fleet in an emergency.
New York should learn from municipalities across the country, and address these issues proactively:
San Francisco has seen a number of dangerous and illegal behaviors by Waymo vehicles including stopping in bus and bike lanes, making illegal u-turns, and recently, the entire fleet stopped working while on the road during a blackout (12/25).
In Atlanta, local police officials have complained that there is no process for citing AVs for behaviors that warrant a citation for a human driver(5/25).
In Austin, Waymo vehicles have repeatedly failed to stop for school buses, putting children in danger (12/25).
In Santa Monica, like in the majority of localities, local officials have officially stated that their hands are completely tied to response to resident requests for policy fixes (6/25).
Help us push for a smarter AV deployment in New York! Use the form below to customize a letter to your representatives!
Car Lite Rochester is a blog series that highlights the stories of Rochesterians living a car-lite lifestyle. The term “car lite” encompasses a variety of multimodal transportation lifestyles, featuring little dependence (but not NO dependence) on a car. It typically looks like sharing one car within a household or only using a car when absolutely necessary.
So, we hope you’ll continue to follow along. Maybe you will be inspired to join our bloggers in living a car-lite lifestyle!
Embracing Community: 20 Years Car Lite In Rochester
By Leverett “Coach” Copeland:
My family and I arrived in Rochester, NY in the fall of 2005 without a car. We would walk or take RTS to travel around the city and use taxis for groceries. In the 20 years we have resided here in Rochester we only owned a vehicle for 2 years. As a whole we have been car lite most of our Rochester residence.
Having a more comprehensive transportation service like RTS has made it possible to travel to places outside my community and region. Although it is difficult when the weather is either very hot or very cold, because of no shelter or comforts, the transit system in Rochester is very reliable, consistent, and appreciated.
The main reason that we do not use a vehicle is that financially it creates an issue. We could afford the opportunity but with the creation of transportation services like Lyft or Uber, plus stores delivering groceries and food, we enjoy the car lite life. Being car lite helps me familiarize myself with my community and my neighbors. I have the opportunity to build better relationships and my social environment, which improves my health and well being.
Although there are some challenges, such as weather, being car lite has many more positive instances and rewards. Walking through my community, rather than driving, has me more attuned to my neighbors and businesses. I am able to advocate for the community with deeper insight and empathy. It also increases my ability to communicate and represent to those in power what the community desires and needs.
I’m grateful for the Complete Streets Makeover project that Reconnect Rochester did at Avenue D and Hollenbeck last year. It’s good that we worked to make the street safer from reckless driving but also came together to make it happen. I think the biggest thing is that the community feels acknowledged and something was done to meet a need. They have pride in the fact that someone cared enough to try and slow traffic down for their kids and beautify the intersection. We really need it. I think this is the beginning of turning Rochester around – where it’s not as violent but it’s more vibrant
Photo by De’Jon Washington
As for my future being car lite, I believe I will continue and do not see any reason to change. Having a vehicle is nice but for my mental and physical health, as well as community awareness, being car lite is how I will continue. I am able to serve on various committees and boards as well as volunteer and serve in many capacities and being car lite has not diminished my abilities or access.
At Reconnect, we’re inspired by the stories of people in our community, like Josie McClary, Jasmine Burley, and Karen Nozik who are passionate about living a car-lite or car-free lifestyle. If you want to support our work and make it easier for others to go Car-Lite please donate and sign up for Mobility Action Alerts to stay in the loop with opportunities of how to advocate for safer streets and transportation options.
Let us know if you want to share your mobility story! What’s in it for you? The intrinsic reward of knowing you’ve inspired others, and a free t-shirt from our online shop! Contact Chaz to submit your story.
Cody Donahue didn’t grow up with freedom of movement. His childhood stretched along a thin ribbon of rural highway in Oregon’s Willamette Valley — a Walmart, a decimated downtown, and three miles of empty road between home and anything else. “I didn’t have much transportation freedom in my youth,” he says. Bikes came late. Driving later. Independence arrived only in fragments.
He carried that mindset into adulthood: When work calls, a car is the simpler solution. He believed that for years” with “for years, the car was the only option to get around in rural Oregon.”
Then he moved abroad, first to France for study abroad and then to West Africa to work for a nonprofit.
In Dakar, he discovered a city humming without car dominance. People moved through dense streets by foot, bike, taxis, and informal buses called “Ndiaga Ndiayes”, an ecosystem built on proximity rather than horsepower. “Only the very rich had their own car. You could get anywhere by other means. It was a different way of moving,” he recalls.
That realization reshaped his sense of what mobility could be.
Today, as Co-Executive Director of Reconnect Rochester, Donahue channels that revelation into the city he now calls home. He chains errands, bikes to work, hops the 17 bus when the weather turns. Simplicity is the point. Connection is the ethos.
Rethinking the Urban Core
Ask Donahue what Rochester could look like without political or financial constraints, and he doesn’t leap into fantasy. He points to a real project already unfolding: the Inner Loop North redesign.
“We’re actually getting the opportunity to do this,” he says. “The project will replace a sunken, underutilized highway that disconnects neighborhoods with a neighborhood scale street grid. We’re not advocating to eliminate roads — but to create spaces where people can feel comfortable walking and biking with their families. ”
The plan envisions creating 22 acres of new development parcels in the heart of the city, with calm, tree-lined neighborhood streets, restored parks, integrated walking and cycling infrastructure, and connections to the future High Falls State Park. Each section of the 1.5 mile stretch can be somewhat different, but Donahue is excited about the possibility for mixed-use, dense development, and ground-floor businesses around our transit hubs. “We can build up around our Intermodal Station while also expanding its footprint to be the hub for intercity buses,” said Donahue of a project that has state funding and will run in parallel to the Inner Loop North redevelopment.
“This whole area is going to be a lot more vibrant and connected,” Donahue says. “The uncomfortable truth about the Inner Loop is that it was designed to bring people from the suburbs to work and then back home. It wasn’t built for city residents. This project corrects that.”
The state has already secured $100 million for construction. While timelines may shift, bidding is set for September 2027, construction begins in April 2028, and completion is projected for October 2030. Parcel development will follow over the subsequent years, reshaping not just infrastructure but the way people live and move in Rochester.
The Hidden Curriculum of Movement
“Reconnect Rochester now offers everything from ‘Getting Back on Your Bike’ workshops to school safety lessons, winter cycling training, commuter programs, and hands-on Smart Cycling classes,” Donahue says. As he scales that range — from fifth graders to downtown workers — patterns emerge.
