City Wants To Expand Bike-Sharing To Bronx, Staten Island

NEW YORK, NY — New York City wants to expand its bike-sharing program without having to take up space on local streets. City officials on Friday solicited ideas from firms to bring a "dockless" bike-share to Staten Island and the Bronx to complement its existing Citi Bike program, the largest bike-sharing program in the nation.

By the fall of 2018, the city wants to deploy bikes that can be rented anywhere in a given area without the need for docks that hold about 12,000 Citi Bikes at 750 locations in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. The new program could be tested in all of the Bronx and Staten Island, Manhattan's northern tip and outer Queens.

The city's request for expressions of interest from potential bike-share operators represents a step toward further expanding access to cycling in the outer boroughs. New Yorkers have taken more than 53 million Citi Bike trips since the program's inception in 2013.

"These past four years, we’ve strengthened Citi Bike and doubled its size. Now it’s time to take the next big step and bring safe, reliable and affordable bike sharing to even more of the city," Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement.

The city wants a company that would operate an affordable dockless bike-sharing system without public subsidies, according to the request the Department of Transportation issued Friday. Officials noted that cities with dockless programs charge just $1 per 30-minute ride.

Ideally, the bikes could be parked anywhere and would have a built-in lock that could be activated with a smartphone app, the request says. The city would want firms to make sure bikes are parked safely and redistribute them evenly throughout the test area if needed.

The city plans to have multiple firms run a pilot program of a dockless system next year, during which it will collect data on how the bikes are used. Interested companies must repsond to the Department of Transportation's request by Jan. 31.

A dockless system would likely be immune to concerns about parking and building access that have sometimes met the Citi Bike program. Citi Bike docks are typically placed in the street along curbs, leading local residents to complain that they take away parking spaces.

The Department of Transportation would likely expand its efforts to install bike racks and corrals to accommodate the new shared bikes if the pilot program is successful, the city request says.

The city says bike-sharing helps its goals of eliminating pedestrian deaths and improving health for New Yorkers.

Caroline Samponaro, deputy director of the transit advocacy group Transportation Alternatives, praised the move to expand bike-sharing in New York. It's important that the city pick an operator that provides quality bikes and follows through on its pledge to install more bike parking, she said.

"New Yorkers across the five boroughs want bike-share, and it's an important step that the city's looking for ways to make it happen and make it happen quickly," Samponaro said.

Doug Gordon, a cycling advocate and the author of the blog Brooklyn Spoke, said the city will have to carefully consider how deeply it integrates technology into a dockless program.

"If unlocking a bike *requires* a mobile phone, that brings up some big equity questions, especially if increasing access is among the goals of such a system," Gordon wrote on Twitter.

(Lead image: Cyclists ride across the Brooklyn Bridge on Nov. 1. Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)