Bushwick bike spite racks

"Hi I saw your post about the spite racks and wanted you to know that Ridgewood is not alone.

I took these pics early Sunday morning (before 8am) along Irving Ave in Bushwick. It's the same story - the bike racks were installed last year and they didn't bother to put bikes in them. And judging by the lack of bikes all these months later, there isn't much of a market here as none have migrated over from racks in other neighborhoods." - anonymous

Citibike rolls out new fleet of illegal ebikes

NY Daily News

Citi Bike riders are about to get a boost.

The bike-sharing company will roll out a new line of e-bikes Wednesday, 10 months after its entire fleet of electric two-wheelers was pulled from service after a braking issue catapulted several riders over the handlebars and sent them to the hospital.

The new e-bikes, which give riders a little extra pickup when they pedal, were designed specifically for New York City, said Citi Bike spokesman Cory Epstein. Unlike the old models, they have a motor on the back wheel, instead of the front, and have drum brakes that do not lock up.

Citi Bike’s old e-bikes had “roller brakes” that did not have power modulators, skirting the brake manufacturer’s specifications.

 The new rides appear to be safer. During a test ride Tuesday, a Daily News reporter slammed an e-bike’s front brake at top speed. The bike came to a comfortable stop instead of throwing its rider to kingdom come.

As I documented for at least a year on social media with #EbikesAreMotorcycles, the safety issue isn't just with these bikes but the people that use them 

Now we have "rogue bikesharing"

From the NY Post:

A California company will dump 300 dockless share bikes across the Big Apple on Monday — and they don’t have permission from the city to do it.

Spin, a San Francisco-based company, will drop 150 rigs throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn and another 150 in the Rockaways, according to City Councilman Eric Ulrich, who is in favor of the company moving in even though New York has a contract with Citi Bike.

“Bike sharing represents the future, and I don’t believe we should be protecting Citi Bike as a monopoly,” said Ulrich. “Citi Bike has a contract to have docks on city property and that’s fine, but the city has to let bike riders and New Yorkers decide who they want to pay.”

Unlike Citi Bikes, which must be picked up from and brought back to a station after each use, dockless bikeshare companies use cycles with self-locking technology that customers can access through an app. They can then pick up and leave the bikes anywhere.

Transit advocates fear dockless bikes could be a disaster.

“They litter the streets everywhere they go,” said a source familiar with the operations. “They have to go somewhere and they end up in the middle of sidewalks and in dumpsters and in the way of everything.”

At least five rogue dockless bike companies have been sniffing around the city and buttering up officials since the spring, officials have said. Spin will be the first to actually set up shop here.

This is funny. If it's Spin or nothing, the Rockaways should have nothing, according to DOT. Also humorous is the unnamed transit advocate who claims these bikes will end up in the middle of sidewalks and in dumpsters. What?

Costa wants more waterfront projects

From the Queens Chronicle:

Western Queens officials and community members are dreaming of an evening walk along the waterfront from Astoria Park to Socrates Sculpture Park.

City Councilman Costa Constantinides (D-Astoria) touted a plan to revitalize the shoreline Saturday during a festival held in conjunction with the Waterfront Alliance at Hallets Cove playground that would use allocated funding for projects along Astoria Hallets Peninsula.

“We’re a waterfront community, and we have very limited interaction with our waterfront,” Constantinides told reporters Saturday. “We’re really looking forward to reconnecting with our past, reconnecting with who we are as a community.”

The plan would include adding a new eco-dock, a floating dock that allows for various vessels to pull up to it, similar to the one already in Bay Ridge. The dock could include a kayak launch and would provide an educational opportunity on the local ecosystem. The proposal would also allow for an upgrade to Hallets Cove playground. He said adding Citi Bike to the area is also on the wish list.

Constantinides said he and Borough President Melinda Katz each allocated $1 million in this year’s budget, fiscal year 2016, for the projects, so that $2 million is “already secure,” he said. The Hallets Cove playground renovation has an additional $1.2 million allocated, $1 million from Katz and $210,000 from the councilman’s discretionary budget.

We know what this is really about.

Jimmy's take on transportation

- Yuppies at Vernon-Jackson need a ferry because the train is too crowded (they already have one)
- New Select Bus Service and Express Service must be created for LIC - even though it is built up because it is one subway stop from Manhattan
- CitiBike!
- Let's not build a new subway line because who cares about future generations?
- Hey, how about a pedestrian/bike only bridge to Manhattan? Because that's feasible.

