New Bike Parking Corral Coming To Astoria This Summer

ASTORIA, QUEENS — A sleek curbside container that can store a half dozen bicycles will be installed temporarily in Astoria this summer as part of a citywide pilot program.

The roving tour of Oonee, a six-bike corral designed by a Brooklyn-based company of the same name, was announced by city officials on Friday. The pod was installed last week in the Meatpacking District, where it will remain for a month before moving onto the Lower East Side, Union Square, and Prospect Heights.

Then, in July, it will arrive at the 31st Avenue Open Street in Astoria, where the pod will be stationed near the corner of 34th Street for 29 days.

The pilot program by the Department of Transportation takes aim at the city's critical shortage of bike parking, which forces many cyclists to chain their bikes on the street and leave them vulnerable to theft and damage.

It will free to park a bike inside the corral, which allows slots to be booked online. The pod features interior lights, insurance coverage for every bike and scooter parked inside it, and greenery on top to make it more attractive.

The city will gather data about the pod's use in each of the five neighborhoods where it will be installed this year, helping inform DOT's goal to add more bike parking throughout the city. (The city has pledged to install 10,000 new bike racks by the end of 2022.)

Oonee has recently installed bike-parking locations at Grand Central Terminal, Atlantic Terminal in Brooklyn, and Journal Square in Jersey City.

"This pilot program is a great step forward toward encouraging more people to use bicycles to get around New York City,” Queens Borough President Donovan Richards said in a statement.

“These mini-pods will offer an innovative way for bicyclists to park their bikes safely, creating peace-of-mind for cyclists and removing one of the barriers that deter people from biking."

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