Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Your chance to bitch about Citi Bikes tonight



Back in May, before the launch of the Citi Bikes program, Community Board 3 announced that it would be holding a public meeting in July to hear any concerns ... Anyway, that meeting is tonight.

Here is the original message that we posted on May 10:

Bike Share will launch May 27. Issues that must be dealt with immediately, such as a blocked driveway or loading zone, should be emailed to the community board office (info@cb3manhattan.org) and we will work with DOT to have these sites inspected immediately.

There are other concerns regarding placement of installations or size of installations, or the number of installations in close proximity to each other. We are asking people to wait until bike share is in operation for a month to see what works and what doesn’t. What installations are not being used to capacity? What installations do not accommodate the number of bikes needed?

The Community Board 3 Transportation Committee will meet on Tuesday, July 16 to hear concerns. DOT will attend the meeting to note these concerns and address or inspect and follow up.

The meeting is at 6:30 p.m. at I.S. 131, 100 Hester St.

And sorry about the short notice on the reminder... we just remembered ourselves via The Lo-Down's reminder this morning ...

25 comments:

  1. Tell them about Citi's bad assets http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20130715/BLOGS02/130719938

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  2. The locking pedestals make great short term stools, I'm sure they will come up with something to make them uncomfortable.

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  3. Kind of short notice, no?

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  4. Just read your apology for lateness. Damn! I was hoping it was a repeat of when they installed them and notified told no one, including 311, NYPD, and DOT. At least that's what I was told. I love the chance to wear a tinfoil hat.

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  5. it's too hot to complain tonight.

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  6. Is there a Kickstarter campaign for this? If so, do I get to high five the organizers for donating $10?

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  7. anyone who complains about citibikes is a selfish idiot who should go live in the middle of the countryside if they don't want a shared environment.

    Besides a couple of lost parking spots - and if you own a car in NYC, how dare you complain about a couple of bikes - what really is the downside??

    More bikes has made biking safer as now everyone is more aware of bikes.

    More biking will increase bike ownership and awareness and will probably wind up helping bike shops more then hurting them. ie. the # of people who will buy bikes is probably greater then the # who are going to sell them.

    It makes i damn easy to get around.

    when you factor in the savings on subway and/or taxi over the course of a year, you actually wind up saving more then the $95 you pay.

    they are working out a few kinks, but the system so far is pretty good.

    any dog pee/poop would have been there anyways - as this is an issue with pet owner,s not the bikes.

    so STFU and get with the future!

    ER

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  8. I have to say, I love the bikes (not the ads, but I don't actually care that much).

    However, I wish they'd installed a bunch of bike lock areas with each stall. There are too few places to lock your (non-citi) bike. All the public locks are filled with a) tons of delivery bikes or b) people who keep their bikes on them instead of lugging them up to their apartments.

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  9. Not only have CitiBikes made parking a car more difficult, they have also made it harder to park and lock up any bike that doesn't have a ShitiBike logo on it!

    When the docking stations went in they removed many parking signposts which also served as great places to park a couple of bikes per post. Plus they never bothered putting in more bike racks for the rest of us. So you can just forget about all the new cyclists who are now going out to buy all those new bikes now that they finally realize how much easier it is to bike than walk or take a bus, cab or train, there's nowhere left for them to park!

    The delivery bikes are everywhere, so the restaurants are using a new trick, they lock old bike frames up to posts, then lock up to 4 or 5 more of their bikes onto the frame. They basically take over the parking signposts for themselves on many blocks, making parking a bike that much harder.

    Once again, Bloomberg blew it on the rollout, he needed to go just a little bit slower and to put the infrastructure in place properly first. But don't ever tell a Billioanire that he needs to start with foreplay before he gets to the climax because he's only interested in getting where he wants to go as fast as possible.

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  10. http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/bicyclists/cityrack-suggest.shtml is the way to request new free street bike racks from the DOT. Do it. Stop hating. Take action.

