Friday, November 29, 2013

Citi Bike #601









Citi Bike Passes 10 Million Trips A Year 
Citi Bike exceeded 10 million trips this year, an increase of 24 percent and a record the mayor attributed to improvements to the bike share program and expansion into more neighborhoods, including parts of Queensthe Daily News reports: 


Stolen City Bikes
The NYPD says 476 Citi Bikes have been stolen so far this year, compared with 300 in all of last year, although the company that runs the bike-share network says most are returned or found within 24 hours, NY1reports: 







Cit Bike Expands in Brooklyn Queens
Citi Bike riding into new neighborhoods in Brooklyn, Queens (NYDN) * Citi Bike to Begin Service in Queens and Expand in Brooklyn and Manhattan (NYT)  Starting in August, the bike-share program plans to install the first stations in Long Island City, Queens, and add 79 stations in Brooklyn.* Citi Bike will move into Queens this summer and then expand its bike-sharing system in Brooklyn as it aims to double its size over the next two years and increase its bike fleet from 6,000 to 12,000, the Times reports:  * Citi Bike Coming to LIC, Bed-Stuy, Greenpoint andWilliamsburg Next Month: The bike sharing program expects to… 
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City Bikes
Citi Bikes getting redesign by Olympic racing bike designer, to debut this month (NYDN) * New York Citi Bikes to add 2,400 new bikes this year: Abicycle sharing company in New Yorkhas announced that... (Fox) * Upper West Siders lash out against ‘deadly’ Citi Bike stations (NYP) pper West Side residents packed a community-board meeting to fight the pending flood of Citi Bike stations — saying many sites pose a deadly risk to pedestrians, especially children. * Citi Bike Workers in New York Get Union Contract (NYT) The agreement between the Transport Workers Union Local 100 and NYC Bike Share is a first for bike-share workers in the United States. * Locations for 77 Citi Bike docks in Manhattan revealed (NYDN) * As plans roll along to expand New York City’s bike-rental system into the Upper West and Upper East sides, some residents there have mixed feelings about sharing the road with more cyclists. * Less than a year after Citi Bike employees in New York City joined a union, they becamethe first bike-share workers in the country to reach an agreement for a union contract. * Citi Bike aims to recruit thousands of new users, particularly women, who currently take about a quarter of trips by the bike service riders and account for a third of it’s members, the Timesreports: 



New Leadership for Citi Bike   
Former Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chairman Jay Walder is going to be named the top executive for the company that now oversees Citi Bike, REQX Ventures, the Daily News reports:  * Citi Bike to get new boss, expand into Brooklyn & Queens(NYP)* New Leader Will Drive Expansion of Citi Bike(NYT)* Editorial: No more training wheels(NYDN Ed) Very soon after New York City let self-styled visionaries from Podunk put thousands of rental bicycles on the streets, it was clear the operation would end in a helmetless crash.





* Citi Bike is raking in millions of dollars in late fees—including from clueless tourists who don’t know the rules and annual members who constantly struggle to find a working dock, the Post reports: http://goo.gl/CqQA7a

Biking for fun and profit


Maybe the struggling Citi Bike program will be salvaged after all. But it will likely depend on the de Blasio administration’s willingness to let whoever wants to bail it out...    

Citi Bike rates may spike 50% to save bike-sharing program

. is going to test a valet service

* A deal to stabilize Citi Bike and pave the way for potential expansion of the popular New York City bike share program is taking shape, including the ability to raise rates without city approval, Capital New York writes: http://goo.gl/pBXlHI

Citi Bike racks up complaints from riders over operational issues that continue to linger(NYDN)
Riders are still dealing with a slew of issues, although the Citi Bike operator says they've made significant improvements in recent months. Earlier this year, city officials urged the bike sharing system to address its troubles.

Citi Bike trouble turns commute into hassle(NYDN)



* New York City Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg said the city will work with Alta to expand the Citibike program to other parts of the city to help the program make a profit, the Daily News writes: http://goo.gl/afkVPe

Majority of Citi Bike users are men: study(NYP)

Citi Bike Workers a Step Closer to Joining Transit Union
* CitiBike is being asked to pay New York City about $1 million for lost parking revenue because several docking stations were placed in former parking spots, the Wall Street Journal reports: http://goo.gl/5vzYvJ

Citi Bike has exceeded expectations, but one year into the service there's little hope for outer boro expansion.

 Expanding Citi Bikes   . . .
Alta Bicycle Share, which runs Citi Bike, and an affiliate of a major real-estate developer are in advanced talks about an investment that would fuel expansion of the bike-sharing program, The Wall Street Journal reports * 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. … 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.”
More on Citi Bikes

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Citi Bike rack remains a ‘death trap’ in the West Village(NYP)
Citi Bike May Not Be So Bad
Private report suggests Citi Bike could be a going concern(Capital) An internal analysis acquired by Capital shows that Citi Bike might not be in such a bad situation after all


Citi Bike wins battle to keep racks outside Plaza Hotel(NYP)

HOPE FOR CITI BIKE -- “Private report suggests Citi Bike could be a going concern,” by Dana Rubinstein: “The Citi Bike program may be less wobbly than it seems. At the end of 2013, the company that runs the program, and which is now proposing to raise user rates dramatically, prepared an internal analysis for the Bloomberg administration … The analysis … suggests: … If the bike system’s troubled operator (Alta Bicycle Share, which runs the city program through its subsidiary NYC Bike Share) and its troubled equipment supplier (Bixi) can find new, more competent owners or investors, the system could become a sustainable or even profitable operation, and could subsist at its current size without public funding. That runs counter to the narrative that’s sprung up in the aftermath of (accurate) reports of the popular system's current financial distress.” http://goo.gl/XiaLgR

That bikes are helping mitigate Tube strike highlights point here -- alternative (albeit modest) to monopoly transit.