CitiBike tanking

From the NY Post:

The city’s bike-share membership is hitting the skids.

A plunge in CitiBike rides has wiped out the more than 50 percent boost to its coffers from a fare hike in November, data show.

NYC Bike Share, which runs CitiBike, took in about $360,000 from members that month — a 20 percent drop from the same month a year earlier, data show.

The money drain came even as the cost of annual membership jumped more than 50 percent, from $95 to $149 on Nov. 1.

“I think a lot of people are frustrated. [CitiBike] needs to be as reliable as the subway — and it isn’t,” said CitiBike blogger Ed Rademakers. “People don’t renew, or they buy their own bike.”

Annual membership in the bike-share program last November was 88,495, a 6.8 percent drop compared with November 2013, when membership stood at a robust 94,955, data show.

One-day memberships fell 33 percent, from 16,112 to 10,723, and weekly members fell 37 percent in that same period, from 1,339 to 843.

Van Bramer reveals what he really thinks about Queens

Hey, have you heard? Bikeshare was bailed out by a developer, and oh boy, Jimmy Van Bramer can't contain his excitement!

From NY1:

"This literally puts Queens on the map. There will be bikeshare stations. The app will send people to Queens. People will be encouraged to take their bikes to Queens. They'll be able to see our cultural institutions. They will spend money in our restaurants, in our shops in our stores."

I think he needs to be schooled on what the term "literally" means. Queens has plenty of things that have already "put it on the map", sir. In addition, cabs, buses and subways have come here for decades, and everyone that has wanted to get here has figured out how to do so without mounting a clunky blue mobile advertisement.

Lots of bikers not renewing CitiBike membership

From WNYC:

Citi Bike doesn’t publish numbers on how many people are renewing their memberships. While the system does release monthly reports on how many people sign up or renew, it doesn’t break out renewals as its own figure.

We know that at the end of May, the system had 105,355 active annual members. Those are people who have paid $95 for a year’s worth of riding, and have activated their little blue key. At the end of June, the system had 96,318 members. Does that mean almost 10,000 people didn’t renew at the end of that month? Unclear.

But a WNYC analysis of Citi Bike data suggests that about 22,000 people renewed during May and June of 2014. At the end of last June, the system had 52,125 members. Which indicates almost 30,000 of the system’s first users have chosen not to renew so far.

A Citi Bike spokesperson did not dispute those numbers. There is no shortage of reasons why early adopters might hold off on renewing their membership: broken docks, full docks, empty docks, cracked bike seats, and the lack of Citi Bike availability in many neighborhoods. The system currently has no stations above 60th street in Manhattan, none in much of Brooklyn, and none in Queens or the Bronx.

Or maybe members are all waiting to see if the takeover of the system, reportedly imminent, resolves the hardware, software, and geographic problems. They just might have to pay more for a membership if they choose to renew later – the price could rise from $95 up to $155, according to sources close to the negotiations.

CitiBike to become more elitist

From the Daily News:

The cost of Citi Bike annual memberships could rise by more than 50% under a new deal to save the cash-strapped program.

The city has discussed raising the annual membership fee for the popular bikeshare system from $95 to $140 or even $155, according to a source with knowledge of the discussions.

The price hike would be part of a deal to save Citi Bike, which has been on a pathway to bankruptcy and plagued with operational problems.

REQX Ventures — an investment firm formed by Equinox gyms and its parent, the Related Companies — is currently in negotiations with the city to purchase 51% of Alta Bike Share, which oversees Citi Bike through a subsidiary.

“It’s well understood that fees will go up,” the source said.

While the cost of annual membership would soar, 24-hour access passes would probably remain at $9.95.

CitiBike owes a $1M parking fee

From the Wall Street Journal:

The operator of New York City's bicycle-sharing program faces another hurdle as it tries to find a successful financial formula for the popular program—the city wants it to pay up for lost parking revenue.

A little-noticed provision of a contract with Citi Bike's operator, Alta Bicycle Share Inc., requires the company to reimburse the city for parking revenue, since some of the docking stations for the system's bikes take up former parking spots.

The city says Alta owes about $1 million in lost revenue through 2013, according to people familiar with the matter.

Alta, a Portland, Ore.-based company that runs Citi Bike through its subsidiary NYC Bike Share, has been in negotiations with New York City transportation officials and an outside investor, REQX Ventures, whose capital infusion would fuel an expansion of the program.