“We’re really invested in bike education because kids should have it,” he says. “When they don’t, they develop unsafe habits and carry them into adulthood. That contributes to crashes.” Nearly half the time, the cyclist triggers the crash — not necessarily because they’re reckless, but because no one ever taught them the proper way to ride.
That lack of training intersects with a fragmented bike map.
“We have cycling infrastructure gaps we’re trying to close. The bike lane map looks like someone threw spaghetti at a wall,” he says. “Our Mind the Gap competition helps identify the highest priority connections for the city and the county to make for a comfortable bike network.”
Residents want comfort, predictability, and physical protection. That requires real design: barriers in the street, well-placed cycle tracks, infrastructure that doesn’t force riders onto sidewalks.
Culture plays a role too. Donahue and his team work with employers to add bike parking, secure racks through the city, or negotiate indoor, secure bike storage with landlords. A new downtown lunchtime learning series reaches commuters who may have never imagined biking to work. They hope to reach downtown companies with lunch and learns next year to show downtown workers just how fast and easy it is to bike to work in the Central Business District of Rochester. In May, Reconnect will again host bike to work day to reach new commuters.
Then, there is the matter of our snowy winters. “The world doesn’t shut down in the winter,” Donahue says. “I drive more, but I also take the bus more. Some fat tire bikes handle snow better. And we continue to push the city to clear main bike routes. The City has committed to studying enhanced winter maintenance, so we’re making progress.”
True cultural change, though, requires leadership.
“We’d like to see more of a culture of property owners taking responsibility for clearing sidewalks,” he says. “Madison, Wisconsin has a great approach. It’s just a different civic culture when it comes to tending to the snow.”
A Concerning Trend and an Urgent Response
The national context is grim. Pedestrian fatalities in the U.S. have risen 75% since 2010. Locally, Monroe County averages 12 walking or biking deaths per year, and 2025 has already exceeded this average at 13 as of December.
“We must do better,” Donahue says. “These are preventable losses.”
To shift that trajectory, on-street demonstration projects matter. In 2025, Reconnect Rochester launched Downtown SmART Streets, inspired by Washington, D.C. ‘s Arts in the Right of Way program. Seasonal curb-extension murals function as both art and traffic-calming infrastructure, beautifying streets while protecting people.
The 25 MPH Shift and the Politics Around It
Rochester has embraced ambitious mobility goals, Vision Zero, safer arterials, expanded bike networks, but serious injuries and deaths continue to rise.
Donahue is clear about the most actionable fix: lower the citywide speed limit to 25 miles per hour.
A municipal lawyer working with Reconnect Rochester produced a comparative analysis: Boston and Seattle implemented the reduction; Providence did not. Even without added enforcement, the cities that lowered the limit saw reductions in speeds, crash rates, and fatalities. Albany is now seeing monthly declines as well.
“The bottom line is that these programs reduce fatalities,” Donahue says. “This is our guiding star. Slower speeds save people walking to the bus, cyclists, kids — everyone.”
He insists that driver accountability must be part of the solution.
“We can stop those who have no regard for people,” he says. New York State is considering legislation to require the worst repeat speeders to drive with speed governors — devices that physically prevent them from exceeding safe limits. “These policies work.”
And the stakes are bigger than traffic engineering. “We’ve backed ourselves into a societal corner where parents don’t feel comfortable letting their kids walk down the street.”
Where Expertise Lives: Complete Streets in Action
The Avenue D & Hollenbeck Complete Streets Makeover crystallized a principle Donahue now calls non-negotiable: lived experience is expertise.
“It was our fifth complete street makeover — what we call the quadfecta, one in each quadrant before returning to the Northeast,” he says. “We sourced nominations citywide. One thing we learned from the Arnett Boulevard project is that some roads are classified by the state to prioritize vehicular traffic. So our makeovers are now looking at the most local road you can get to reduce the restrictions on what we can do.”
The neighborhood’s R-Center staff had been clamoring for improvements. Their knowledge shaped the project’s design: temporary installations, seasonal centerline flex posts, and monitored interventions. “All summer and fall, not one post needed to be replaced due to damage,” Donahue notes. “We’re conducting a traffic study on speed and turning to evaluate the effectiveness. We plan on doing new installations in new locations over the next three years.”
Complementing these interventions is a design rendering prize, offering a professionally engineered visualization to a neighborhood free of charge. Monroe Avenue in Brighton received one in 2019, now actively used in state-level advocacy to enhance safety and create more vibrant public space.
Downtown, the SmART Streets initiative extends this philosophy: seasonal curb-extension murals at East Main and Gibbs, Broad and Fitzhugh, with more to come, reinforcing walkability through public art. The work demonstrates how neighborhood input and tactical design combine to reduce risk and foster a safer, more inviting urban environment.
Influence, Advocacy, and Evolving Beliefs
Donahue’s campaigns- Intermodal Station expansion, suburban walk audits-highlight a key lesson about New York transportation politics: advocacy matters.
“I would point to a common thread: resident voices,” he says. Promoting density and mixed-use development brings daily amenities closer to homes, reducing car dependence and improving safety.
“The NIMBY contingent is usually a vocal minority,” Donahue notes. “We’re trying to promote YIMBY: yes in my backyard. Call your local officials. Tell them you want sidewalks, bike lanes, transit, more mixed use neighborhood amenities.”
A recent candidate questionnaire across several towns showed majority support for safer streets. Those elected embraced these changes. “We want people showing up to public meetings,” Donahue says. “It makes a difference.”
Reflecting on his early advocacy, he admits a lesson learned: “Early in my career, I thought there was one right way to do things. But there isn’t. It’s important to realize we can reach the same conclusions through different methods. Live the experience of the people you’re making policies about. If you’re making bus policies, take the bus for a month. We become extremely fragmented in our lived experiences. It’s not obvious we’ll reach the same conclusion, but you have to identify your values and fight for them.”
A City Rewoven
Donahue’s path arcs from a rural upbringing to a global awakening to a Rochester in transition. Throughout, one conviction anchors him: every person deserves to move safely, freely, and with dignity.
He thinks of Dakar, where movement was communal. He thinks of Highway 20 in Oregon, where mobility required horsepower. And he looks at Rochester — slowly, collaboratively reimagining itself.
Rochester is being reweaved. Not just the roads. The relationships.
And for a city once carved apart to speed commuters, that may be the most transformative redesign of all.
There is so much going on in Monroe County’s bike community that we are publishing a separate post to discuss updates specific to the bicycle movement. Read below for some of the cycling developments we are excited about and consider supporting our work!
