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Speaking of subway stations, one popular use I can imagine is for those who live a long walk from any subway station, assuming there's a bike share station near their home (Greenpoint and Red Hook are two areas I'm thinking of). One problem I envision is certain bike stations will be popular one way than the other (everyone takes a bike from one station and returns it to another, leaving one bike station full and another empty). Though perhaps it would fix itself in the evening?
In Denver they re-position the bikes with a trailer. I assume they have figured out the rough commuting patterns and allow for past history. In a perfect situation every station needs both available bikes and available slots for returning bikes. With the bike GPS and the docking station uploads, they always know where every bike is located.
The company that runs the program in Denver/Boulder also runs several other cities and is writing the software to manage the systems. Very similar to a car share program with more units and shorter cycle times. Not sure when Denver/Boulder system will be able to check availability and reserve by smartphone.
More Than 4,000 People Subscribed to NYC Bike-Share in First 24 Hours
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It looks like demand for bike-share in New York is going to be intense. In the first 24 hours of membership sales, more than 4,000 people signed up for annual Citi Bike subscriptions, according to NYC DOT
It'll work for NY. They've got the infrastructure and (obviously) the demand. It's a very convenient system. Hopefully they come up with bikes that are a little lighter than those lead sleds in DC.
We have good infrastructure in some areas. I hope as this program becomes more popular we will see more rapid improvements. Obviously certain corridors like the East River Greenway are vital and should have been completed many years ago.
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Originally Posted by sponger42
I cycle around my area when the weather is good, but the local bike share program in Boston is too expensive for me. I don't really understand the concept. Why would you pay a monthly fee to be able to rent a bicycle? The cost after just a few months far outstrips just buying a used bike. In fact, my commuter bike cost less than the sign-up fee, and it's a better machine than these rentals.
I guess the point is that you don't have to lug your bike around on the subway or bus, but is that really an inconvenience that justifies spending hundreds more a year?
I'd like to see a bike share program that works just like the bus or subway. You can swipe your stored-value metro pass, use your monthly pass, or pay for a single ride by credit card. A 2 hour ride should cost about as much as a subway ride.
Three useful scenarios:
•You live beyond a 5 minute walk from a subway station.
•Trying to get crosstown in Manhattan when your uptown (No crosstown subway, buses crawl with traffic and are often crowded, cabs are expensive)
•You are trying to get to a location with no direct mass transit link from where you are. (3 miles, but 2 transfers, heavy traffic or crowded buses)
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Originally Posted by HandsUpThumbsDown
I'm not familiar with the program in Boston. I commuted to DC during a rather warm week in January and it was a little cheaper to get to my destination on the bike than on Metro (which is considerably more expensive than MBTA I think). I thought it was priced accordingly, reducing congestion both on the roads and on the Metro system. Not having to lock up, worry about theft, etc is the appeal. And metro has such deep tunnels, a short ride, especially if you have to transfer, offers no time savings over the bike and can often be a longer trip.
It presents another option when you are at point A and needing to get to point B. They won't be the right choice every time, but at certain times they will. It's a simple transportation system that requires little independent infrastructure and can provide some auto and transit congestion relief.
I agree that interoperability should be a goal for Bike Share. You should be able to pay with your Charlie Card, for instance. It should be a seamless system.
Interoperability would be great, but CitiBike is independent of the MTA so I can see the problems.
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Originally Posted by nei
Looks like housing projects will get bike share stations right nearby. I wonder if there'll be vandalism issues.
We'll have to wait and see. NYC is notorious for property crime, but these stations are durable and survive in areas with similar problems. See Paris and Mexico City.
$1050 is high for a bicycle. They look like cheap city bikes. Regardless, there should be a way to track who took a bike last, but the system must rely on the population having social decency. I guess we'll find out soon.
NYCHA (housing project) residents get a discount, $60 / year.
The bicycles are the most durable bikes I have ever ridden. They were designed with heavy usage and vandalism in mind.
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Originally Posted by sponger42
The economics don't work for me, but maybe they would if I had a different lifestyle and lived in Manhattan. If I were to use it now, I would commute from home to the train station via bicycle, then take the train to near work, then ride to work.
Let's pretend there are bicycle share racks near my home, both stations, and work (there aren't). Let's also pretend I can't take my bike on the train (I can; because it's a reverse commute so off-peak hours). Even with all these factors going for it, I would--instead--buy two bicycles, keeping one for the home-station route, and one for the station-work route. The cost would be the same or less than 2 years worth of ride-share club's fees, and I end up with 2 bicycles.
Now, if you let me tap my metrocard into the bikeshare, then transfer to the train, then tap into the other bikeshare as part of this transfer (as if it were a real part of the metro system), I would certainly use it all the time!
Do you live in NYC? Most of the city will be covered soon.
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Originally Posted by nei
Speaking of subway stations, one popular use I can imagine is for those who live a long walk from any subway station, assuming there's a bike share station near their home (Greenpoint and Red Hook are two areas I'm thinking of). One problem I envision is certain bike stations will be popular one way than the other (everyone takes a bike from one station and returns it to another, leaving one bike station full and another empty). Though perhaps it would fix itself in the evening?
Alta will rotate the bikes throughout the day once they discover the commute patterns.
I'm not signing up until I know that there will actually be bikes available where I'm starting from and slots available where I'm stopping. Since I'd be starting from Penn Station, I have my doubts.
I'm not signing up until I know that there will actually be bikes available where I'm starting from and slots available where I'm stopping. Since I'd be starting from Penn Station, I have my doubts.
Might lots of people be returning bikes to Penn Station as well?
Might lots of people be returning bikes to Penn Station as well?
I would expect it would follow commuting patterns; the majority of people would be taking bikes from Penn Station in the morning and returning them in the evening; there would be some but much smaller reverse traffic. This could result in there being no bikes to ride in the late morning (when I get in to Penn), and no place to return them to in the evening.
When's the date for Phases 2 & 3 (shown on the map of the OP) to be completed ?
No one knows. I think the original estimate was 2 years before all 100,000 bikes were rolled out. It all depends on a lot of different factors. Could be sooner or later.
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Originally Posted by nybbler
I would expect it would follow commuting patterns; the majority of people would be taking bikes from Penn Station in the morning and returning them in the evening; there would be some but much smaller reverse traffic. This could result in there being no bikes to ride in the late morning (when I get in to Penn), and no place to return them to in the evening.
Alta will be rotating/balancing the bikes at different times of day, as is done in other systems.
Looks like housing projects will get bike share stations right nearby. I wonder if there'll be vandalism issues.
There's that, but the "tragedy of the commons" also comes to mind.
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