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There are plenty of cities out there that provide bike share programs, and this week has been New York's chance to try one out. NYC Bike Share has provided bikes (courtesy of Metro Bicycles) from 10am to 6pm each day for the past three days. The bikes can be picked up at the The Storefront for Art and Architecture (97 Kenmare Street) and can be dropped back off there, or at another location which has been changing daily. In order to get a bike, one must provide their credit-card information, sign an injury waver and wear helmets.
The project runs through tomorrow and gives anyone free use of the bikes, which can be used for up to 30 minutes (probably not long enough if you're following Owen Wilson's NYC biking itinerary). So far about 25 riders a day have given the bikes a spin (we checked out the storefront earlier today and there were plenty of them available).
The project is sponsored by the Forum for Urban Design, a membership group of architects, designers and planners who hope to establish a long-term bike share program in the city. David Haskell, executive director of the group, told The Villager recently that this is “the way it is in most European cities. You get the bike for free for the first half an hour and then the price, which is still really cheap, rises as the trip gets longer. It is to prioritize short trips. We wanted to start from that model and see how New Yorkers would react to it.”
In Austin there's a Yellow Bike project that's been going on for about ten years, where free bikes can be found around the city - they aren't locked up, and you use them and leave them when you are done. Something like this would never work in New York, but the program that is currently going on here seems like it could. The Experiment is only one part of the three-part project which has been delving in to what exactly would work for us.
Also taking place is The Exhibition ("a review of eight successful bike-share programs in European cities will be on view at Storefront"), and ongoing this week is The Charette, "the Forum For Urban Design will facilitate a public imagining of a future bike-share program in New York." Design and transportation experts will make a public presentation tonight at 6pm, and the final results will be published on nybikeshare.org and presented to the public tomorrow at 6pm.
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This sounds like a really cool program and I'd love to try it out. I don't have a helmet though. :(
I hope they include a good lock with that rental. And what about all the stuff the cops like to hassle cyclists about? Where's the bell? What about headlights, unless they don't allow rentals after dark?
"In Austin there's a Yellow Bike project...where free bikes can be found around the city - they aren't locked up, and you use them and leave them when you are done. Something like this would never work in New York."
Why not? Oh that's right NYers are animals.
get a free bike helmet here
What happens when the bike is stolen while you are borrowing it? Are you libel?
No, it's defamation.
#1 and #2: I was just thinking the same thing... while I'm all for city cycling, I think it's weird to offer bikes with no helmets, bells or lights (you can actually get a ticket for not having a bell on your bike!).
Thanks for the link Zodak, but all of those dates have already passed.
helmets are super-expensive and hard to come by.
wait. no.
Well, the project only goes on through tomorrow, so buying a helmet just for it would be a waste.
I've lived in Austin for eight years and have seen a total of three yellow bikes in that time, two of which were completely unridable (one had no chain). They usually get stolen immediately after being "released." I guess they might get stolen a little faster in NYC, though.
It's a pretty lame test if you can only have the bike for 30 minutes. I'd be more inclined to try it for an hour or two so maybe I could see if I could get an errand or two finished.
the idea of a free half hour is in the spirit of the european programs they exhibit where the first thirty minutes are free and you pay a small fee for any time thereafter (usually 0.50 to 1 euro). they also have helmets there for you to borrow. i stopped by there earlier and there were two guys who worked in the neighborhood just taking them out to go get lunch. it seemed pretty cool (but i had to get back to work).
stumbled down there with some friends on saturday, we took them out for their maiden voyages. Was out for about 2 hours they didn't mind though. Its like zip bike. its a great idea. Some will get stolen/ broken but i can see overall it being great for everyone.
I dream of a program that aimed to completely devalue bicycles by releasing one bike per New Yorker. That's right, baby, 8 million bikes with those devices inside that made them stop working once you left the city limits.
I can dream, can't I.
I think is a really fantastic idea that has been way too long in coming to NYC. Sure, some of teh bikes may be 'stolen', although I think the larger idea is that you can't really 'steal' something that's free. If this program were to be implemented city wide, on a larger scale, I don't think theft would be such a huge problem for a few reasons. If you make the bikes easily identifiable by painting them all one very bright color (ie the yellow bike program), and if models are chosen that are fairly utilitarian and undesirable. I've spent quite a bit of time of Amsterdam, and it is one of the cities in the world where nearly everyone rides a bike. Everyone in Amsterdam rides basically the same bike, a very simple one speed commuter (what my friends and I call 'The French Onion Seller' because it looks like the bikes vendors rode in post WWII Paris). Since nearly everyone there rides the identical bike, very few of them get ripped off (I know Amsterdam has a ghastly amount of bike theft as does NYC, but it's the nice bikes that get ripped off, not the simple commuters). If there were enough bikes in NYC to go around, and if they were fairly simple models, I think this could work and would be a great boon to city life. I live in BK but work in SoHo, and the days I don't bike into work, it would be fantastic to have the ability to grab a ride just to go pick up my lunch at Kate's or grab a movie from Kim's. Sure bike theft is out of control here, but I refuse to believe that the majority of New Yorker's are such scumbags that they would steal a virtually worthless bike. Bike thieves steal bikes to sell them for parts, not to cruise around the city.