Concrete Barrier Protected Bike Lanes on West Main
Rochester bike riders have been vocal for decades: We want protected bike lanes! After a sorely needed road diet, seasonal concrete barriers were installed along stretches of West Main Street in 2025. They offer serious protection and are, hopefully, harbingers of more to come….
Thanks to a federal grant, demo protected bike lanes are in store for segments of Ford Street, State Street, St Paul and East Avenue in order to experiment with various barrier types. Also as part of this grant, Stantec will create a Bicycle Spine Network Rapid Implementation Plan and Active Transportation Winter Maintenance Plan for the City. Stay tuned for developments and public meetings in 2026.
Local cyclists know Monroe County is blessed with a multitude of trails beside bodies of water: the Lake Ontario State Parkway Trail, the Erie Canal Trail, the Genesee Valley Greenway, and of course the Genesee Riverway Trail. The latter, however, has an uncomfortable one-mile gap north of downtown. This study, which is nearing completion, will recommend priority projects to not only fill this gap, but to someday extend the trail on both sides of the river from downtown to Lake Ontario!
#4
Our Bike Spine Tracker
Since 2016, Rochester has been a Bronze-level Bicycle Friendly Community in the eyes of the League of American Bicyclists. Realistically, Rochester will “level up” to Silver only after we attain a minimum grid of all ages & abilities bike infrastructure leading to and through downtown from all four directions. We are so close! This year, we added a Bike Spine Tracker to our website to focus eyes on the 8 miles of investment needed to get us to that minimum grid. Let’s concentrate political will and focus investments to get the center right. More spines & mileage to shoot for and track afterwards.
#5
Keep Us Safe on State Roads Rally
If Monroe County is going to be more bikeable, the New York State Department of Transportation is going to have to change the way it designs and maintains the roads under its jurisdiction. To send NYSDOT a message (“Keep Us Safe On State Roads!”), area cyclists rallied at Parcel 5 in August. This is part of the pressure campaign to make the State’s Active Transportation Strategic Plan as good as it can be.
This plan, finalized and published in 2025, offers a vision for an accessible, off-road, and multi-use trail system connecting the campuses of the University of Rochester, RIT, and MCC. The Town of Brighton now has a list of priority projects to seek funding for.
#7
Penfield and Gates Active Transportation Plans
Any time a town gives serious thought to bicycling and walkability is a win. Both Penfield and Gates are moving forward with Active Transportation Plans of their own, joining the crowd of local municipalities who’ve created blueprints for action. Monroe County DOT and NYSDOT are more likely to make complete streets designs when it’s in alignment with community plans like these.
#8
Expanded Bike Education Program
In 2025, Reconnect Rochester underwrote the certification of a Spanish speaking LCI (League Cycling Instructor). We also kept instructors busy teaching balance classes at Rec Centers, along with Spanish safety classes for IBERO and Syrian classes for Rochester Refugee Resettlement Services. On top of that, Reconnect Rochester made our flagship on-bike Smart Cycling class free!
#9
Cyclist Crash Analysis
Many area riders know the basic ins and outs of bicycle safety. Even more don’t. Also unknown for a long time were specifics about the most common local crashes involving cyclists. After deep diving into the data for a couple years, in 2025 Reconnect Rochester published several articles on the most common crashes here and how to avoid being involved in them.
#10
Poster in Bike Shops
Reconnect Rochester is always trying to broaden our reach and get our resources into new hands. With that in mind, we made a poster drawing attention to our bike resources and dropped one off at every bike shop in Monroe County.
Reconnect Rochester’s organizational strength is made possible in great part by the continued support of Dr. Scott MacRae, a generous grant from the ESL Charitable Foundation’s Building Strong Neighborhoods initiative, and a growing base of supporting members — folks like you who share ownership for the mission and express that with your dollars.
Thank you to all the people and partners who helped us to champion mobility in 2025 — by coming out for a community bike ride or rally, showing up to public meeting, partnering with us on a project, or sharing the good word on social media! With your help we were able to accomplish a whole lot this year.
We’re super proud of the on-street projects undertaken this year that engaged the community in demonstrating how our streets can be made safer for everyone. Shout out to all our community partners and to project manager extraordinaire, Lourdes Sharp, for phenomenal work this year!
In 2025, our advocacy team worked alongside New Yorkers for Transportation Equity and VOCAL-NY, on the Get Around New York campaign that asks for accessible, reliable, affordable public transportation for all New Yorkers. We gathered rider voices and experiences through Voices of Transit interviews to share with lawmakers on Transit Equity Day in Albany, and hosted several town hall meetings with local RTS riders to strategize efforts that center and uplift transportation needs. We gathered local partners to sign on to a letter to Governor Hochul urging full funding. Unfortunately, our funding asks were not fully met, but we built a lot of power for the to fight for funding in the coming year, and avert a budget crisis that could lead to service cuts.
Locally, we spent time midyear weighing in on RTS OnDemand service plan proposal, spreading the word about the changes and gathering rider input. During the public input process, we expressed concern that proposed changes to an already struggling service will add further cost and hardship for riders. As the changes take effect, we continue to gather and bring rider voices and experiences to the decision makers at RTS about how the new service plan is affecting riders.
#3
Partnering on ROC Vision Zero
We spent much time this year being a strong partner with the City of Rochester on ROC Vision Zero, working together toward the bold goal to bring the number of traffic fatalities and severe injuries down to zero. We started out the year helping put together the Beacon’s Vision Zero Forum where we packed the house with “Reconnecters” to give encouragement & input. We’ve been highly engaged serving on the RVZ Task Force and its subcommittees, and in June, took a trip to Albany with Councilmember Gruber and others to learn lessons from their Vision Zero experiences. We’ve talked it up in the media, helped the public understand all the parts (like what does Bus Rapid Transit have to do with safe streets?), and informed the implementation of new bus arm cameras and other aspects of the RVZ plan.
We also spent time honoring lives lost, connecting with families, developing support networks, and gathering people with a World Day of Remembrance vigil and installation on Parcel 5. Connecting to the personal pain of crash victims motivates us to keep up the work to make our streets safer, to save lives and reduce the harm inflicted by road violence.
#4
Fighting Nationally & Celebrating Locally on Bike Infrastructure
In 2025, we sounded the alarm on the assault on bike infrastructure as we saw the gains and investments in recent years under threat, and action being taken at the national level that threatens the safety of people on bikes. Our advocacy team stayed in close contact with national advocacy groups about what’s happening and response strategies, gave local cyclists opportunities to take action, and in March, visited Capital Hill to share our concerns directly with federal legislators.