REQX Ventures and Alta have been seeking to remove the parking-revenue provision from the Citi Bike operator's contract with the city, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Parking revenue has emerged as a bargaining chip in the negotiations, but it is unclear whether the city would let Alta off the hook and remove the requirement in a reworked contract.

Developer may bail out CitiBike

From the Wall Street Journal:

The company that runs Citi Bike is in advanced talks with an affiliate of a major real-estate developer about an investment that would fuel an expansion of New York City's bicycle-sharing program, according to people familiar with the negotiations.

Alta Bicycle Share Inc. of Portland, Ore., which runs Citi Bike, has been negotiating a deal with REQX Ventures, an investment firm formed by the upscale fitness center chain Equinox and its parent, Related Cos., these people said.

Both parties have signed a term sheet outlining a deal to inject capital to help bring the Citi Bike program to more neighborhoods in New York City, according to the people. The potential investment would also fund improvements to Citi Bike's software, one person said.

It was unclear how much capital REQX Ventures might invest or what kind of stake in the Citi Bike program the company might get in return. It remains to be seen whether the two sides would close the deal, or whether city officials would approve it.

Don't renew your CitiBike membership!

From the Daily News:

Over the 10 months since Citi Bike debuted, more than 97,000 riders forked over $95 for a yearly permit to pedal the blue bikes.

In exchange, they have gotten lousy treatment from a mismanaged company that is going broke and planning to ask for either a rate hike or taxpayer support.

Under Mayor Bloomberg and now Mayor de Blasio, the Department of Transportation has been ineffectual in forcing Bike Share NYC to get its act together.

DOT refuses, for example, to voice anything but muted criticism, despite knowing how badly the secretive bicycle rental agent is performing.

The company’s monthly reports, filed with the city and made public for the first time by the Daily News, certify its failures:

When curbside rental docks break down, the company must repair 99% of the inoperable stations within 48 hours. It August, it reported getting to just 64%.

In January, Bike Share NYC reported fixing just 50% of docks in 48 hours, and taking care of just 37% of vandalized bicycles within 96 hours, compared with the 98% the contract demands.

Plainly, New York has ceded control of an expanding mode of street transportation to a troubled, unaccountable monopoly.

The city could fine Bike Share NYC, but that would deepen its ills. Or the city could try to boot Bike Share NYC, but that would likely bring the bikes to a halt pending arrival of a new operator.

That’s why Citi Bikers — who have been vocal about the system’s hassles online — must take matters onto their own handlebars. We suggest using the Twitter hashtag #fixcitibike to convey the message: no upgrades, no renewals.

CitiBike not popular among tourists

From the Wall Street Journal:

Leaders of Citi Bike are moving quickly to raise tens of millions of dollars to rescue the popular bike-share program as it loses money, according to people familiar with the matter.

Leaders of New York's Citi Bike are moving quickly to raise tens of millions of dollars to rescue the popular bike-share program as it loses money. Andrew Tangel reports on the News Hub. Photo: Getty Images.

Citi Bike's bright blue bicycles have become a seemingly indispensable part of some city neighborhoods, but its managers don't believe it can survive if it doesn't become more appealing to tourists and expand to new neighborhoods, the people familiar with the matter said.

The program's leaders have approached officials in Mayor Bill de Blasio's administration about raising Citi Bike's rates, the people said.

One issue is that Citi Bike has proved more popular than expected with annual users who generate comparatively little revenue. Some 99,000 people pay $95 a year plus tax to be able to use the bikes for 45 minutes at a time.

The potential for far greater revenue, however, is with short-term users. Many of those were expected to be tourists, and they haven't used the bikes nearly as much as officials had anticipated, people familiar with the matter said.

A 24-hour pass costs $9.95 plus tax and a seven-day pass costs $25 plus tax. Purchasing short-term passes has proved difficult due in part to balky kiosks that accept payment for the bikes and computer glitches.

Operational difficulties have also troubled Citi Bike. The task of moving bikes to respond to the patterns of commuters—those who grab a bike in the West Village to Midtown in the morning but may not ride it home at night—has been more cumbersome than expected in New York City traffic. That has raised costs.

Also, some 50 batteries have to be changed manually at the system's 330 docking stations every night, requiring Citi Bike to hire a subcontractor just to do the job, according to people familiar with the matter.

Citi Bike has been forced to lay off some workers because of the financial strain, which has made it more difficult to operate the sprawling network and respond to customers, the people familiar with the matter said.

