[Photo from last month by Riian Kant-McCormick]
Back in January, Citi Bike announced that they are boosting service in the busiest parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn by adding 1,250 new bikes and 2,500 docks.
And as you may have noticed, more docks have arrived at several East Village sites, including Sixth Street at Avenue B (above) with 27 more bikes ... Second Avenue at Avenue C (plus 25)...
... and Second Street at Avenue B (plus 25) ...
These were the three docking stations set to receive the biggest boost in bikes. (This previous post has more details.)
And look for new docking stations coming soon to First Avenue at Fifth Street and Avenue C and 12th Street...
West 47th Street & 6th Avenue
— Citi Bike (@CitiBikeNYC) March 1, 2019
Park Avenue East & 37th Street
East 58th Street & 1st Avenue
West 30th Street & 10th Avenue
East 12th Street & Avenue C
1 Av & E 5 St
Delancey Street & Eldridge Street
Perry Street & Greenwich Avenue
West Broadway & West Houston Street
Meanwhile, last Thursday, Citi Bike announced a major expansion of its fleet of pedal-assist e-bikes, with 4,000 hitting docking stations in the months ahead. However, there will be an additional fee, $2 per trip, to use one — even if you already have a Citi Bike membership.
People have criticized the $2 charge. Here's a quickie recap via a Streetsblog post from Monday:
The $2 fee — waived for Citi Bike members until April 27 — has come under fire from many quarters since it was announced this week, with some foes likening it to a fare hike on what should be a form of public transportation, yet is ostensibly a public-private partnership even though the city allocates no public money. Others reminded that Citi Bike has a monopoly on service, with dockless rivals Jump and Lime only allowed to operate in small pilot zones in the Bronx and Staten Island.
Previously on EV Grieve:
A look at where Citi Bike is expanding in the East Village
I had thought about this before but if you own a property where Citibikes puts a station who is responsible for cleaning trash which will accumulate in and around it? Also how does sanitation pick up from these buildings?
ReplyDeleteThis is what fascism looks like - corporate-state partnerships outside of public oversight - complete with surveillance downloads for each trip! Each trip requires a credit card - which provides a different set of revenues for the banksters just for its use - plus the surveillance state data bonus.
ReplyDeletePeople always say that cars have no right to take up valuable "public" space by being able to park on the street.
ReplyDeleteI'd argue that this MONEY-MAKING biking deal has no right to take up valuable public space on SO many streets, while making crossing the street or getting out of a taxi in front of your building just about impossible where these huge banks of bike docks exist. I am a taxpayer and all the Citibike docks do is massively inconvenience me.
And these enormous swathes of docking *have* to be in violation of ADA accessibility rules in some way, b/c if you're on crutches or use a walker or wheelchair, there is NO earthly way you can get yourself between those docking stands from the curb nor onto the curb - I guess you just have to go half-way (or maybe ALL the way) down your block for access?!
Just as people say they don't drive a car, and they don't want others to have the right to park a car on the street, I say that I don't bike and I very much resent the allocation of ENORMOUS swathes of curb-side space to this MONEY-MAKING corporate nonsense.
BTW, I was under the impression that "pedal assist e-bikes" were ILLEGAL in NYC. Did someone get De Blasio to make a change in that? How many restaurant delivery people have gotten fined or had their bikes confiscated for having power-assist on their bikes? But now, suddenly, NYC is just fine with making "biking" into something more like "power-skateboarding while seated" for the lazy masses. I smell something rotten.
Why does Citibank have the right to invade and make money from public space without any input from ALL the taxpayers??
removed docks from 12th street and 3rd avenue and elsewhere though
ReplyDeleteHow?
Delete@11:10am: Yeah, removed the docks from one side b/c they put in a bike lane on the OTHER side.