On the home front, we spent time tracking and urging progress, and celebrating wins as we continue to see slow and steady investment and progress throughout Monroe County. We cheered the first ever concrete barrier-protected bike lane on West Main Street as the City of Rochester continues to step up its commitment to bike safety. We unveiled a new Bike Spine Tracker tool, and had a 5th season of Mind the Gap public voting campaign to highlight critical gaps. In August, nearly 100 area cyclists came out for our Keep Us Safe on State Roads rally to send a strong message to NYSDOT that we need safer infrastructure on state controlled roads.
#5
Getting More People on Bikes and Riding Together
Community rides all summer long in partnership with the City of Rochester & Brighton Recreation, Light Up the Night rides, bike to work pitstops, bike history tours, and our annual ROC ‘n Roll ride – all get people on bikes and riding together! In May, we coordinated Rochester Bike Week and kicked it off with Mayor Evans and County Executive Bello who gave a rousing Bike Month Proclamation! We also worked to inspire and engage people online with @ROCCycling social media channels and a #ROCbyBike series where everyday bike riders share why they love to get around on two wheels.
#6
Keeping Cyclists Safe on the Road
In 2025, we continued our efforts to get people feeling comfortable and safe on the road through classroom and on-bike educational opportunities. This year, we were thrilled to sponsor Hulda Yau to become Rochester’s first Spanish-speaking certified bike educator, and partner with Ibero-American Action League to deliver bike education classes to Spanish speaking residents. We also struck up a new partnership with Rochester Refugee Resettlement to offer classes to Syrian residents in their own language. As part of our commitment to equity and inclusion, we removed the cost barrier by making our on-bike Smart Cycling classes free. We also keep our area’s pool of League Cycling Instructors (LCIs) busy teaching learn to balance and ride classes in City Rec Centers!
Through our quarterly engagement breakfasts, community group presentations, tabling at community events, lunch and learns, walking tours and a packed house Rochester Street Films event, we stayed busy all year spreading the good word and inviting folks from every corner of our community to get involved in our local mobility movement.
Our ROC edition of Week Without Driving in September was a new effort to encourage Monroe County residents to explore their mobility options beyond the car. We were thrilled with the collective impact we were able to have, with 44 participants logging 616 non-car trips and 1,970 non-driving miles!
And that’s not to mention engaging people in our advocacy work via weekly mobility action alerts, hosting a ROC neighborhood leaders conversation, convening a town & village advocate group, and producing a candidate questionnaire to inform your vote, to name a few.
The TIC is a 20-member group that exists to unite local efforts around equitable, systemic solutions to address our region’s transportation challenges, and Reconnect Rochester provides “backbone” support to the group.
#9
Bolstering Our Organizational Leadership
Strong leadership is an essential ingredient to any organization’s success. In January, Reconnect Rochester welcomed three incredible new members to our Board of Directors. Their diverse backgrounds and shared commitment to making a meaningful impact in our community will strengthen our efforts and broaden our reach.
To help ensure a bright future at Reconnect Rochester, the Board of Directors appointed Mary Staropoli and Cody Donahue as the organization’s Co-Executive Directors.In an announcement blog, we shared why we made the shift to a shared leadership model, what makes it work, and Mary and Cody’s respective areas of focus.
#10
Finding Our New Home!
After a lengthy search process, in September we packed up and moved our offices from The Hungerford (our home for the last 9 years), to a new home at the Harro East in downtown ROC! We can’t believe our luck in finding a place that fit all our needs that will serve as both an office space for our growing staff team, as well as a “community hub” to host events, meetings, classes and conversations. And we get to be part of all the exciting development downtown, including having a front row seat to the Inner Loop North development as it happens in the coming years!
Over 100 people came through our October Community Open House, and we’ve welcomed many more as we begin to make good use of the awesome space. A ribbon cutting with the Chamber of Commerce, Mayor Evans and County Executive Bello in November made it official.
Whew! What a year. Reconnect Rochester’s organizational strength is made possible in great part by the continued support of Dr. Scott MacRae, a generous grant from the ESL Charitable Foundation’s Building Strong Neighborhoods initiative, and a growing base of supporting members — folks like you who share ownership for the mission and express that with your dollars.
The term “car lite” encompasses a variety of multimodal transportation lifestyles, featuring little dependence (but not NO dependence) on a car. It typically looks like sharing one car within a household or only using a car when absolutely necessary.
Simplicity and Saving – Two Motivations for Being Car-Lite
By Cody Donahue:
As the holiday season ramps up, I am probably with the majority of Americans when I say that I’d really like to save more money while still fully celebrating our holiday traditions. Over the years, the holidays seem to start earlier and earlier and the expectations of giving and getting keep inflating. As does cost: Bloomberg found that inflation and tariffs are driving up costs for just about every category of holiday giving. Sorry family, it’s socks for everyone!
While many of us are stressed and anxious about the gift and food budget, let’s throw the overwhelming cost of car ownership into the mix. For years, we have reported on the AAA’s cost of car ownership, but I just recently saw USA Today’s report that put car ownership in the perspective of “The American Dream.” To achieve the “American dream” of owning a new car, a dream shared by 72% of Americans, you’ll have to spend $900,346 over your lifetime in 2025, up from $811,440 a year ago. By comparison, a lifetime of homeownership costs $957,594, up from $929,955 in 2024.
Amazingly, car ownership roughly costs the same as raising two children and sending them to college. In a place like Rochester, it’s incredibly hard to have young kids and not drive one or sometimes two cars. And if you can’t afford cars, you probably have no other choice than to use the bus or rely on other people whether those are good options or not.
If you have kids, live in Greece, can’t get to a grocery store without hitting 390, and your place of work is in Henrietta, then car-free rankings and weeks without driving just probably feel out of reach.
Political talk in New York State will continue to emphasize “affordability” throughout the next state election cycle in 2026, and I for one would like to see “affordable” applied to transportation choices differently. Transportation choices that are created from state investments in all modes of transportation can pay off in numerous ways, but let’s start with money first: according to an RMI analysis, NY state could save households an average of $3,750 per year (fuel, maintenance, and depreciation) by putting money into programs that would reduce vehicle miles traveled (VMT) by 20% per-capita.
There are lots of ways to reduce VMT, including but not limited to investing in the bus system, adding safe and continuous bike lanes, sidewalks and making land use choices that place daily destinations in neighborhoods. $3,750 is a lot more than any rebate program any politician has talked about or implemented.
