Admittedly overdue on a follow-up on this story...
last month, DOT reps provided Community Board 3's Transportation, Public Safety, & Environment Committee an update about Citi Bike's expansion in the East Village and Lower East Side.
That presentation is online now right
here. (The DOT is making presentations to other Community Boards this month, and find all that via this
link.)
According to the presentation, "demand shows 1,804 docks [are] still
needed in CB3." For now, though, the proposal calls for an installation of 683 docks ... with more capacity coming by extending existing
stations.
The maps below (click on the images for more detail) show where the infill is slated. The green dots are extensions at existing stations (the only EV extension on the map is at 13th Street and Avenue A) ... while the red circles denote new stations (11 in total, with an "equipment swap" on 10th Street between A and B) ...
A study by the DOT and Citi Bike found that the ride-sharing service was falling behind in keeping up with the cycling demand of New Yorkers.
Citi Bike announced that it needs the DOT to provide it with sites for an immediate Lyft-funded infusion of docks and bikes because the system is under "added stress [in] its original service area, which serves a disproportionate number of the total rides."
In other words, too many people are either showing up at docks that are empty or trying to return bikes to full racks. Even as it is breaking its own records, Citi Bike estimates that it lost 4 million rides in 2021 because customers are getting frustrated. The company cited the ridership increases as well as "unpredictable commuting patterns as a result of the pandemic.
"An unbalanced system results in riders finding empty or full docks during periods of peak demand," a problem that cannot be totally mitigated through rebalancing or Bike Angels, the company said.
Stories of Citi Bikers wandering around for 30 minutes looking for an open dock — or just a bike — in the evening have become common in recent months. (East Village resident and cycling advocate Sophie Maerowitz
wrote an op-ed on the topic for
amNY on Nov. 15.)
But!
[A]s the city has sought to accommodate the surge in both bike-share use and overall cycling by adding hundreds of miles of bike lanes, it has provoked a backlash from drivers and some elected officials who complain that parking and driving are now more difficult.
No word on when the infill might happen within the confines of Community Board 3. The DOT and Citi Bike said they plan to add 8,000 more docks and 4,000 more bikes by the end of 2022, mostly in Manhattan.