ReplyDeleteThis always happens when a new corporate presence takes over. Lyft just bought into Citibike -- or rather, into their parent company, Motivate -- but tells everyone it is a "partnership." Dont believe it. Soon they'll be running it like a car service. Of course they increased pedal-assists, but for a price. And soon they'll be s surcharge for high-volume zones.
ReplyDeleteJump, if you're able to find one, is a better ride -- and deal.
A car service company has effectively cornered one of the largest bike share monopolies.
All of this complaining and yet you can never find a Citibike during certain peak periods, let along walk down a street anywhere without seeing someone pedaling one. Boy, they sure must be jamming these things down our throats for no good reason.
ReplyDeleteDon't know how to drive (native New Yorker)...
ReplyDeleteI walk, take the bus and subway, and occasionally a cab.
The expansion of the cycling infrastructure has been completely negative IMO.
Cyclists completely disregard lights, people and vehicles. Nearly daily see cyclists endangering pedestrians.
(BTW little discussion of what happens when vehicles swerve to avoid a cyclist who goes through a red light or cycles in front of a vehicle.)
I feel sorry for the exploited delivery people - the problem is the regular cyclists including Citibike users.
The bike lanes have completely slowed traffic including buses.
Last but not least...there is something truly wrong when cycling gets expanded support while at the same time there are bus service and route cuts plus bus/subway fare increases.
The demographic cleansing of NYC - only young professionals, tourists and the rich are allowed here now.
@11:02 What kind of ADA, crutches, taxi drop off you've had before the docks were put in place and the space was occupied by someone's car that never moved unless it is street cleaning time (3 hours per week) ?
ReplyDeleteI agree that it shouldn't be a private enterprise that runs it and makes money, bike share needs to run by the city and have zero profit: it is a public transportation system with very minimal air pollution
@3:48pm: THANK YOU! You nailed it. And I agree with you 100%: it IS demographic cleansing, absolutely.
ReplyDelete@4:44pm: Who are you trying to kid by saying citibikes are a "public transportation system"? If I can't pay for it with a Metrocard, it's not public transportation. In fact, I'd need to sign up for the bike use via a separate membership!
The citibikes are a money-making privatization of public space, and they offer no protection to riders (no helmets) nor to terrified pedestrians.
The Citibike docking stations are plug ugly. They should not be on the streets. Put them in the north side of Tompkins Square Park and on extra-wide sidewalks such as near the Cooper Union building.
ReplyDeleteNeed to charge more for the pedal assist bikes because they need to be charged. Lots of charging all around.
ReplyDeleteAnti-cyclists are hilarious.
ReplyDelete"Anti-cyclists are hilarious."
ReplyDeleteNext to cyclists what I hate the most are all those old people who insist upon walking on the damn sidewalk!
The response to this post is so predictable.
ReplyDeleteBikes are a good thing, people. Y’all need to relax.
Sorry, but whether you support CitiBike or not, these nearly block-long docking stations are not only an eyesore, the are a major obstacle and tripping hazard when trying to cross the street. Have you ever tried navigating though these things while carrying packages? If you’re riding your own bike and need to get on the curb, they are almost impossible to get through, especially if the dock is full of bikes.
ReplyDeleteAnd what about buidling more bike racks for bike owners? I see racks and signposts with so many bikes, many of them abandoned, that it’s Impossible to lock a bike up. There are so few places to secure a bike that now if I’m just running into a store for a minute, I often just lock up my back wheel without attaching the bike to anything, hoping that no one tries to carry it away. So far so good, but it makes me nervous every time I do. Meanwhile we have miles of CitiBike docks which are often empty.
This city doesnt really care about cyclists. This whole program seems to mostly benefit businesees like restaurants and delivery apps (who also use CitiBikes when their own are broken) Uber and Lyft, by eliminating passenger cars with nowhere to park anymore, and yuppies who commute.
I just saw a yuppie riding a CitiBike up the Avenue the wrong way while balancing a box of pizza on the handlebar and taking on his cellphone at the same time. If this is this what the future looks like, give me the past.