THE pitted stretch of road just north of Gramercy Park between Lexington and Fifth Avenues was recently repaved. Roads are a quintessential public good, and though New York City’s leave much to be desired, their condition has vastly improved under Michael Bloomberg, the city's soon-to-be-departing mayor. But something was lost in this specific improvement: the painted strip of bike lane. Were Mr Bloomberg continuing in office, there is little doubt that the bike lane would be restored. It could still happen, but the fate of bike lanes and bicycling in New York is now in question with the election of Bill de Blasio as mayor. Mr Bloomberg did not enter office as an advocate of cycling. Early questions about bikes were referred to Iris Weinshall, Mr Bloomberg's first transportation commissioner (a holdover from the Giuliani administration). The number of bike lanes increased during Ms Weinshall's tenure, but the execution was sloppy. Even obvious problems, like routing cyclists away from the entrance to bridges, were ignored or botched. Cycling was for the brave, if not the insane.

It was not until 2007, when Janette Sadik-Khan took over for Ms Weinshall (who would go on to oppose a bike lane near her home in Brooklyn), that cycling really took off in the city. The introduction of short-term rental bikes has been a spectacular success. Users range from tourists to businesspeople to grocery shoppers. The Citibikes, as they're called, would not be so useful were it not for other improvements made by Ms Sadik-Khan. New bike lanes were established, old lanes improved and rules passed requiring garages and buildings to accept bikes (though some buildings, like The Economist’s midtown offices, subvert the rules by charging staggering amounts for the use of their lifts).

Still, New York remains a crazy place to cycle, with taxis stopping abruptly and awkwardly in bike lanes, and the ever-present possibility of being “doored”. But the obstacles need to be seen in context. For decades bikers were target practice for sloppy or crazed drivers and consequently scarce. Your correspondent was almost alone cycling to elementary school in the 1960s. In the 1980s and 1990s, a trip over the Brooklyn Bridge included just a few other commuters. Now clever cyclists avoid the Brooklyn Bridge entirely because of the bike traffic. There are cyclists everywhere in the city.

Not everyone is happy about the emerging bike culture. Joe Lhota, who lost to Mr de Blasio, said his polling showed a huge schism in the popularity of bikes: staggering support among voters under 40 and opposition among older voters. It is not hard to find reasons for complaints. Many bikers not only break traffic laws, they do so egregiously. Cars and trucks are miserable at having to give up space to bikers on already-packed streets. Efforts to reduce traffic through congestion pricing have come up against complaints that it discriminates against the poor. When it comes to the streets, there are many competing interests.

The expansion of bike access is often perceived to be a component of activist government. But the public costs of bikes, while not zero, are low compared to the public costs of other forms of transportation. The city’s bus and subway systems require enormous subsidies. For structural and political reasons it is difficult to adjust routes in response to demand. The medallion system providing franchises to taxis would be considered corrupt were the legislators determining corruption not also receiving contributions from medallion owners. Cars pollute, take up lots of space and are dangerous.

For the city's bike culture to continue to grow, Mr de Blasio's administration must not only be as supportive as the Bloomberg administration but as competent. There are doubts, not least because Mr de Blasio received strong support from the taxi lobby. But if the bike lanes are allowed to fade, there will be a reaction from the increasing number of city cyclists and their supporters. While attention is now focused on who will head the police department, and then education, a large group also awaits word of Ms Sadik-Khan's replacement. In the meantime, they're watching the writing on the road.

(Photo credit: AFP)