Cyclists on the Brooklyn Bridge
Very soon, the symbolic yellow taxis of New York will have to share space with the new fleet of public bicycles that will begin to roll in the summer of 2012. The mayor of the city, Michael Bloomberg, will put on the streets of the Big Apple 10,000 bicycles with the launch of the expected public loan service. The most interesting thing is that, until then, New Yorkers will be able to actively participate in the design of this service with their opinions and suggestions. During all the winter , the New York City Department of Transportation (NYC DOT) and Alta Bicycle Share , the company that manages the project, organize weekly workshops and demos in different parts of the city. The goal is for New Yorkers to try the bikes, give their opinions and learn how the service works.
But that is not all. Through the Alta Bicycle Share website, citizens can suggest the location of some of the 600 stations that will store these two-wheeled vehicles on an interactive map, in order to adapt the system to the needs of the population. The map is already full of suggestions . According to the NYC DOT, the success of a bike loan service is that the stations are located every three blocks, although for now the areas of southern Manhattan and some isolated neighborhoods of Brooklyn will have preference. Another important detail: all bike stations will be solar powered.
Basically, the operation of the service is similar to that of others such as Bixi in Toronto, _ Bicing _ in Barcelona or Verlib in Paris (see video). The New York service will operate l 24 hours a day and 365 days a year . The bikes, which will have three gears, are designed for journeys of between 30 and 45 minutes and will cost around $100 a month, less than the value of a Metrocard voucher for the same period of time ($104). You can also pay by credit card. Users will be able to check through their smartphones the time availability of the bicycles -which incorporate GPS- at each station.
So much the official name of the service as the color of the bikes are still up in the air . These details will depend mainly on the companies sponsoring the service. Alta Bicycle Share has a long experience in bicycles: it is in charge of the service in cities such as Washington, Boston, Toronto or Melbourne, among many others. After making the public demonstrations, this Toronto company plans to put the first pilot bicycles on the road spring 2012 and rigorously check its operation and equipment. All in order to have the service ready to kick off in summer.
Why a public bicycle service in New York? In the Big Apple, 40% of journeys are less than one mile (1.6 km) and 54% less than two miles (3.2 km). Short trips that could easily be done by bicycle, thus avoiding starting the car and helping to reduce motorized traffic congestion in the city. As is the case in other large cities in the world, such as Barcelona, Seville, London or Paris , the bicycle loan service will improve accessibility to isolated areas and will be a non-polluting alternative that can easily be combined with other means of public transport.
In addition, the city has 250 miles of bike lanes (about 400 kilometers) built since 2006. Since that year, the number of cyclists in the city has doubled. If we add to these urban lanes the cycle paths in parks and trails, the city of skyscrapers has 700 miles of bike lanes (more than 1,100 kilometers -see map in pdf-). In fact, New York has many corners to discover by pedaling, such as the wonderful Central Park or the surroundings of Brooklyn bridge . Currently there are several bike rental companies that allow, especially tourists, to get on the saddle and enjoy the city. This is the case of Centralparkbikerent, Bikenewyorkcity, Centralparkbiketours, or Bikethebigapple, among others. The New York Department of Transportation makes significant efforts to support two wheels and on its website, it is easy to find practical applications to calculate a route or learn about various cycling routes.
What will the official New York bike look like?