CitiBike bankrupt; City Council wants bailout

From the Daily News:

The financially troubled company running the city’s bike rental program is considering raising its rates so it can stay afloat, new Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg said Thursday.

“We’re talking to them,” Trottenberg told the Daily News at City Hall after testifying before the City Council’s transportation committee. “I would put it this way — all options are on the table. I think everyone agrees it turned out to be a real bargain for New Yorkers, who used the system twice as much as users of other cities.”

A hallmark of the Bloomberg administration, Citi Bike launched in May with numerous docking stations in Manhattan south of 96th St. and in parts of Brooklyn. Right from the start it was wildly popular — there were 80,000 annual members in just three months, exceeding expectations — but former Mayor Bloomberg conceded in October that the operator was not making a profit.

Citi Bike annual membership costs $95, which allows a user to make an unlimited number of 45-minute trips. A 7-day pass costs $25, while the daily variety goes for $9.95.

Many neighborhoods have been clamoring for installation of Citibike stations, but it’s unclear when the system will expand, officials said.

“It’s not going to be in the immediate future, but we’re going to see if we can figure out the financial and operational issues and set them on a good path,” Trottenberg said.

At Thursday’s hearing, some committee members said Citi Bike has become part of the city’s transportation infrastructure and warrants government subsidies.

“To achieve full build out and go to the neighborhoods we want to go to, I think it’s going to take public funds,” Councilman Rory Lancman (D-Queens) said.

And does Rory have CitiBike in his district? No. So why does he think it's such a great idea to fund a failing program? How about letting CitiBank pay for the increased cost since they are getting free advertising from it and got a very generous bailout from us schmucky taxpayers in the not-too-distant past?

It was only a matter of time

From the NY Post:

An elderly Citi Bike rider who flipped over and landed on his head after he hit a concrete barrier is suing NYC Bike Share and DOT for $15 million — saying the accident left him unable to taste or smell.

Ronald Corwin, 74, of Connecticut, was not wearing a helmet in the October crash. Lawyer Guy Smiley said the gray barrier blended in with the street on East 56th and Madison, and the city has since painted it orange.

Bikeshare blues

From Crains:

Now some news out of Canada bodes poorly for urban transportation utopians. Public Bike System Co., the company that designed the sturdy bikes and nifty solar-powered docking stations used in New York and more than a dozen other cities around the world, was forced into bankruptcy protection in Montreal, where it also administers the local sharing program. The nonprofit, known as Bixi, has debt of nearly $46 million.

Bixi's financial troubles have persisted for years; Montreal gave it over $100 million bailout in 2011. Part of Bixi's shortfall is a result of New York and Chicago program operators withholding payments of over $5 million because of problems with the software that runs the bike docking stations.

Bixi acts as a supplier to Alta Bicycle Share Inc., which administers New York's Citi Bike and similar programs in Chicago, Boston and elsewhere. Alta said on its website Jan. 20 that its systems "are up and running and ABS will ensure that they continue to operate without interruption."

Citigroup said its program is safe.

"Alta has reassured us that they have appropriate plans in place, and we are confident Citi Bike operations will not be negatively impacted for users," said a bank spokesman.

It's not clear, though, what Bixi's troubles mean for CitiBike's scheduled move into new areas of New York City. Citi Bike is operated by Alta subsidiary NYC Bike Share.

From the Epoch Times:

As the weather got colder this winter, more New Yorkers set aside their Citi Bikes. On Jan. 3, the day after a howling overnight snowstorm, the city’s bike share system logged the fewest number of trips for a 24-hour period since launching in May last year, according to data posted on its website.

Riders checked out the blue bicycles a record-low 1,230 times across the city, compared to an average of over 30,000 times per day during the summer.

Snow was not the only cause for the record low reached on Jan. 3. The number of daily bike share rides has declined steadily as average temperatures have dropped. Citi Bike users rode the bikes four times less in January compared to the system’s record month of September.

The seasonal drop is likely to make a financial dent for the Alta Bicycle Share. Bloomberg said in October that Alta was still losing money due to the costs of rolling out the system.

The mayor’s office and NYC Bike Share did not return requests for bike share’s financial data.

It would probably help if someone plowed/shoveled the bike lanes. But that's not likely to happen.

Bloomberg calls CitiBike "mass transit"

From the NY Post:

Mayor Bloomberg admitted Thursday that the Citi Bike program isn’t profitable, nearly six months after the bicycle-share program launched around town.

“I don’t think so yet,” Bloomberg said when asked if the Citi Bike program is making money.