Beyond the monetary savings, affordable transportation choices would also create societal savings: by avoiding car crashes, 593 lives on average per year could be saved in the state. By increasing active lifestyles and avoiding bike/ped crashes, you could save 4,294 lives in NY state. Finally, 53 lives could be saved by reducing air pollution on average per year in New York State. Avoiding having to pay for something because it didn’t happen in the first place seems like a great approach to me.
Reconnect Rochester recently challenged folks to try going car-free or car-lite for a week, and we heard a lot of positive feedback if your lifestyle lined up to having a shorter commute (1 bus ride or 1 bike ride) or you lived in a place where getting to the store was as easy as walking. We also heard the feedback from folks for whom this doesn’t work as well – people who have young kids, people who live in one suburb and work in another suburb, people who have no grocery stores in their neighborhood, or people whose bus commute would exceed 45 min when they could drive the same distance alone in their car in 10 min.
A national storage unit company recently published a listicle about the best cities to be car-optional that ranked Rochester as 9th in the country, one place higher than Portland, OR! While I’d be really happy to believe that all of Rochester’s hard work has paid off and we’re a fantastic place to live car-free, I would caution that this is only true for certain people.
If you’re an able-bodied, city resident who enjoys the average 4.1 mile commute, you have a direct bus route, you are a practiced cyclist or you have the time to walk, this probably rings true. If you have kids, live in Greece, can’t get to a grocery store without hitting 390, and your place of work is in Henrietta, then car-free rankings and weeks without driving just probably feel out of reach. But that doesn’t mean those people don’t want more of their life to be car-optional. The point for me is that people should have more options, our policy choices should expand those options, and at the end of the day those options make household life more affordable.
Photo: John Paul Corona
Is there a way to make car-optional living more attractive for more residents? I recently re-read Voluntary Simplicity by Duane Elgin and in it, he emphasizes that for those of us privileged to have choices, we can choose simpler ways of living that promote personal, community and global sustainability, while also saving money. For example:
While easier said than done in this housing market, choosing a place of work that is accessible by public transit or biking. As Mr. Money Mustache commented over a decade ago, car commuting costs a lot more than gas.
If the option is available, working remotely a few times a week to avoid the time and cost of commuting.
Chaining trips together so you get your groceries, pharmacy and other shopping done together or on the way home from work one day.
Choosing simple or free recreational activities within your local area that involve active lifestyles, greenspace, public libraries, and community building activities.
At Reconnect Rochester we love getting out into the community to talk about our work. This summer we gave presentations, tabled all over Monroe County, and held hundreds of conversations about mobility with supporters, skeptics, and everything in between. Among the skeptics there were a few topics that came up so often we thought it would be helpful to list them out in a blog post along with our perspective.
People on bicycles make everyone less safe.
When a cyclist is riding recklessly they are overwhelmingly just a danger to themselves. Yet the 47 deaths and more than 5,000 injuries that happen on our streets every year in Monroe County always involve cars. It is all of our responsibility to keep each other safe, but drivers have a bigger responsibility given their capacity to do harm to people and property. This is why we advocate for and implement complete streets designs on our roadways to slow down cars.
Bicycle education is a cornerstone of our work at Reconnect Rochester via our On Bike Smart Cycling Classes, Bike Education Programs, and Our Weekly Rides. Many school districts do not provide bike safety classes despite the state requirements. This leads to many kids who don’t learn the safe and legal way to ride. We aim to teach riders how to safely interact with traffic and be predictable in order to make all of us safer. A study found that nearly every road user will admit to breaking the law, though with cyclists it is often to keep themselves safe while drivers will be more likely to break the law to save time.
RTS isn’t safe.
There are millions of RTS bus trips every year in Monroe County. Less than a half percent of reported crimes take place on an RTS bus or at the Transit Center. As Misha Manjuran Oberoi wrote recently for the Democrat and Chronicle, “that’s fewer than the number of crimes reported at both schools, hospitals, bars and more.”
If risk factor is your main concern, you’re much more likely to be involved in one of the 14,000+ vehicle crashes that happen every year than you are to be in danger on the RTS buses. RTS is a great community resource and we encourage everyone to try to incorporate it into their lives when possible. The more of us who use RTS, the more it will be prioritized in transportation funding which will improve frequency and make it a more convenient option.
What about people with disabilities? How are they supposed to get around without a car?
There are many disabilities that make biking or taking the bus challenging or even impossible. At the same time, many people have disabilities that prevent them from driving but still allow them to live independently. We want to ensure that anyone who cannot drive (or anyone who just doesn’t want to) is able to move freely throughout our community. Our board member, Steve Roll, shared a powerful story about this in a blog post. After a seizure left him unable to drive for six months, biking and public transit became essential tools for maintaining his independence.
Furthermore, we have encountered many people in wheelchairs who appreciate our focus on safe streets. Our current car-centric infrastructure that relegates pedestrians to cramped sidewalks with heaved segments and poorly placed curb cuts is challenging for anyone to navigate. It is especially difficult if you are vision impaired, use a walker or rollator, or are in a wheelchair. We actually had someone put one of our Bicycle License Plates on the back of his wheelchair so he could feel safer when he is somewhere without a sidewalk (which, sadly, is true for too many of our roads). And—disabled or not—parents pushing strollers encounter the very same struggles! When we design streets for pedestrians, everyone benefits.
Why can’t you help me get a protected bike lane on my street? It’s just one street!
Many roads fall under different jurisdictions and require approval at the county or even state level to change. We encourage you to sign up for our Mobility Action Alerts to keep you informed on upcoming street projects and receive talking points to advocate for safe streets. We really need support at public meetings! This is where most of the changes happen.
Lastly, while protected bike lanes are great, there isn’t always space for them without drastic redesigns which aren’t always a viable option. Check out our ROC Easy Bike Map and utilize Rochester’s Bicycle Boulevard network when looking for low stress bike routes that minimize your interaction with cars.
You need to control those Veo e-scooters and you need to get them out of the middle of the sidewalk.
We support expanding transportation options for everyone, and Veo is a great choice for short trips around the city. You can grab one, ride to your destination, park it, and move on with your day unencumbered. More mobility options mean more freedom. We showcase Veo to educate people on their mobility options but we aren’t affiliated with the company and have no ability to modify their system.
Unfortunately we agree there are too many unsafe behaviors on Veo e-scooters, we have been advocating to the city and Veo to require safety education in their onboarding.
