From a DOT news release...
The New York City Department of Transportation (DOT), bike share operator New York City Bike Share (NYCBS) today announced that the Citi Bike system will launch in March 2013 with an initial phase of 7,000 bikes implemented at 420 stations. The timeline, agreed to by all parties, does not affect the Citi Bike sponsorship structure, which uses $41 million in private funding from Citi to underwrite the system for five years and ensures that NYCBS will split profits with the City.
“New York City demands a world-class bike share system, and we need to ensure that Citi Bike launches as flawlessly as New Yorkers expect on Day One,” said DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan. “The enthusiasm for this program continues to grow and we look forward to bringing this affordable new transportation option to New Yorkers without cost to taxpayers.”
(Via Curbed)
Until then, I'll ride my own bike and continue to not look like a dick roaming the city on a corporate advertisement.
ReplyDelete"New York City demands a world-class bike share system"
ReplyDeleteReally? We do??
"The enthusiasm for this program continues to grow"... Sadly, this enthusiastic crowd will have moved to another city by March. That's the downside of catering to transients.
ReplyDeletethey need to reduce this horrible crap by at least 90%. i am enraged that the home of the fine residents of NYC will be absolutely plastered by this hostile and aggressive citibank advertising campaign, the revenues of which will absolutely NOT be placed back into any kind of social services whatsoever. i dont want that obnoxious blue crap polluting the visual landscape of my city, and i CERTAINLY don't want THREE DOCKS ON MY BLOCK ALONE!
ReplyDeleteSTOP THE MADNESS
@THE NOTORIOUS L.I.B.E.R.A.T.I.O.N.: The program will cost less than $100 per year. That price point is made possible by corporate funding. Sure, the bikes would look a little prettier without the logo, but is such vanity worth a higher cost? I say no, you say yes. Let's all recognize, however, that the apparent pride you take in riding 'round town on a kiddie bike renders your thoughts on vanity extremely suspect right out of the gate.
ReplyDelete@Anonymous: I love biking, but don't have room in my apartment to store a bike, don't have a safe place to put my bike in close proximity to work, and am not interested in having my bike stolen off the street every four months. So while I can't speak for "we," I can say with confidence that yes, I demand it.
@Big Brother: Not sure in what universe this caters to "transients," but I've lived here 12 years and couldn't be more enthusiastic. So score one point against your grand, idiotically-generalized hypothesis.
@Anonymous: It's a fucking logo. And blue is just a color...a primary color at that! Ujjayi breaths, brah.
My table is my bike. End of story.
ReplyDeleteI hoe it never happens since this Mayor is the #1 douche.
ReplyDeleteWe should start placing bets on when it'll actually launch. I'm going for March 1, 2014...
ReplyDelete@aveaisessex I do take pride in the fact that I can 1. Afford a bike and 2. Keep it safe inside my apartment and 3. Live my life freely without corporate sponsorship.
ReplyDeleteNothing like a nice brisk bike ride in March. With a little luck they'll open to slush covered streets and sleet.
ReplyDeleteIf they're going to delay it. Why not delay it until May or something when a tourist would actually want to ride a bike around.
Who fucking thinks of these things.
@ Randall
ReplyDeleteIt's timed to coincide with the City's First-Ever St. Patrick's Day Bike Crawl.
(Uh-oh — hope that I didn't give anyone any ideas...)
@randall: Bike sharing is designed for residents, not tourists.
ReplyDeleteaveaisessex (cool name!) how much is Citi paying you to say all that? Haha. Because no one is for 7,000 billboard bikes plastered all over the neighborhood. I mean really, man. Glad you are happy but most aren't. :-)
ReplyDeleteAlso I'd back off on the ad hominem attacks on Liberation - a dear friend of this blog and me personally. Let's hear it for sticking to the topic sir/ma'am.
@aveaisessex It isn't necessary to respond to each and every comment here. Nobody was talking to you.
ReplyDeleteDude, you're looking down on a BMX bike? And yet you have no problem touring the city on a Citi Girl Bike? Ha!
ReplyDelete@Shawn Chittle
ReplyDeleteDude, I have nothing to do with Citi. I mean, yeah, my dad's on the board. And yeah, he pays for my loft in Williamsburg. So what? I'm a aspiring experimental violinist who creates expansive compositions using a fedora instead of a bow, and I expect to make it big any day. Check me out on Kickstarter!
In all seriousness, I'm just in favor of bike sharing. And if I need to ride around in an admittedly lame corporate bike in order for that to be a reality in NY, then I'll gladly do that over bitching about logos and corporate scourge.
I too am a friend of the blog and a fan of the commenting community, so I'll try to keep the hate to a minimum.
Now, who's up for boche tonight?
Bring out the gimp! (I know this makes no sense and is off topic to most of you fine EVG readers, but I'm hoping it brought a chuckle to a few people who know what I'm talking about here.)
