Metro

Merchants blast bike lane plan

Amsterdam Avenue is going to get very crowded.

A plan to add a bike lane and traffic islands on the busy Upper West Side street has been given the green light by a community-board committee — but merchants on neighboring Columbus Avenue, where a bike lane has already been added, warn that the new plan will hurt businesses.

Community Board 7’s Transportation Committee last week endorsed a plan by the advocacy organization Transportation Alternatives that proponents say would boost retail sales — but the business owners on Columbus Avenue say their sales have suffered since a bike lane was installed there in 2011.

Doris Petrescu, manager of Schweitzer Linen near West 82nd Street, said business dropped about 50 percent after the lane was installed and parking spaces were eliminated.

She was surprised that some advocates say bike lanes bring in business.

“It’s the other way around,” she said.

Nick Bazas, 56, also said the Columbus Avenue bike lane has made deliveries very difficult for his business, Q Florist, which has been part of the neighborhood for 43 years.

“We need to get deliveries,” he said, noting that trucks for his small business now get hit with about 10 to 15 summonses a month — at $115 a pop.

“It’s difficult,” he said. “It has affected us in a lot of ways. It will affect them the same way it’s affected us.”

Despite the pinch that some businesses have felt, the Columbus Avenue Business Improvement District endorsed the proposal, as did stores Pookie & Sebastian, Serafina Upper West Side and Wine and Roses.

The plan calls for the removal of an entire lane of traffic along Amsterdam Avenue from West 59th Street to West 110th Street to make room for the new bike lane.

The full community board will vote on the proposal on Nov. 6.