NEW YORK—The Department of Transportation (DOT) displayed a bike share demo at Bowling Green on Wednesday. This is the second of five demos that will be available throughout the city.
Members of the DOT and Alta Bicycle Share, the company selected by the city to provide service, were present to answer visitors’ questions about the bikes and how the system worked. Curious civilians could fill out a waiver form to take a bike for a short 5-minute ride to try out the new system.
“I think [bike share] would be great for the city because I’ve noticed so many bike lanes opening up, which are huge, and they are unused,” said Kirk Kahn, who stopped by to check out the demo. “It would be my first choice for a lot of cases.”
Bike share is a privately funded system that allows people to access bikes from designated docking stations located around the city. The system will consist of 10,000 bikes and over 600 stations that are open 24 hours all week. It will be available by the summer of next year.
Users can check out a bike at one docking station and ride to any other station to return the bike. Each station has a kiosk with a touch screen and a map of the Bike Share system; instructions for use are posted both on the kiosk and the map.
When there is no space to park at one station, users can get time credits, 15 minutes of free access to look for a vacant spot at another station. The kiosk will also provide users with information of other stations nearby.
To access the bikes, a user must be a member of NYV Bike Share, though there is the option of long-term or short-term memberships. Pricing has not yet been released for the memberships, but a whole year of access to the bikes is expected to cost less than an unlimited monthly MetroCard.
Though the system may not seem to be of much use to bike owners, a number of visitors pushing their bikes were attracted to the demo as well.
“There are some days where you don’t have your bike on you or you wake up in the morning and you have a flat tire on your bike,” said Gaudi. “Or it’s raining in the morning, so you don’t want to ride your bike, but in the afternoon it’s beautiful, then you can take one of our bikes.“
Questions raised
Despite positive feedback, potential users questioned the durability of the bikes.
“I’m optimistic about [the system], I hope it works,” said Eric Smith, a regular bike rider. “Mainly I’m concerned if they can withstand the amount of use they will be getting. I’m curious to see how they’ll survive in actual use.”
Jocelyn Gaudi, a member care specialist for Alta Bicycle Share, said the bikes are “bulletproof” and built to last.
“These bikes are each 42 pounds, it’s very hard to damage [them], tires rarely go flat, and they are very securely locked into these docks,” she said.
The bikes have aluminum frames, three-speed eternal gear, drum breaks, and are wired internally. There is one front light and two rear lights that blink automatically, and a bell.
Another issue brought up by potential users was the danger caused by new cyclists that do not yet know the rules of the road and safety precautions.
“It’s not easy to put together a bike share system for New York City, one of the biggest issues being brand new riders that ride dangerously,” said Carol Crump, an interested civilian who was standing next her bike.
Gaudi says that the Alta Bicycle Share is working with the DOT for some form of public education on bike safety and regulations. A DOT member at the site said a guide for smart bicycling will be available at the stations for riders to pick up.
Short trips
The systems works best for quick trips and Alta Bike Share encourages users to use the bikes mainly for short periods and short distances.
“For both registered and casual riders, the length of the ride matters,” explained Gaudi. “Short rides are rewarded by being free, longer rides incur usage fees and it escalates steeply because we want to discourage people from using this as a bike rental service.”
DOT is currently calling for public input on where the stations should be located, but bike share will first be available in neighborhoods where many make trips less than 3 miles.
Bike share will only be available in Manhattan and Brooklyn by 2012, but Guadi says there are definite plans to expand to the other boroughs of the city. The timeline of the expansion will depend on additional funding, manpower, and other factors.
The first demo was at the Manhattan Bridge Arch in DUMBO last Saturday, and there will be upcoming demos at the Brooklyn Flea in Fort Greene, Union Square, and Atlantic Antic in Brooklyn.
