The Village Board recently proposed legislation that would ban riding bikes on the sidewalks within the Village for anyone over the age of 12. The board has been discussing updating its sidewalk code since the fall of 2025 and the intent is to better align the Village code with that of the State and to better protect pedestrians.
The proposed legislation went before public hearing on February 10th. The board listened to 2+ hours of public comment and thoughtfully considered what it would mean to ban people from riding on the sidewalk when there is no safe biking infrastructure in the Village. The public comments were made by people of all ages — from a 13 year-old who said biking is how she gets to work and how she sees her friends, to a 70 year-old who has to ride through the Village to get to the canal path. There were also comments from people who don’t bike, but who believe sidewalks are for pedestrians only. (You can watch a video of the meeting here. The discussion starts at the 45 min mark.)
If we had safe bike infrastructure, this would be a no-brainer. Pedestrian safety is my wheelhouse. It’s what brought me to Reconnect Rochester and to found Walk Bike Pittsford. Of course sidewalks are for pedestrians and pedestrians should be given priority. AND until we have safe infrastructure for people who bike, let’s not pit one vulnerable mode against another. My family walks as our primary transportation in the Village. We walk to meetings, to run errands, to get to/from the bus stop, to walk to restaurants & bars, etc. We walk every day on these Village sidewalks. The real enemy is speeding, aggressive motor vehicle traffic. Our main roads are built to move as much traffic through them as efficiently as possible. Pedestrians and cyclists are an after-thought (those of you who have to traverse 4-corners outside of a car know what I’m talking about).
Our kids rode their bikes to school, practices and to see friends. And they rode on the sidewalk, because riding on our main streets was not safe (we live on the busiest/speediest street in the Village). We trained them to yield to pedestrians, pay attention when crossing curb cuts and driveways, and to dismount and walk if using crosswalks to minimize confusion by drivers (drivers often aren’t expecting something fast- moving like a bike to zoom across a crosswalk). And although we adults in the family prefer to ride in the street when possible to get to safe infrastructure like the canal path, we often have to ride on the sidewalk due to heavy vehicle traffic conditions. And we do so by yielding to pedestrians and doing all the things we taught our kids.
The Village Board tabled the legislation at the Feb 10th hearing and will continue to discuss the issue at a subsequent workshop and meetings. Once they update the proposed legislation, there will be another public hearing to vote on the legislation. The board did seem to have some urgency around wrapping up the legislation. The trustee who has been working on the legislation since the fall is adamant that sidewalks are for pedestrians and that any person on a bike should dismount and walk the bike on any sidewalk within the Village boundary. The other trustees appear open to some baby steps to educate and let the two modes co-exist for a bit longer. Again, if we had safe biking infrastructure on our main roads, this would be a no-brainer. We don’t. And until we do, let’s give people who want to bike an option to be on the sidewalk and use common sense courtesy and yield to pedestrians.
We will update you when the board has updated the legislation and scheduled the date for the public hearing.