Saturday, February 19, 2022

2 new Citi Bike docking stations for Avenue A

The Citi Bike expansion in the East Village saw the arrival of two new docking stations on Avenue A this past week ... with 41 docks between 11th Street and 12th Street outside Steinerville (above) ... and 41 docks between 13th Street and 14th Street...
In November, DOT reps told a Community Board 3 committee that "demand shows 1,804 docks [are] still needed in CB3." The proposal calls for an installation of 683 docks for now, with more capacity coming by extending existing stations. (Find the presentation here.)

Other new Citi Bike locations include Fifth Street at Avenue A, Fourth Street at Avenue B, Seventh Street at Avenue B, Sixth Street at Second Avenue and 14th Street at First Avenue (SW corner) and 10th Street at Second Avenue. 

And for anyone keeping tabs on parking around Avenue A, the removal of the abandoned dining structure Thursday outside the former August Laura gave back four spots on Sixth Street ...

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

When does this nonsense end? It has become overkill. Manhattan is too congested and too overpopulated to take on all of the bike lanes and bike stations and outdoor dining sheds/rat nests.

Anonymous said...

I bought my own bike which was a tiny pain to store but worth it. Citibikes are just unmaintained junk.

Anonymous said...

So the commercial vehicles that need to make deliveries there will park in the bike lane and make an already congested intersection even worse...

Anonymous said...

As a driver/parker I say this is all to the good. While the Citi Bike stations take away parking, you can’t argue with a program that’s been this successful. I was waiting for the light at 2nd Ave the other week at twilight and scores of people on Citi Bikes were coming down the bike lane, looking like swarms of fireflies with their headlamps. Really quite charming and one of my all-time favorite EV images. I say get rid of the shacks, add Citi Bike stations, and bring back some of the parking. I can’t resist adding that the bike lanes on the *streets* are simply a nuisance.

Anonymous said...

Excellent. 30 more stations to go to meet demand in the EV alone. We won't rest until we get those.

Anonymous said...

Here come the anti-biking comments like clockwork.

Anonymous said...

This will help ensure our physical well being and future health. Thank you CitiBike and SDNY for your committment to all.

Giovanni said...

When my bike was in the shop for major repairs last summer I rode Citibikes for a week, and it was a nightmare. Finding a bike that works properly was hit or miss, with half of them not working properly, and most made annoying noises due to broken pedals or gears. I tried four times to get a pedal assist bike but the battery was dead each time. And riding these clunkers is no fun at all. They clearly are not maintaining these bikes well anymore.

Yes, docking was a major hassle, but just adding more docks will not solve the problem. Sometimes the docks are completly empty, with dozens of empty slots, so you just wait for someone to return a bike or walks a few blocks to find one. Returning a bike while you are on the clock is even worse. I had to wait a long time their docks several times to return a bike, only to have other Citibikers steal an open spot at the other end even though they saw me and other people waiting to return a bike. It reminded me of how people used to steal cabs from each other before there was Uber.

Using the app to find another dock is useless as slots open and close quickly, and those docks can be a few blocks out of your way. So adding docks does not solve the problem if Citibike doesn’t rebalance their system, which they seem not to do as often as before, most likely because rebalancing bikes is a major labor cost for them. So now instead of rebalancing they just want to put in and endless number of additional docks. That wont make the system better, it will just make it bigger.

As "successful" as the program is, from broken bikes to unbalanced docks, it is a very unreliable hit or miss system to depend on for everyday users. The least that Citibike can do is to have a system that has bikes that work properly, and with docks that have open slots.

Anonymous said...

I eagerly await the day that the whole citibike scheme is exposed as the corporate scam it's always been, IMO.

PS: Maybe our new mayor can DEMAND that everyone ride a bike - and obey the traffic laws!

stephen b said...

Giovanni. Well said. Well written. Of course I agree too ^_^

Anonymous said...