The mayor argued that, like most start-up businesses, the Citi Bike operation is going through growing pains in its early stages of development.

“There’s a lot of teething at the beginning,” he said about the initial operating expenses. “You’ve got to get everything out there.”

With Citi Bike customers having taken more than 2 million rides since its launch, Bloomberg is confident that the system can turn a profit in time.

“It is, I think, better than anybody had anticipated in terms of usage,” Bloomberg said during a press conference at the Department of Transportation.

“It’s a way to commute, it’s a mass-transit system that requires no federal, state or city monies whatsoever.”

Mass transit systems involve large vehicles that move a lot of people at a time. Not vend-a-bikes. And I guess Mike thinks we've forgotten that the City put $1.55M in taxpayer money into CitiBike.

For free bike, just yank

From Metro:

Two men were arrested on Tuesday after they stole a Citi Bike from its dock and complained about unfair bike share prices to a pair of plainclothes officers, police said.

Police said they believed the suspects had simply removed the bikes by pulling really hard.

BikeShare starts out with a thump

From the NY Post:

A woman on a Citi Bike was hit by a livery cab when she ran a red light in Greenwich Village, cops said.

The rider, 25, was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries after the 12:45 accident at Houston and MacDougal streets.

The damaged 45-pound bike was spotted in the back of a police cruiser (above) yesterday afternoon on Greenwich Avenue shortly before 2:30 p.m.

The bike’s front wheel appeared to be bent.

Bike Share program has gotten a little nuts

From CBS New York:

Some street vendors say the city’s new bike sharing program has given their livelihoods the boot.

Nearly a dozen lower Broadway street vendors say they showed up to work on Monday only to find their corner at Liberty Street taken up by dozens of bike share racks.

They showed up to protest on Thursday.

From the West Village to Battery Park City to Fort Greene, Brooklyn, Bike share stations are appearing, and some find them appalling.

“I’m very unhappy about this!” one woman told CBS 2′s Tony Aiello.

“This was just a really anxiety-producing moment, to realize you won’t have your space to vend that you’ve been working in for many years,” Stephanie Barretta of the Street Vendor Project told WCBS 880 reporter Marla Diamond.

They said they don’t mind the Citi Bike program. They just don’t want it on the busy street corner where they make a living.

From the NY Post:

Taxpayers are forking over cash so a small army of city DOT employees can baby-sit rogue cyclists, reminding them of the basic rules of the road so they don’t pedal into pedestrians.

Nearly a dozen Department of Transportation workers — some who usually maintain traffic signs — were deployed to sparsely occupied bike lanes on First and Second avenues in the East Village yesterday to hold up red stop signs to control speeding cyclists.

The other side of the signs display the warning “wrong way.”

The sign holders said they loved their new, easy gig.

“This is great! Usually, I’m changing signs,” said DOT worker Danny Gonzalez, 40, of Bayside, Queens, a traffic-device maintainer who earns more than $50,000 a year. “This is so much less stress on my body. I don’t have to lug around a ladder to do this!”

The DOT calls the workers “street safety managers.”

They were specially trained by contractor Sam Schwartz Engineering.

The team will rotate to different bike-lane areas each day, and they’ll be out until October.

They’ll also hit the bridges and ask cyclists and pedestrians to not veer into each other’s lanes, the DOT said in a statement yesterday.

“It’s a waste of money, and it’s a waste of peoples’ rights. People know safety better than the government,” said Eric Alberti, 39, an East Village resident.

The DOT explained the workers are needed in advance of next month’s rollout of the city bike-sharing program, which is under fire from residents who say the racks block precious sidewalk and parking space.

The DOT won’t say how much all the new sign holders cost, but officials insisted that using city workers saves “costs associated with contracting out similar services from a private vendor.”

Residents argue the program isn’t necessary at all.

From the Daily News:

City Council Thursday cracked down on one of New York’s newest menaces — motorized bicycles that zoom down sidewalks or speed the wrong way in traffic to deliver food at breakneck speeds.

The so-called “e-bikes” have long been outlawed on city streets but cops couldn’t issue a citation unless they could prove the rider was exceeding 15 mph.

A bill the Council passed Thursday will prohibit the bikes regardless of their speed. If signed by Mayor Bloomberg as expected, the bill would slap business owners with $100-$250 fines for having an e-bike on their premises or if their employees are caught riding them on the street.

You know things are bad when the City Council looks like the voice of reason.