Cyclist designs algorithm to fix NYC's blocked bike lane problem

A savvy computer scientist has developed an algorithm to figure out just how bad New York City's bike lanes really are. Using machine learning, New Yorker Alex Bell discovered precisely how often parked cars, delivery trucks and waiting cabs are guilty of illegally blocking the city's bike lanes and bus routes, according to the New York Times. The results showed that it's not just disgruntled bikers and bus drivers imagining the problem -- New York City's cycling and bus lanes are routinely obstructed. Using machine learning, Alex Bell discovered precisely how often parked cars, delivery trucks and waiting cabs are guilty of illegally blocking the city's bike lanes and bus routes Bell trained the algorithm with about 2,000 images of buses, cars and trucks to differentiate between vehicles that were allowed to idle there legally and those that weren't. Specifically, he collected 10 days worth of publicly available footage from a traffic camera in Harlem fixed on one city block.