During the transit strike of Dec 20-22, 2005 the city of New York's Department of Transportation kept track of the numbers of people entering the city grouped by means. Here were their findings as related to cyclist.
The number of pedestrians entering Manhattan skyrocketed during the walkout; bicycles and ferries were not used as much as officials had expected.
On average, 11,717 bicycles crossed the East River bridges each day of the strike. From 6 to 10 a.m., the number of bicyclists on the bridges was 4,892, a 44 percent drop from 8,762 riders in 1980.
The city has far more bicycle lanes and paths than it did in 1980, but Ms. Weinshall said bicycling was a less-attractive option because of the cold weather. The 1980 strike began on April 1 and lasted 11 days.
It makes sense to me that in the middle of winter in NYC (where the wind is notoriously strong) people would rather walk than bike, so this report is sort of useless. They're not comparing apples to apples. Do they not have statistics on the number of cyclists who normally cross the East River bridges in December? That's the comparison I'd like to see.
This is all interesting since bicycles play a roll in the cities evacuation plans. And getting people in is similar to getting people out.
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