Bicycles are here to stay. Sometimes a bicycle gets you from here to there faster than the subway. Luckily, Citi Bike, NYC’s bike-sharing program, keeps growing. It is expanding due to increased funds. Very soon, Queens will have its first docking stations. Docking stations will also emerge in more areas of Brooklyn, such as the Williamsburg and Park Slope neighborhoods; as well as in Prospect Heights, Crown Heights, Red Hook, Long Island, and Manhattan (extending as far north as 130th Street).
Conceivably, this increase in bicycle availability will result in additional bike paths as well. It could result in fewer crowds on the subway, too.
Image Credit: Citi Bike
The news describes a sizable pending financial deal. REQX Ventures, an affiliate of real-estate giant Related Cos., would be the one putting in an additional tens of millions of dollars. The increase will show the number of bikes close to twice as many as now, going from 6,200 to 12,000.
Despite widespread use in NYC and 35 other US cities with bike-sharing programs, after 23 million rides, bike-sharing programs across the country have not resulted in a single death since launch in 2007, as reported by Barbara Goldberg of Reuters.
Image Credit: Citi Bike
The Wall Street Journal points out that Citi Bike is the only American bike-sharing program intended to use private sponsorship — not taxpayer money.
A spokesman for Mayor Bill de Blasio declined to comment beyond a written statement:
“We’re committed to making New York City’s bike share program more reliable and more accessible to neighborhoods across the city,” the spokesman said. “Citi Bike has become part of our public transportation system, and there is a lot riding on its success. We owe it to New Yorkers and to riders to get this right, and make sure we put the system on solid footing for the long-term.”
According to this source, bicyclists were using the bicycles twice as much as expected. With the expansion pending, Citi Bike’s operator, Alta Bicycle Share Inc., plans to raise the price of the $95 annual memberships, which could increase to $140 or more. More than 100,000 annual memberships have sold thus far.
We like the way that spokesman mentioned above reminds us that this is solid footing for the long term. The long term is something programs such as this consider. Great news as it is never soon enough for clean progress.
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Next Time You See Bicyclists on the Road, Thank Them for Your Better Health
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