We also advise users to follow Veo’s parking rules which means out of pedestrian walkways with the kickstand engaged. We have encouraged Veo to go to a model which prevents users from parking in the middle of the sidewalk.
What’s the point of bike lanes if no one bikes in the winter?
No one is making you drive! Stop trying to make things harder for drivers just trying to get around.
It is worth noting that we are not anti-car. Cars are an effective tool for the right job but not every trip for every individual. Our work is focused on ensuring there are options for Monroe County residents beyond driving. Transportation options mean freedom. Freedom to choose the way you move through your day and shape the life you want to live. We deserve a transportation system with safe, connected bike routes, frequent bus service, AND roads that work for those who choose to drive.
Many people are not aware of the amount of subsidies that go into road construction and maintenance as well as gas prices; not to mention the amount of valuable public space we have ceded to storing private vehicles in the form of ample free parking. Our institutions do a lot to encourage driving and very little to encourage other modes of transportation despite the evidence that it’s cheaper to maintain road infrastructure and can improve congestion.
We are not necessarily trying to make things harder for drivers. We are pushing our leaders to consider options beyond the car when designing our communities going forward. The fact that many neighborhoods don’t have sidewalks, many roads don’t have bike lanes, and our buses only run once an hour on weekends make alternatives to driving very challenging for the 26% of city households and 12% of county households without access to a personal vehicle. When we make it easier to get around without a car, we can remove congestion, reduce collisions, and make travel easier for everyone including drivers.
You only care about bikes. What about us bus riders?
Reconnect Rochester is a multimodal advocacy organization – we have members who ride the bus every day. Transit is a big part of Reconnect’s history, including the ROC Transit Day celebration and a lot of advocacy around Reimagine RTS. We are involved in the city’s bus stop improvement project to improve amenities at hundreds of bus stops around the city. This summer we rallied RTS on-demand riders to push back on the service changes. Regrettably we were largely unsuccessful, but we will continue to advocate for better service and amenities for RTS riders at every opportunity.
A lot of transit advocacy is directed to the state and federal government so that they fund our system. On a state level our Voices of Transit program (email us at info@reconnectrochester.org if you want to participate!) tells the human stories of RTS riders to our legislators to encourage transit funding beyond car infrastructure. We are part of the New Yorkers for Transportation Equity statewide coalition, advocating for increased transit funding to improve RTS bus frequency and coverage.
We hope these answers shed light on any questions you may have about Reconnect Rochester and our work. We welcome community voice and dialogue and it’s important to us that we continue to push for change that benefits all of us! If you like what we do, we encourage you to subscribe to our email list, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Bluesky, attend one of our engagement breakfast events, and donate to support the cause!
Hello Reconnect Advocates! We’re entering December with a renewed energy to start planning our 2026 activities at Reconnect Rochester and reflecting on our 2025 work. We’ve heard from you that you’d like more frequent updates about the issues we asked you to advocate on. Below are some happenings from the summer and early fall around key issues that Reconnect is following:
Rochester Intermodal Station Phase II Project to add bus amenities
It’s been about 18 months since your advocacy led to Rochester being awarded $18 million in the state budget to build the bus station addition to the current train station. The project is somewhat complicated – Amtrak owns the facility, but NYSDOT built it originally and NYSDOT was given the funds. At the same time, the city is undertaking a massive Inner Loop North project across the street from the facility with a lot of changes planned to the road network. We have been in touch with Amtrak & NYSDOT to urge the kickoff of this project and to keep local stakeholders involved in the planning process so we can fully realize the vision of the intermodal station. In the meantime, we are also working with the bus companies to explore ways to improve the experience of waiting for the bus in Rochester. We successfully advocated for the city to install a simmie seat and we’re trying to get additional seating at the stop.
Keep Us Safe on State Roads Campaign
You showed up to ride to Parcel 5 to call on New York State officials to keep us safe on state roads and since then we’ve been busy continuing this advocacy. For those of you who couldn’t attend, the NYS Department of Transportation sent this statement for us to read at the event, which unfortunately didn’t give them the opportunity to see the mass of cyclists who came out to push for safer state roads. Since the event, 311 people signed a letter calling on start officials to invest in safe state road infrastructure for people walking and biking and taking transit! Behind the scenes, we’ve continued to advocate for multimodal changes to Empire Boulevard, Monroe Avenue, West Henrietta Rd. and Lake Avenue. Brighton’s Town Supervisor highlighted the strong prospect that Monroe Avenue would get a road diet, and with the right lane configuration, we could even get 5’ bike lanes on both sides. We need to keep encouraging this kind of thinking for the future.
The broader effort around 25 MPH communities applies to all the suburban towns and villages that are eligible to lower their speed limits to 25 MPH on locally-controlled roads. GTC held a regional traffic safety summit during which we exposed local leaders to the 25 MPH local law and examples in our own region that have made the switch. If you live in a suburban town or village, reach out to your decision makers to tell them you support this!
Federal Headwinds – Transportation Reauthorization
Finally, federal headwinds have continued to be strong all year, but they’re about to heat up for transportation. The surface transportation bill is up for reauthorization and will have a huge impact on local projects. Genesee St, for example, was reconstructed this past year with funds from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the current transportation bill. Just over the past 3 weeks, we’ve heard reports from the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee that “walking and biking infrastructure” are not important federal priorities and there was a threat (later backtracked) to zero out public transportation funding. The Chair, Rep. Graves (R-Mo) gave an interview in which he said:
It’s going to be a traditional highway bill. That means building roads and bridges, laying asphalt, pouring concrete. We’re not going to be spending money on murals and train stations or bike paths or walking paths. We’re going to spend money on traditional infrastructure — that’s roads and bridges.
Street project meetings slowed down in the fall. Since August, we’ve submitted inputs on Seneca Ave, Broadway/S. Union, and N. Clinton. We previously submitted comments on Bull’s Head, which is getting finalized soon.
In 2023, 40,990 people died from car crashes in the U.S and more than 2.7 million people went to emergency rooms for injuries. Monroe County alone sees an average of 47 deaths and 5,000 injuries each year. To honor these lives, Reconnect Rochester hosted a local event for the World Day of Remembrance on Sunday, November 16th, 2025 where we called on leaders across Monroe County to set safe speeds on local streets.
Josie McClary is a safe streets advocate, a Reconnect Rochester Board Member, and someone with a personal connection to road violence. She wrote this eulogy to commemorate the event.
Today we come together to honor the lives lost and the families forever changed by road crashes. For many of us, this day is deeply personal.