ReplyDeleteI want the bike share too. Aveaisessex isn't alone.
ReplyDeleteAs someone who owns their own bike, I'm excited about this program and intend to get an annual pass. It'll make using the train to commute so much easier.
ReplyDeleteI hate this program and don't know one person. Looking forward to it
ReplyDelete@1248, you dont know one person? seems lonely.
ReplyDelete@Liberation, its great you can afford these luxuries, some people cant, hopefully this will make biking an option for them.
Im fairly indifferent to this program, I probably will never use it, I am in the 1% w Lib, and keep my sweet bike in my huge apt. But I see and appreciate the point of it. It certainly doesnt warrant the hate it has received, IMO.
Judging by how folks treat pay phones and other "street furniture" in our fair nabe, these bike stations should make for good photo opportunities once they finally get started.
ReplyDeleteMy major gripe with this program is that it's only going to put more inexperienced riders on the streets (and most likely sidewalks, too) when there are already too many "Sunday drivers" out there.
ReplyDeleteJust wait until the accident reports start rolling into the dailies once this goes live.
Seriously? You're worried about "inexperienced riders"? WTF people. Bikes are good. They're healthy. Yeah the ads granted are annoying but if we can get more people exercising and riding around, then why the hell not? I have a bike, too, and love riding it around but have plenty of friends whose 6th fl walkup just doesn't cut it and they can't afford a bike anyway. All for it.
ReplyDeleteI think most people are upset about the proposed volume and over-placement of these stations- maybe they should be placed near bus stops on the wide sidewalks with a small number at each juncture but to have three stations on a block, taking up dozens of spots just seems like poor city planning. And yes, it is reasonable to be concerned about even more people who don't know how to ride in NYC.
ReplyDeleteVery quickly inexperience riders become experienced riders (at least to the point necessary to navigate NYC).
ReplyDeleteAnd it's not usually the newbs that are running into peds or hitting cabs anyway.
And for those saying there are "three stations on a block" here is the station map.
ReplyDeletehttp://a841-tfpweb.nyc.gov/bikeshare/station-map/
In the EV, the stations are on the Avenues and are roughly every 4-5 blocks. This information is publicly available.
I've used these in Minneapolis and yes, they are terrible bikes and look stupid, but the whole thing turns out in practice to be super useful. I may have to make a velcro sleeve or something to cover the Citi logo, but whatever. I'll totally do this.
ReplyDeleteIF it ever happens, that is. The company making the bikes tried to break contract with their software developer and get someone else to do it cheaper. Guess how well that worked out... same thing is happening in Chicago.
I swear there are govt and corporate planted hacks here commenting solely to try to sway popular opinion.
ReplyDeleteI have never even seen half these commentors on this blog before and who in their right mind would be exerting themselves like this to defend citibank of all things???
this world is not run by govts it's run by the corporations that fund them and if you don't see why that's an enormous problem then sorry you need to wake up. the argument goes waaaaaaay beyond the petty and topical points raised here.
@1226 - Believe me, Im not defending Citibank, citi should be working on paying back the taxpayers, not buying bikes.
ReplyDeleteBut this program seems like a good program, that has been successful in other cities, I hope its successful here.
Also, Grieve is great, but I think you have overestimated his (or her?) footprint on the internet etc. And overestimated the importance of the bike share program. The govt and corps have much bigger issues to sabotage via much bigger media outlets.
last also, its going to be corps to sponsor programs like this, this is a bit too big of an endeavor to ask The Bean to sponsor, and Pepsi is too busy sponsoring Cobchella Rocktaugustfest.
"I swear there are govt and corporate planted hacks here commenting solely to try to sway popular opinion."
ReplyDeleteNot sure the higher-ups would be bothered, but friends of the employees working on the project, definitely! Peasants do peasants work.
I want to be able to ride a bike to work. It would be quicker and cheaper than the subway. Unfortunately I don't have space for one in my apartment or office. Plus, I wouldn't be able to afford another bike if mine was stolen.
ReplyDeleteI don't like the citi sponsorshop. It's ugly and garish. I can't comment on street furniture impact or politics, since I simply don't know enough about those things.
All I do know is I would very much enjoy a commuter-friendly bike that I could use at-will. If this can deliver it with the only costs being a membership fee and an ugly billboard between my legs, then I'm OK with that.
I will only pay and ride one of these if I can get a “Sandy Weill” customized bike.
ReplyDelete"But Sandy Weill, more than just about anyone else, is the reason we no longer have those protections. It was Weill who pressured Congress and the Clinton administration to change the law so that he could merge Travelers, which owned Salomon Brothers, with Citicorp. Weill envisioned a “financial supermarket” that would reap the benefits of “cross-selling” — peddling financial products like investments and retirement accounts to retail bank customers.
Fuck the haters, can't wait for bike share.
ReplyDelete