With the recent release of plans for New York City's bike share initiative, many people are drawing comparisons between New York’s proposed system and successful bike shares in London, Paris, and other American cities like Boston. While a lot could be learned from these systems, it’s important not to overlook a bike share that already exists in New York.
In the summer of 2010, an NYU student-led group, operating with the support of the university’s Office of Sustainability, launched a pilot program for a bike share system. Initially only available at two locations around the campus, Biria cruiser bikes are now available for student pickup and use at eight different dorms throughout lower Manhattan. Upon attending a short safety course and signing a liability waiver, students merely have to show their school ID to check out a bike for the day. At this point, about nine hundred of NYU’s students, faculty, and staff are registered in this program.
Obviously, a city-wide bike share program would look a lot different. Instead of operating through public funding (or university grants), the citywide initiative will depend on private sponsorship and user fees. Alta Bicycle Share won the bid to design and implement the system, and plans to construct a network of 10,000 bikes and 600 solar-powered bike stations. Yearly membership will cost less than the price of one monthly Metro Card.
Unlike NYU’s program, which limits bike rental to hours between 10 a.m. and 10 p.m., the bikes in the citywide program will be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The Department of Transportation estimates that the bikes will prove useful outside of commuting: about 54% of all trips New Yorkers make are less than two miles. In many cases, hopping on a bike would be the fastest, most economical way to get from Point A to Point B.
The project, which is scheduled to launch next summer, will help to transform the way we think about transportation in New York City. Along with the NYU bike share, it will allow New Yorkers an accessible alternative to cabs, cars, buses, and trains. A bike share system is different than a car-based system for several reasons. Rider safety is a concern; it would behoove the city to include safety warnings at the bike stations and even on the bikes, reminding people that streets are shared with pedestrians, cars, and buses.
Also, the introduction of 10,000 bikes onto the city’s streets will mean less space for cars… which is fine, because less cars mean safer streets, cleaner air, less noise pollution, and, importantly, more room for bikes. Each car parking space can hold five to ten bikes, each of which will be used by numerous people every day; the average parked car serves only one person and sits empty for 95% of the day. The wear and tear caused by frequent use will require maintenance, effectively creating a host of green jobs, and no one could complain about that.
A more serious issue can be seen in the proposed distribution of bike stations in New York. Six hundred of them will be scattered around Manhattan below 79th Street and some parts of Brooklyn, essentially serving people who already have the greatest access to public transportation. Alta has hinted at expanding into the boroughs if the program proves successful, but this unequal distribution has already raised some eyebrows.
Regardless, this is an exciting time for bike shares in the city. The start of the 2011 fall semester brought with it a 50% increase in the NYU bike share’s membership. Such an increase could lead towards a doubling in the size of the bike fleet later this fall. Alta Bicycle Share and the Department of Transportation are gearing up to release a 10,000 bike system next year. The arrival of the city program shouldn’t have a negative effect on the NYU program’s usership; the two systems should compliment each other. The city program will serve for short, one way trips, while the school program will allow for longer, leisurely rides. The democratic nature of these programs, combined with their soon-to-be widespread presence around the city, will help New Yorkers reconsider the way they think about cyclists and riding bikes in their city. More importantly, it will help change the way people think about transportation, mobility, and city streets.