For me, it’s about my beloved, Ryan Grantham Jr. His life was full of joy and promise- and losing him changed my life and my grandson’s life forever.
That loss became my reason to advocate. It’s my WHY!- I believe our streets should connect us, not endanger us.
Every name we say today represents a story, a future, and a community left to carry their memory. We owe it to them – and to one another- to turn our grief into purpose.
We can do this by designing safer streets, slowing down, and listening to those who have lived with this pain.
Safety should never be a privilege – it should be a promise.
So as we reflect, let’s also commit to act – to speak up, to slow down, and to keep pushing until every person in Rochester can walk, ride, or drive home safely.
To the survivors – your strength matters!
To the families – your love and advocacy matters!
And to those we have lost – your memory guides us forward!
May our reflections lead us to change.
May our voices lead to action
And may our city and county continue to rise – together – in honor of those we lost!
Reconnect Rochester felt it was time to answer a few frequently asked bike questions and put some disparate information in one place. Some of the rules for bicycle riders in New York are well-reasoned and straightforward; others are nonsensical. The good news: Laws can be and are updated regularly. Be the squeaky wheel that gets the grease. 😉
First off, let’s get this misconception out of the way: There is no statewide ban on sidewalk riding.
From our analysis of crash reports, it’s evident that some law enforcement don’t know this.
As this State DOT FAQ lays out, municipalities can choose to ban sidewalk riding. New York City and Buffalo prohibit it. As do the villages of Brockport and Scottsville locally. As we previously explored, Rochester’s ban on sidewalk riding was taken away in 1958.
Riders in Monroe County, therefore, often have a choice:They can ride in the road following motorists’ rules, or if they don’t feel safe, they have the option of riding on the sidewalk where the law treats them more or less*** as pedestrians. Sidewalk-riding cyclists have to yield to pedestrians. In other words, pedestrians don’t have to get out of cyclists’ way on the sidewalk.
As we’ve stated before, in general: sidewalk-riding isn’t as safe as many assume and riding in the road, on the right side, isn’t as dangerous as many assume. But Reconnect Rochester has nuance: We’ll admit there are circumstances where the sidewalk is the safest place to ride.
Sidewalk riding downtown is discouraged. For many years, it was explicitly prohibited. But in 2019, the City Council updated the code. There’s wiggle room now: A cyclist can ride on downtown sidewalks if they feel imperiled (“if reasonably necessary to avoid unsafe conditions” in the road).
It should be noted that in the City of Rochester, kids under the age of 13 can’t ride in the road unless accompanied by an adult. Experts tell us that peripheral vision and the ability to judge how fast an approaching vehicle will be in your space just isn’t developed in youngsters. So young riders must stick to the sidewalk when riding without an adult. Here are other tips for youngsters.
A sticky point that’s become a contentious issue with law enforcement: When cyclists ride in the roadway, we acknowledge they’re required to ride on the right side with the flow of traffic. Because New York State does not define sidewalks as part of the roadway, cyclists can technically ride in each direction on the sidewalk, just as pedestrians can walk each way on the sidewalk, when sidewalk-riding isn’t prohibited. (Though it’s far safer, bicyclists don’t have to ride on the sidewalk on the right side of the road in their direction of travel).
We’ve seen Police Reports where the Officer reprimands a cyclist for riding on the sidewalk on the left side of the road, even if there is no sidewalk on the right side. Cyclists do have the right, though riding on the left sidewalk opens them up to this common motorist mistake.
Just because riding on the sidewalk is allowed, doesn’t mean it’s beneficial [in every circumstance]. We only recommend it for brief, finite maneuvers when the cyclist can use it to their advantage.
When there’s a dedicated bike facility and it’s usable and unobstructed, it’s state law for the cyclist to use it (except to come out to prepare for a turn). A bicyclist could be ticketed, for example, for riding on Union Street itself rather than the raised cycle track running alongside Union Street.
When it “legalized” e-bikes in 2020, New York State blanketly banned e-bikes (and e-scooters) from sidewalks. But municipalities have the option of allowing them on sidewalks. Rochester was one of the first to do so.
There’s a whole book devoted to New York’s weird e-bike laws. Since it’s becoming an issue, we’ll point out that you have to be 16+up to ride an e-bike. Crashes involving riders younger than 16 are spiking up, which could have wider repercussions…
This comes as a surprise to many: Monroe County doesn’t allow bikes on trails or paths in County Parks with the exception of Tryon, Irondequoit Bay West, Genesee Valley Park, the Lehigh Valley Trail, and that short section of Highland Park South (Biekrich Park) where the Highland Crossing Trail is. However, folks can bike on any paved road in the park system that is open to cars.
The following Towns also don’t allow biking on footpaths and trails in their parks:
Brighton
Brockport
Ogden
Penfield
Riga
Webster
Our understanding is that trails throughout New York that are open to bicycles are not automatically open to e-bikes. The entity that has jurisdiction over the trail can choose to allow them. The only local trails that we know allow e-bikes are the Erie Canal and Genesee Riverway Trails. City Trails such as the El Camino Trail are technically not yet open to e-bikes. If you come across any information that contradicts this or any more local trails that allow it, let us know.
New York State law permits cyclists to ride two abreast if sufficient space is available. But the following municipalities require riders to be single file at all times:
Brighton
Ogden
Penfield
Webster
Fairport
Finally, as many riders know, bicycle riding is prohibited on the Erie Canal towpath between the Main Street bridge and the State Street Bridge in the Village of Pittsford, and dismounting of bicycles on the towpath in that area is required.
As promised, we wanted to follow up our March blog examining the most common cyclist crash in Monroe County with further analysis. A huge component of safety is knowing what those common crash scenarios are and what we can do to significantly diminish the likelihood of our involvement in them. Though this article focuses more on road user behavior and errors, know up front that Reconnect Rochester spends most of our time focusing on better street design (engineering!) as the best solution.
Kobe Bryant used to say as he analyzed opponents’ games and habits, “If [something is] predictable, it’s preventable.” In his phenomenal book Killed By A Traffic Engineer, Wes Marshall argues that Kobe’s point also goes for traffic: Some of the errors motorists make are so predictable and, therefore, engineers can adjust road designs accordingly.
Because I know the mistakes Monroe County motorists often make and maintain awareness as I ride, there’s times my well-honed Spider-Sense goes off: “Ooo boy, if there was gonna be a crash, it would be precisely this scenario right here…” I slow down, don’t stress, and make sure everyone around me sees me to ensure my safety. We hope you can do the same. Let’s examine the other common crash scenarios in Monroe County involving bicyclists.
