First Look At The Public Bike You'll Soon Be Sharing

Foursquare co-founder Dennis Crowley, ahem, "checks in" with the new bikes. (Flickr User JCN)

DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan and Deputy Mayor Howard Wolfson are appearing at a press conference this afternoon to announce the details of the city's semi-controversial bike share program, which will provide New Yorkers with 10,000 public bikes at about 600 stations. Nothing's been officially announced yet, but the radical bike lobbyists at Streetsblog hear that the Portland company Alta Bike Share has been chosen to run the program, which will reportedly cost New Yorkers under $100 a year. But if you use a bike for less than a half hour, it's free!

Streetsblog's source also says the city is refusing to subsidize the program, and that it must be financially self-sufficient. The equipment provider for Alta participated in a bike share program in Montreal which, according to the Times, needed a government bailout to the tune of $108 million. But the company also operates the Capital Bike Share in Washington, which has proven popular, and launched another bike share system in Boston earlier this year. Both of those networks are much smaller than what's expected in NYC, and some critics are concerned that the bike stations will put too much strain on overly-crowded sidewalks.

"DOT and Janette Sadik-Khan’s problem is they say, ‘Here’s what we’re doing, take it or leave it,' " Sean Sweeney of the Soho Alliance tells the Observer. “Instead, it should be, ‘Here’s 20 racks, where would you like them?" But the DOT has promised to work with the City Council to determine where the bike stations will go. According to Streetsblog, the service area will stretch from the Upper West Side and Upper East Side to Bed Stuy and Greenpoint. We'll have more details after the official announcement today; for now, here's a Streetsfilm segment on D.C. bike sharing in action:

The Phenomenal Success of Capital Bikeshare from Streetfilms on Vimeo.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By John Del Signore in News on September 14, 2011 12:28 PM

Comments [rss]

Austin Scott Brooks

I'm looking forward to the summer of 2012! @alexandmiles:disqus good to know and @yahoo-BJF4PCSJKXIG4JAIHWQCW64DQU:disqus that's something I hadn't really considered before! Kind of makes sharing seem a little less caring...

alexandmiles

Sounds just great. In case of injury or death to User or others, as well as damage to property, User is solely responsible. Sign on the dotted line and ride at your own risk.

StayBank

Working on the Share-A-Pare free shoe program now.

soothsayer

gonna be lots of big fat sweaty ass on those seats. get your purell out.

Denis

Alta did not participate in the bike sharing program in Montreal. It is parter with the Public Bike Sharing Company of Montreal which supplies the equipment for the bike sharing system. The bailout occured for technical reasons and is not as bad as you make it sounds. Of the 108 millions, 67 are for credit margins that must be backed by receivable accounts. In fact, PBSC made 8.5 millions of profits last year and it is likely to do much more after receiving the New York contract. All this has been explained before in the papers.

xXxMExXx

Those bikes look like they weigh a ton. Anyone know how heavy they are?

esarby

These look very similar (besides the paint almost identical, from what I can tell in the photos) to the Barclays bikes in London, which are HEAVY AS SHIT. Like, don't-try-climbing-stairs-with-them heavy. I'm assuming that's some kind of safety/security feature.

Jimbo853okg

I was just at the announcement and took one of the bikes out for a
spin. I’m very impressed. This program has worked well in Boston,
Montreal, Chicago, Washington DC and other cities.

If NYC can embrace the Zipcar concept, the same can happen with bike-sharing. Those that naysay it without looking at the details are missing the point.

NVRMOR

How about you rtfa?
"in Montreal which, according to the Times, needed a government bailout to the tune of $108 million."
Yeah that sounds splendid.

Jimbo853okg

That's how they chose to do it in Montreal. Here, the plan has to stand on its own feet, with no City support. If Alta fails, it's tough noogies and get out of town. They're doing it right in Boston & DC, no reason they can't do the same here.

longacre

Adding 10,000 bikes to a car-dominated city without any infrastructure upgrades, training or insurance is simply an awful idea. Riding safely in NYC requires a high level of coordination and awareness, and even professional riders get arms and heads lopped off. Make one mistake driving a car in the city and you'll probably just damage your car, but one mistake on a bike and there's a good chance you'll be crippled or worse.

The bumbling masses and the city's streets just are not ready for this.

Will the dead be seen as martyrs that force the city to make changes to traffic designs and laws, or will they simply drop the program? I'd guess the latter.

Miles Bader

So... they should reduce the number of cars then.

A congestion charge should do the trick nicely.

xXxMExXx

…and you KNOW this program will be marketed towards tourists with no idea what the hell they are signing up for!
What is the under/over on how long until a program participant sues the city for damages?

CurmudgeonNYC

Great. Cant wait for the morons who dont know how to WALK in NYC try to maneuver on a bicycle.

randomtransplant

The bike share is eclipsed by the tens (hundreds?) of thousands of privately owned bikes already, and the infrastructure upgrades are everywhere.

I don't think a single thing you've written is informed, realistic, or even localized to the city itself...but I figured I'd throw out the obvious anyway.

randomtransplant

Can we get it in "DC red", not yellow? Please?

I'm not watching that whole video, I stopped it @ the 40 second mark....Do these have internal gears? those derailuers look strange.

And the wheel size there, what is that? 24"? I hope not. Not with those clunky frames. I mean, we have bridges. PPWish to midtown in half an hour is okay, but I wouldn't want to do it on some eurobike unless the office had a shower.

Still, beats the train.

rnrnys

I didn't see anything in this article about liability insurance. Under this program, if a biker runs over a pedestrian, will that person be able to get the bikes ID tags and sue?

I hope so.

I think all bikers should be required to carry some sort of insurance to protect pedestrians from irresponsible riding. In this case, the cost of that insurance could be folded into the fees charged.

randomtransplant

Between renters'/homeowners'/drivers' and health insurance, you'll be covered.

If you refuse to insure yourself as per the american way, theres always the ER. The incidence rate and damages just arn't there to warrant liability insurance for bike operation.

BKExcuse

I think anyone moving over 2mph should have to carry insurance. I was once hit but a jogger and boy did it hurt.

Dale

Is there any plan for the free timeframe to be lengthened for the NYC bikeshare program? Thirty minutes might work for smaller cities like Boston or DC, but that doesn't seem like it will cut it for a city the size of New York. It takes me almost an hour to commute from Brooklyn to Midtown. I can't think of many trips I could make easily within a thirty-minute window where I wouldn't be better off just walking, especially if you want to encourage bikers to go slow and adhere to traffic signals.