I feel bad for all the delivery trucks who have to park along the commercial areas now. I'd hate to be one! Putting the bike stations on side streets is one thing, on the avenues quite something different. Also, once congestion pricing starts, between the cost of that and quickly diminishing available parking (aside from expensive garages) who is going to want to bother coming into the city?

Anonymous said...

where are the provos when you need them Luud Schimmelpenninck had the right idea on bikes freee universal and well for all the people not just those who could afford to rent one from a bank ad kiosk

Anonymous said...

Our city is gradually but steadily being dragged into transportation and planning sanity from the misbegotten era when cars ruled and ruined our cities. Thank goodness, just wish it had happened sooner (and would progress, now, quicker).

Scuba Diva said...

At 2:43 PM, Anonymous said:

I eagerly await the day that the whole citibike scheme is exposed as the corporate scam it's always been, IMO.

PS: Maybe our new mayor can DEMAND that everyone ride a bike - and obey the traffic laws!


Everyone? I come from the pre-Citibike era when bike "ownership" was just bike rental.

I could ride a bike, but not on these streets. #anythingthatcangowrongwill

Anonymous said...

I ride citibike almost daily. Love it. And especially at the height of the pandemic they were a life saver for me, both in terms of exercise and mental health.

But in regards to these long docking stations maybe they should add some space every 10 yards or so?

Anonymous said...

People complain about every single thing in the world, what miserable little souls. Wahh something new? I don’t like it. Wahhh.

Anonymous said...

@7:19PM: You fail to understand that cars that MADE this city in more ways than you can even imagine. And I guess in 1890, you'd have been against all those damned horse-drawn vehicles that were taking up the streets & causing congestion.

Anonymous said...

@7:21PM: You appear to have missed my sarcasm re: the mayor.

I have owned a bike (a single-speed Schwinn, purchased from - wait for it - ALEXANDER'S department store) for many decades. I used to ride on Sunday mornings, very early: ride up 4th Ave, and get onto Madison Avenue as soon as possible to go uptown; turn west at 59th St. and into Central Park. One or two loops inside the park, from south up to the northernmost point (where you really had to have some reserve energy in your legs, in case the muggers tried to get you up there), and I'd be back home by about 9:30 AM. Then a hot shower, breakfast & a nap. I rode early on Sunday mornings b/c even back then, it was the only "safe" way to ride on the streets without taking your life in your hands.

I still have that bike, and it works fine, but now you couldn't pay me to ride in this city. My fear is NOT of cars or trucks; it's of other people on bicycles.

Carol from East 5th Street said...

You need a license for a dog in NYC why not a bicycle riders license? Each bicycle should have a license plate and each rider should have a bicycle rider license which they get by passing a test so they acknowledge that they should ride in the correct direction in bicycle lanes, stop at red lights and abide by pedestrians having the right of way, not riding on the sidewalk, no texting while riding, etc.
Quite frankly it's like the Wild West out there trying to not get hit by careless bike riders.

Anonymous said...

All these citbike docking station will suffer the same fate as, Krispy Kreme, Starbucks, Subway and banks in the mid 2000’s. They just over did themselves. Just too much.

Anonymous said...

There's already a very large eyesore - oh oops, I mean DOCKING STATION - on 11th and B, to say nothing of the even larger one on 10th and B, so why the hell do we need another one on 11th and A?

Anonymous said...

Great news, happy to see more docks. Now I just wish they'd pump the damn tires

Anonymous said...

Great news! Love CitiBike

Anonymous said...

They have massive stations already all around here, who the fuck is allowing this? You get blocked into the sidewalk and vehicles can't pull over. It's a pain in the ass and a big ad scheme. I even use these from time to time but would never expect this takeover, this is crazy.

DaHo said...

Bicycles clearly drive some people nuts…

I’m all for cleaner air and less reliance on dirty public transit or overpriced ubers and cabs. $15 to get driven to Chelsea? No thanks, I’ll bike. (And all my bikes pre-citibike would eventually get stolen). Apologies to the 4 parking spaces the 30 docks use.