New York City officials announced today that they had selected Alta Bike Share as the vendor for a bicycle-sharing system, with 10,000 bikes, that will launch next summer and initially stretch from 79th Street in Manhattan to Bedford-Stuyvesant and Windsor Terrace in Brooklyn. The city is asking residents to suggest locations for bike stations online.

The new system will make cycling a more convenient option for New Yorkers and change the way many get around the city. In a statement, Tri-State Transportation Campaign executive director Kate Slevin said that “In cities like Washington, people use bike share to get to the train station, pick up the groceries, and visit that park or restaurant that was always a little too far of a walk. Bike share will give New Yorkers another way to get around and improve everyone’s quality of life.”

A bike sharing system involves many stations, where people use a pass or credit card to unlock a bike, then drop it off at the station closest to their destination. Bike-share members will reportedly pay less than $100 annually for unlimited 45 minute trips between bike stations (longer trips will incur an additional charge; exact pricing is still being worked out). Visitors and those looking to try the system for shorter periods of time will also be able to buy daily, weekly, and monthly passes. NYCDOT also released a short video to explain how the system will work:

[youtube width=”560″ height=”345″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14rlkQF0z4E[/youtube]

Alta manages Washington, D.C.’s Capital Bikeshare and Boston’s Hubway bike-sharing systems, both of which are widely regarded as successful. Capital Bikeshare has 1,100 bikes at 110 stations, and is currently the largest in the country.