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Bad news for group-bike-loving Times Square tourists: the NYPD has impounded all but one of PartyBike's fifteen group bikes. The owner claims that the police are cracking down on him because of a personal grudge, but we're guessing the 250(!) tickets the company received is probably more to blame. The NYSun has the story:
Donald Domite says his company is being singled out by police. "We follow the vehicle laws. We stop at lights. No one was ever injured," said Mr. Domite, 52, of Sayville, L.I., whose company started about two and a half years ago.Three "conference bikes," as the vehicles are called, sit idly next to the police station on West 35th Street, and another 11 are impounded in Brooklyn. The company currently has only one operating in the city.
Riders pay $10 a person to traverse the neighborhood in roughly a six- or seven-block area - for example, traveling down Broadway, turning right on 42nd Street, and going up Eighth Avenue into Hell's Kitchen. Other routes include Rockefeller Center and Central Park.
Each bike costs $10-15k, so that's $200k in conference-bike sitting in an NYPD garage! Fear not, however, if you are desperate for a group ride: another vendor called Superbike still has four of the machines on the street. [Related: neighbors complained about Partybike last year.]
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Good riddance!!
I wonder if Critical Massers will come to Domite's defense as well.
THIS town is really getting on my nerves.
Um, How'd this involve Criticl Mass??
Odd...
because some people patrol gothamist for any opening to lash out at critical mass or whine about hipsters or nyu students. I've never understood the obsession.
I can't believe these things were ever allowed.
Seriously. Dumbest.Idea.Ever. Get a bunch of tourists who don't even know how to WALK in the city without getting in everyone's way to pedal a bike in some of the most dangerous traffic in NYC. It's a miracle no one was killed.
I hope that they are banned permanently. We already have a traffic problem! These just make it worse.
$15,000 for a dopey bicycle?
Good riddance. Those things were so gay...
Best news of the day!
omg it's about time, those are the most annoying, obnoxious pieces of tourist bait.
When I'm stuck in traffic and I see one of those filled with smiling tourists waving at commuters trudging their way home and blocking a lane during rush hour, I get... irate.
While I think they are silly, they *are* bicycles, and thus can't (and should not) be banned for simply that sake. Perhaps they should be regulated as a for-hire vehicle - I think that makes sense.
As for those who argue that they impede traffic -- tough. They ARE traffic. Besides, you must be insane to drive through Times Square, so it's not like you were in a hurry anyway.
If any one wants to entertain themselves turning the tables on the Gawker kids, instead:
http://gawkerstalkerstalker.blogspot.com/
I don't think anyone is suggesting that they be banned because they are bicycles. They should be banned simply because they are moronic and dangerous and worsen a terrible traffic problem.
I don't like pointless restrictions, but watching people on those things makes me nervous. Not to be too irritating, but the dictionary says that a bicycle is "A vehicle consisting of a light frame mounted on two wire-spoked wheels one behind the other and having a seat, handlebars for steering, brakes, and two pedals or a small motor by which it is driven." Those things don't really fit that description, and I really do worry about people's safety while riding them through the city. There's always a lot of traffic in that area, and the people on those bikes are usually distracted by trying to simultaneously go sight-seeing. They aren't particularly aware of what's going on around them. I wouldn't want to ride through traffic like that in an unfamiliar city either.
i always wanted to ride one of those :(
i guess i will have to do it in another city. just like clubbing. and chalk art.
when will new york be liberated again?
I tend to be a law-and-order type person, but this is going too far. Those bikes were so much fun. I took some out of town friends to Times Square and we rode one of the bikes -- it was such a thrill to be riding in the middle of traffic! Never did I feel unsafe. We were careful and rode as fast as the cars did (which you know isn't TOO fast in Times Sq.). My guests were thrilled. And we are all in our late 20s. Bring back the bikes!!!
but who will i yell ASSHOLES! at when in times square?
And now New York City is safe again.
I'm sure you'll find someone to fit the bill.
Come on transportation alternatives or critical mass--all these tourists are going to have to ride the smog belching double decker buses if you don't defend the 'conference bike'. Oh wait--TA & CM care more about 'protest' and 'tight black jeans' than smog.
Enough tourists like them... so why not regulate them instead of banning them? They aren't any slower or more obnoxious than anything else in times square. I'd rather have those than shit-dropping abused-horse drawn carraiges in midtown.
Will someone please actually read the Transit Alternatives website before shooting their mouth off about what they think the group stands for?
http://www.transalt.org/
Wow, some of these comments are completely useless. Let's clear up a few things.
First, party bikes have drivers and the people who participate just sit in a circle pedaling. The driver has control over steering, breaking, and can pedal. Therefore, crazy tourists are not the ones actually in control of the bike. They can look around all they want because they are not actually driving the bike.
Second, party bikes ARE traffic. People who complain about traffic congestion in times square probably complain about snow in the winter: DUH! Just like tourist buses, rickshaws, and horse carriages, just because you think a party bike looks stupid doesn't mean that it isn't a rightful part of traffic.
My fiance bought my friends and I ride on a party bike for my birthday last year, and we took that thing all the way down to Union Square. It was a blast, and it was safe.
Party bike is a great enterprise. Just because they can be annoying doesn't mean they should be banned.
You know who likes the community bikes? The terrorists!
BTW: What're the chances that the NYPD will donate those bikes to Critical Mass?
As the owner of a conference bike business in Minneapolis, I'm disapppointed to read some of the negative comments here made about the bike. Yeah, it looks a little silly simply because it's an unusual mode of transportation, but get over it. It's a good way to move through a congested downtown area. In fact it's the best way. It's also safer than the mobile coffins that jam up the streets.
And, yes, it is kind of a touristy thing to do when in New York but doesn't the economy in your city kind of depend on tourist dollars? If you want to send some of those annoying tourists to the Twin Cities, we'll take them. Any city would love to have that problem.
www.cycleseven.com
So the majority are dissing the bike? Have you even tried it? How do know you don't like it? I suggest you all get yourself up to forward thinking Minneapolis for a go on Pauls bike. Or maybe even get yourself a passport and travel to Scotland and you can have a shot on mine.
http;//www.cosybike.co.uk
I think it's maybe too many cars that are causing your traffic problems. Average city centre traffic speed has not really increased since the the late 1800's. They had congestion too.
As for silly, lets burn a fuel, turn a lot of energy into heat, and crawl along at 10mph because everyone else is doing it. To be really daft lets make a really high performance vehicle with 300hp and crawl it at 10 mph too. And for good measure make one that doesn't even need a road, but never take it off the road anyway because that requires skill and we never go more than 6 miles anyway.
Don't be thinking I'm a crazy person. I do own a car but choose to use it as little as possible and I avoid driving in a city centre at rush hour. That would be a crazy waste of time.