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  11. THE NOTORIOUS L.I.B.E.R.A.T.I.O.N.July 17, 2013 at 7:53 AM

    More bikes have not made biking safer. Second Ave around 9th and 10th is incredibly dangerous. On numerous occassions I have almost been hit in the crosswalk on Second Ave at 10th Street by the bikers cutting across the Avenue from 10th Street - through the crosswalk at full speed - to make the right onto the bike lane on Second. Have nothing against bikes, own one myself, but there are just too many bikes on the street which may not be a problem if they we're not coming at me from every conceivable direction. At least traffic I can hear and see coming.

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  12. Once again, NOTORIOUS is right. My bike got stolen a couple years ago and I miss it, but wouldn't be using it much these days. Too many clowns on the road. Used to have to dodge taxis and cars, now a lot of people on bikes who think they're in Denmark have been added to that. It's no fun. (Reminds me of the old saw about Volvos...they're safer because the people who drive them drive like old ladies, and everyone else does crazy things to get around them.)

    Septemous has some issues. Anger management might be a good idea. Or maybe just lay off the caffeine. Something.

    And I'm not a Citibike hater. Wanted to be, but can't be. Just another reason not to be a biker in Manhattan anymore.

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  13. Wasn't exactly an overflow crowd: https://twitter.com/miller_stephen/status/357272131094069249

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  14. they have usurped a good three blocks of parking with these monstrosities. Some people need their cars to go to work around here.

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  15. On Sunday alone I saw five shittybikers ignoring red lights. in a twenty minute stretch. five.

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  16. Tired reference SMDH.

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  17. In the several blocks around my place, each street block provides between space for between 43 and 57 cars (inefficiently parked, as they tend to be).

    The largest CitiBike installation takes up, what?, spaces for 3 (maybe 4) cars? And they are about every 4th block.

    You do the math about how many "car parking spaces" they take up. It's just yuppies with cars complaining about the <2% reduction in car parking spots.

    But I get it, everyone with a car in the EV needs it for their job or sick relative.

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  18. What was the ratio of unique EVG posters with criticisms to the number of people with criticisms at the open meeting?

    Couch advocacy rears its head again.

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  19. This has nothing to do with change. It's a poorly executed program that began with putting bike lanes and pedestrians in the same space. The lanes should have been in the street and not against the curb.

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  20. The bike docking stations take up WAY more space than 3 or 4 cars! And I don't see the reason to constantly vilify people for having a car in the city as if THEY are the nuisance. Not everyone has a car but those who do clearly have a reason for having one whether it be work, travel, or the many things that can be accomplished with a car that can't in 30 minute increments on a bank branded bike.

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  21. 3:05,

    "The bike docking stations take up WAY more space than 3 or 4 cars!"

    As a human resident of the EV I decided to apply the scientific method to confirm my prior observations. With my limited scientific background how would I ever be able to prove my hypothesis in a real life situation? What I found last night is below!!!

    The bike stations on 8th/1st and 11th/1st are 25 EV resident strides (a unit of measurement that I am registering with the International Association of Weights and Measures, status pending) long concrete divider to concrete divider. Coincidentally, four cars (2 compacts and 2 mid-size sedans, none larger than a Nissan Maxima) parked perfectly (2 or so feet between each car) were next to the bike station on 11th. They took up...25 EV resident strides.

    As we all know, many vehicles in the EV are larger sedans or SUVs. Also, rarely are four cars perfectly parked/spaced.

    Science!

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  22. Mr. Wizard, keep in mind the docking stations are modular so some are in fact longer than others.

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  23. "yuppies with cars" That's about the dumbest statement I've heard on these pages. No, chief, it's people who have jobs requiring them to drive. You know work, right? You should try it sometime. It's good for the soul.

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  24. I've noticed the decrease in parking markedly. between that and the elimination of the spaces outside St. Brigid's, what used to be a parking friendly neighborhood is becoming the Upper East Side.

    And everyone always talks about how EV is a neighborhood, well, in a "neighborhood" some people work outside of it, some in places that require them to drive, like NJ or perhaps, like many people, in outer boroughs where they travel early in the AM and do not want to take a bus or train for safety reasons.

    the real "yuppies" are the carless bike huggers packed three to a 1 BR who think they run the joint.

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