City's Dockless Bike Share Program Debuts In The Rockaways

NEW YORK— Dockless bicycle sharing is rolling out in New York City, and the Rockaways on Friday became the first neighborhood to give the program a spin.

Roughly 150 bicycles from transportation-sharing companies Lime and Pace are now available for rent in the Queens neighborhood, the first of four outer-borough areas to test the service in a Department of Transportation pilot program this summer.

By the end of July, the Rockaways will have 400 bicycles available in the program, with Lime and Pace each providing 200, according to the DOT.

Lime's first 100 bikes, and Pace's first 50, became available Friday at the pilot's launch on the Rockaway Beach Boardwalk, where Mayor Bill de Blasio arrived to welcome them.

"This announcement today is a real big step forward," de Blasio said. "We’ve made sure that bike sharing is for every part of the City as much as possible, but I’ll tell you this much, this is now the top bike-sharing city in the country, and we are very proud of that."

Dockless sharing, unlike Citi Bike, is run off a mobile app that cyclists use to find, ride and park their bikes. Both companies' rides cost $1 for every 30 minutes, and Lime on July 28 will roll out pedal-assisted bikes that cost $1 to unlock and 15 cents for every minute afterward.

Rides must stay within the Rockaways pilot area, which, at the request of Community Board 14, now spans virtually the entire island from the Nassau County border to Jacob Riis Park and Breezy Point, said DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg.

"We were thrilled to do that," Trottenberg said. "Obviously with 10 miles of beach, of sun, of the wonderful restaurants, of all the things you can do here, biking is going to be terrific."

The city plans to roll out the dockless bikes in two more pilot zones on Staten Island's North Shore and around Fordham University in the Bronx later this month. Coney Island in Brooklyn will pilot another dockless bike service later this year, according to the DOT.

The agency plans to evaluate bicycle-sharing companies' compliance with data accessibility and user privacy during the pilot, along with the safety, availability and durability of the bikes themselves, a DOT spokesperson said.

Lead photo courtesy of the New York City Department of Transportation