If you’ve been following the news about Citi Bike, New York City’s soon-to-be-launched bike share program, then you might get the impression that it’s unpopular, it’s taking over the streets, it’s putting people out of work, it discriminates against the heavy-set, and that it’s being forced upon New Yorkers by an agency that has “fear and contempt of the citizenry.”
The reality is that bike share has the support of 74 percent of New Yorkers and over 5,000 people signed up for annual Citi Bike memberships during the first 30 hours they were on sale. The program is expected to generate $36 million in local economic activity, and similar programs have been a huge success in Boston and Washington.
We’ve known that Citi Bike was coming for some time now, and the New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) has engaged in a thorough outreach process leading up to the initial launch, when 6,000 bikes at 330 stations will become available in Manhattan (below 59th Street) and downtown Brooklyn. More stations in North Brooklyn and Long Island City will be phased in, eventually growing to a total of 10,000 bikes at 600 stations.
But the story that isn’t being told about bike share is that some elected officials are already clamoring for stations in their districts, even before the official launch.
For example, Queens elected officials State Senator Michael Gianaris and City Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer, have already begun lobbying Citi Bike to expand the system in Astoria and to fast-track expansion of the system to Woodside and Sunnyside. New York City Councilmember Brad Lander is so excited about the possibilities that bike share can bring to his district that he tweeted about becoming a “founding member” — even though his district in Brooklyn will not be served during the program’s initial launch. Councilmember Stephen Levin did the same. And even in the face of vandals, Fort Greene Councilmember Letitia James remains steadfast in support of bike share for her community.
In the Bronx, opinion makers are lamenting the fact that the initial roll-out of bike share is passing them by, and in Staten Island, articles bemoan the fact that bike share isn’t planned for Staten Island at all.
As bike share gets fully underway, the initial complaints about the program — which essentially reflect a fear of the unknown — will be replaced with louder complaints from those who are being left out, as has been the case throughout the country. If Citi Bike and NYCDOT think they’re getting an earful now, see what happens when even more communities realize that they’re missing out on one of the largest transit expansions in recent New York City history.
You haven’t mentioned one bit of more positive reporting (by me, for the Financial Times). I went to Fort Greene, where a lot of the fuss has been, earlier this week and reported on sentiment: http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/06afd2da-b152-11e2-b324-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2RyNsnboj
Go citi bike!!!
I don’t understand why people are complaining about citi bike
20 bikes can fit in a 3 car parking space so right away the bikes are better.
The fact of the matter is cars are the ones taking up too much space. All of the on street parking spots in NYC can make 11 Central parks!! Think about how much space were wasting on what essentially car storage in public space. On average cars take up 2000 square feet in roads space. Imagine how much an apartment that big in NYC would cost. We are throwing money away at cars! All of the food vendors shouldn’t be complaining to citi bike but to cars! NYC can not take anymore cars and everyone knows that. NYC is jammed up with cars and it is impossible to expand the road system. The only possible way to move people in NYC will be through public transportation and bikes. There just is no room for cars but there it a lot of room for bikes!
[…] Sense (WNBC, Guardian, MTR) and Nonsense (Post, […]
Count this suburbanite as a “founding member” too! Anyone who spends any time in the Citibike zone will want a membership.
Citbike is yet another instance of the traditional city-suburb lifestyle being turned upside down. It used to be people moved to the suburbs for ‘fresh air’ and an ‘active lifestyle.’ As the suburbs have become dependent on cars, active living has become difficult and even dangerous. The sidewalk-free streets are now crowded with motorists, forcing walkers to cower on the side of the road. Cycling by anyone except the most committed lycra-wearer is enough to get your neighbors to call the Dept of Child Welfare.
And where do people go for an “outing” with their kids? They DRIVE into Manhattan to cycle on the West Side Greenway.
The claims of the DOT that its outreach program was exceedingly thorough is just plain hogwash. The fact of the matter is that, from day one, when it launched its on-line map where individual members of the public could enter in their suggestions or approve other’s suggested locations, the fix was in. Who knew about it? Answer: The bicycling community almost exclusively. Notice also, I wrote that one could “approve” others’ suggestions. That was easy: just click the “thumbs up” icon. But here is the thing: there was no “thumbs down” icon. Eventually, the maps made it to the community boards. Thats when I found out about it, as I am on my community board’s mailing list. I, and others, duly attended the meetings, and commented on the maps the DOT gave. For me, the issue was the enormous bike share station in Petrosino Park. It was at that point that I, and neighbors, firmly gave a “thumbs down” to placing a bike share station in the sculpture exhibit section of our tiny tiny park. We suggested other locations. The DOT chose to ignore those comments, despite a number of appropriate locations in the immediate area. The DOT chose instead to displace the sculpture exhibit space and to interfere with usual pedestrian pathing, making it difficult for pedestrians to circumnavigate the tiny park. Weeks prior to the midnight installation of the bike share station, the Community asked the DOT to site the bicycle station just 50 feet away, displacing parking spaces but leaving a hard-won park to a park-starved community. The response: you had plenty of time to comment; too late now. No wonder people in lower Manhattan are furious.
[…] Bike launched less than one week ago, and (as TSTC predicted earlier this month) elected officials who represent neighborhoods the bike share system […]