Battles over bikes in the heavily Hasidic portion of Williamsburg have made headlines for years. In 2008, the New York Post salaciously framed the issue as “the Hasids vs. the hotties” after members of the local community board expressed concern about women riding through the neighborhood would not dress according to Hasidic standards of tzniut, or modesty. Ever since then, there’s been frequent coverage in local media of the so-called “Williamsburg bike wars.” Earlier this year, Gothamist reported that the DOT was installing a bike lane on Bedford Avenue, but leaving the Hasidic section of the avenue without it.

The controversy is presumed to be the reason that, while Citi Bike docking stations are ubiquitous all over North Brooklyn, there is a glaring gap in the bikeshare system in South Williamsburg between Division and Myrtle avenues. Now, the Department of Transportation has said it plans to install seven new stations to finally close that gap. With the announcement, biking advocates and foes from past controversies are resurfacing to give their opinions.

Longtime Satmar community activist Isaac Abraham expressed strong opposition to the proposed stations, and threatened violence against those who would use Citi Bikes.

“I want to send a warning to these bikers,” Abraham said. “We’ll knock you off your bike if there’s even a slim chance you’ll injure our children.” 

Abraham said he would only support bike infrastructure if the city did more to enforce traffic laws against bikers – for example, by forcing them to carry license plates – but he doesn’t think that will happen. “There’s no way to control them because the city doesn’t know who they are, and they don’t give a rat’s ass,” he said.

Cycling advocate Baruch Herzfeld said Abraham’s views don’t represent the Hasidic community as he knows it. “I speak to Hasidim all the time. They’re perfectly happy that Citi Bike is coming. They use Citi Bike for commuting,” said Herzfeld, who used to own Traif Bike Gesheft, a bicycle repair shop in Williamsburg in which he lent Hasidim bikes for free. Herzfeld is also an entrepreneur who said he interacts with Satmar Hasidim who invest in his company.

City councilmember Lincoln Restler, a self-described “avid Citi Biker” who represents South Williamsburg, told Shtetl that the Hasidic community is not a monolith, and that he’s spoken to some Hasidim who’ve voiced support for the docking stations.

“There are very few Citi Bike docks in this community, and I’ve heard from residents in South Williamsburg who like Citi Bikes and like bicycling and would like to have more access to the program,” Restler said.

Restler told Shtetl he’d spoken about the Citi Bike plans with Rabbi David Niederman, the executive director of the United Jewish Organizations of Williamsburg, a social services organization serving the local Hasidic community. “He’s had some concerns, but I’m hopeful that we can find pathways forward,” Restler said.

Niederman is an important macher in the Hasidic community; in 2022, City & State called him the eighth-most influential faith leader in New York. Shtetl reached out to Niederman by phone and email, but did not receive a response.

Earlier this summer, the DOT conducted in-person surveys on the streets of South Williamsburg to determine where to install the docking stations, and a spokesperson for the department said that they have concluded those efforts.

“Outreach is complete for the summer,” DOT press secretary Scott Gastel wrote in an email to Shtetl, adding that the DOT was still accepting feedback via email. “We will be reaching out to stakeholders. That includes sharing proposed stations with the [community boards] and elected officials,” Gastel added.

In years past, Hasidim have also expressed concerns that a bike lane would slow down car traffic and reduce the number of parking spaces. As Restler explained, since Hasidim often travel with large families to other Hasidic enclaves, they prefer to travel in cars and may not want to share the road with bikes.

“You need a large car. There’s no way to get around without it, especially if you’re going upstate, going to [Kiryas Joel], going to Monsey, going to Boro Park,” the councilmember said. “It’s a part of life. So there is a prevalence of larger cars in this community, especially minivans.”

Hasidim have other reasons for preferring cars. According to the 2021 book A Fortress in Brooklyn: Race, Real Estate, and the Making of Hasidic Williamsburg, “Many Hasidim avoided using subways, either out of fear of crime, especially during the period of New York City’s decline, or because they wanted to avoid crowded, mixed-gender settings and immodestly dressed riders.”

Herzfeld said that he doesn’t expect many Hasidic opponents of bikes to protest the new bike stations because prior instances of speaking out against bikes brought unwelcome attention and antisemitism.

“They have no interest in getting involved in it,” Herzfeld said of anti-bike protesters today. “There’s no upside.”

Gersh Kuntzman, the editor in chief of the transportation advocacy news site Streetsblog, said that installation of Citi Bike docks would bring more biking to the area, and lead to more pro-bike attitudes and infrastructure, such as bike lanes.

“Once Citi Bike docks go in, you obviously start to see a lot more people biking in the neighborhood,” Kuntzman said. “And so that helps DOT make the case to community boards to build bike lanes.”