Yes, we know not all bike crashes are reported. Even if the info we receive isn’t everything, we’d still contend that what we receive gives us a pretty good glimpse at what’s transpiring out there. The findings are still instructive.
First off. A major takeaway:
Monroe County motorists make a lot of mistakes interacting with sidewalk riders. Riding in the street, following the rules, is safer than many think.
Most Common CYCLIST Error – running a red light/stop sign or biking through crosswalk during Don’t Walk phase
Reconnect Rochester annually champions the Idaho Stop in New York State. Passage would allow bicyclists to treat stop signs as yield signs and red lights as stop signs. Many intersection signals don’t detect cyclists’ presence and believe it or not, the statistics say the Idaho Stop is safer for cyclists.
BUT:
It’s not the law right now
The Idaho Stop is safe only when certain conditions are met, as this Santa Cruz advocate says well:
What can cyclists do?
Proceed through an intersection when it’s clear & you know you’re being yielded to. Don’t run red lights or stop signs. Don’t roll through a crosswalk during the Don’t Walk phase. Report traffic signals that don’t detect your presence to Monroe County DOT.
What can motorists do?
Stay alert. Make sure the way is clear in each direction before proceeding. Yield to anyone in the crosswalk.
2nd Most Common MOTORIST Error – turns into cyclistsgoing straight
Note: The Most Common MOTORIST Error was covered in our March blog post
You know Reconnect Rochester: we love bike lanes! The more physical protection and separation from motor vehicle traffic, the better. Bike lanes, without protected intersections however, still present a potential conflict point at intersections. Sometimes motorists coming up behind the cyclist make a right turn into them as the cyclist is proceeding straight. This is called a right hook. Other times, motorists coming from the opposite direction will take a left turn into the straightgoing cyclist. This is known as a left cross.
In both instances, motorists are required by law to yield to that straight traffic and can’t make the turn unless it can be made with safety. We’ll note that illegal motorist turns are more common with sidewalk riders than classic left crosses and right hooks with cyclists in the roadway.
What can cyclists do?
Approaching intersections, come out from the curb (when it’s clear and safe) to be more visible and to limit motorist’s most dangerous choices. “Taking/Controlling the Lane” can sometimes be the wisest thing to do. It’s also prudent to not barrel through intersections at top speed. Proceed with caution until you know the way is clear and you’re being yielded to.
I’m not a big John Forester fan, but I like this line from his book: “When you approach a red light on a bike-laned street, be especially considerate to move out of the bike lane to maintain sufficient room on your right for cars to turn right on red. That is both politeness on your part and self-preservation…”
What can motorists do?
Yield to straight going cyclists before turning right or left. As prescribed in the image above, make right turns close to the curb, yielding to traffic already in the bike lane or shoulder.
2nd Most Common CYCLIST Error – wrong way riding
When cyclists ride in the street, they’re required by law to ride on the right side of the road with the flow of traffic. As I’m sure you’ve seen, a lot of bicyclists here choose to ride on the left side against the flow of traffic. At first glance, it’s easy to see why: They’d much rather see traffic come at them than not see traffic coming behind them. However, it’s a ticketable offense and we’ve got the data to prove it’s one of the leading causes of crashes here. The laws of physics make this crash especially severe on the cyclist: If you’re biking on the left at 10mph and are hit head on by a car in the opposite direction going 30mph, that’s literally the equivalent of getting hit at 40mph.
Ride on the right side of the road with the flow of traffic. This takes getting used to, but you’re more safe, visible and predictable this way. To make it easier, stick to the lines on our ROC Easy Bike map.
What can motorists do?
Look both ways at intersections, driveways and parking lot exits and ensure the way is clear before turning. Stay alert.
3rd Most Common MOTORIST Error – unsafe passing
Every bicyclist’s greatest fear – riding on the right side of the road, doing everything you’re supposed to do, and getting hit from behind by a straightgoing motorist – is not that common; the other crash scenarios we’ve discussed here are much more common.
But getting hit from behind does happen. Chances are higher on arterials when there are no bike lanes present. Getting hit from behind by a straightgoing motorist while in a bike lane is quite rare.
We find it interesting that much of the time when a cyclist does get hit from behind, it either happens at night or in the suburbs. Dedicated bike infrastructure and street lighting are less prevalent outside the City. Speeds are higher there and sometimes there’s not even a shoulder to ride in. The more “road diets” County DOT and NYSDOT can do, the safer suburban cyclists will be.
What can cyclists do?
If riding at night, it’s the law for bicyclists to have a red light in the rear and a white light in the front (reflectors don’t suffice). Of course for their benefit, the cyclist can go beyond satisfying the law to wearing bright reflective material that makes them even more visible. Two stage left turns and riding along the easy bike network make this crash less likely. Advocate for protected bike infrastructure.
What can motorists do?
Slow down and maintain vigilance while driving. It’s New York State law to pass cyclists at a safe distance. In Monroe County, that safe passing distance is at least 3 feet.
3rd Most Common CYCLIST Error – failing to yield to cross traffic
When any vehicle operator comes out of a driveway/parking lot or comes to the end of a minor residential street up to a major street, they must stop (before entering the sidewalk/crosswalk area) whether there is a stop sign or not. They can only proceed straight across or turn onto that busier road when the way is clear and they can proceed with safety. A significant factor in crashes in Rochester is cyclists (and motorists, too, for that matter) coming to the end of a residential side street and proceeding across a major road without yielding to that cross traffic (which has the right of way) and waiting until the way is clear.
Granted, sometimes that cross traffic is busy and/or that cross traffic can be speeding. But they have the right of way. If it’s rush hour, it might be a good idea for the cyclist to head to the nearest signalized intersection via the sidewalk and press the “beg button” to help them cross or turn.
Of course, lower speed limits, speed/red light cameras, traffic calming and more crosswalks would make this crash less common and make it easier to get around by bike.
What can cyclists do?
Don’t cross until the way is clear. If traffic is busy, head to the nearest signalized intersection via the sidewalk and press the “beg button” to help you cross or turn.
What can motorists do?
Slow down. Stay alert.
In sum, when cyclists eliminate these common cyclist mistakes from their repertoire and ride in a way that significantly deters the common mistakes motorists make, their safety skyrockets! Consider taking our bike class in 2026 and get acquainted with our ROC Easy Bike map.
Do us a favor and spread this finding widely. If Monroe County could eliminate or lessen this crash scenario, we’d see a significant decrease in motorist/cyclist crashes.