* Ken Podziba writes in AM New York and Newsday that New York City should subsidize its bike share program, since it’s a form of public transportation: http://goo.gl/jyttc0

Citi-Bike General Manager Resigns

Schumer Proposes Tax Break for People Who Use Bike Share Programs to Get to Work
Bike czar wanted(NYDN Ed)  NYC Bike Share is falling down on the job. It's time for a management overhaul *  Some experts say that if Citi Bike wants to stay afloat without public funding, it should consider raising annual membership fees and improving tourist and infrequent user ridership, The Wall Street Journal reports: * * If London’s bike-share program is a model, New Yorkers should stick with Citi Bike, but they should also be cognizant of the fact that the program could cost taxpayers money in the end, London Evening Standard transport editor Matthew Beard writes in the Daily News: General Manager of city's bike share program resigns(NYDN)Citi Bike General Manager Justin Ginsburgh submitted his resignation as city officials have grown increasingly frustrated with the company that runs the bike-share program, The Wall Street Journal writes: * Citi Bike System Successful, but Wobbly From the Start(NYT) * Citi Bike Manager Resigns(WSJ) * RIDING INTO THE SUNSET: Citi Bike boss resigns as programs fails to meet monthly standards(NYDN) *Citi Bike racks sit unused in Brooklyn boondocks * Blue bikes, red ink(NYP Ed) * Experts Bullish on Citi Bike(WSJ) * Experts Bullish on Citi Bike(WSJ) *By Plotting Journeys, Providing a Glimpse at Citi Bike Ridership(NYT) A new data visualization project makes clear the degree to which the bike share system has become interwoven into New York City’s transit network. * Brooklyn Students Ponder a Citi Bike for To-Go Coffee Cups(WSJ) * amNewYork writes that a fast, thorough overhaul of Citi Bike is needed to keep the system solvent as it approaches its one-year anniversary: * New York City officials shouldn’t be focusing on whether Citi Bike turns a profit, but on its greater good of spurring more business in neighborhoods, Nicole Gelinas writes in City & State:
More on City Bikes 
Boston doctors write "prescriptions" for bike-share program

. tries to boost with tax break; wife, iris weinshall, tried to kill PPW bike lane. 'the honeymooners' on wheels.


Citi Bike, Needing Millions, Looks for Help(WSJ)
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.* Update Bill de Blasio Will Not Bail Out Money-Losing Citi Bike(NYO)De Blasio said that New York City’s bike share program, which has struggled financially since its inception, will not receive any public dollars, but that he would explore “other methodologies” to save it * Citi Bike operators doing shabby job of maintaining bikes and docking stations, money problems cited(NYDN) * Boycott the bikes(NYDN Ed) Citi Bikers of New York, unite: In two months, the bicycle-sharing program’s first annual memberships come up for renewal. Now is the time for riders to make clear that they will not sign up again unless service improves.  The number of broken docks repaired within 48 hours fell from a lackluster 64% in August to just 50% in January and to 56% in February, even though Alta's six-year contract demands a 99% repair rate, according to monthly reports filed by company with the city's Department of Transportation.

Mayor No City Money for Citi-Bike

De Blasio refuses taxpayer funds for broke Citi Bike(NYP) * Citi Bike's Rates Could Roll Upward(WSJ) The company that operates Citi Bike is seeking to raise as much as $14 million from investors to expand the bike share and is asking City Hall officials for permission to potentially increase the program's rates.* Mayor de Blasio: Citi Bike won't be in city budget(NYDN) * Citi Bike Remains In The Red, Looks To Boost Weekly, Daily Ridership (WINS)
More on Citi Bike


3 Charts That Explain The Massive Success Of NYC's Bike Share Program | Business Insider India

Bike Share: Less Problems More Riders

  • Since Citi Bike launched in late May, the number of complaints about the nation's largest bike-share system have decreased sharply—even as ridership increased, according to city data. 


Bike Lane
Bike Lanes Multiply, but Critics Hit Brake(WSJ)
Sometime this fall, depending on the weather, one final dash of green paint will hit the asphalt on a New York City street: the last of the Bloomberg bike lanes.*As the end of Mayor Bloomberg’s third term approaches, the Department of Transportation has furiously expanded the city’s bike network, with 54.5 miles of bike lanes in planning or under construction this year after 17 miles were added in 2012.



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Is Someone Trying to Kill Citi Bike? Unionarking Fees? 

NOT GIVING UP ON CITI BIKE? -- De Blasio said he supports a plan for Citi Bike workers to unionize and that despite the operator losing money while dealing with challenges like glitchy software and Hurricane Sandy damage, he believes the program has “been a success.” D.O.T. commissioner Polly Trottenberg said she is anticipating a resolution of the city’s talks with the program’s operator, Alta Bicycle Share, “soon.” Right now, the city is engaged in talks with Alta to see how it can fix the system without having to spend any city money. Alta has reportedly been in negotiations with a real estate company called REQX Ventures on a deal that would infuse the system with a lot more capital. More from Capital’s Dana Rubinstein:* City Hits Citi Bike with Surprise $1 Million Parking TicketCurbed NY-* Citi Bikes Are a Wild Success, But Will They Survive? Mashable*Bike and switch(NYP Ed) When then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg introduced his new initiative to promote bike-riding in the city, he was emphatic about what it meant for taxpayers. The privately funded program needs an infusion of tens of millions of dollars just to stay afloat. And that doesn’t include the $1 million in lost parking revenue that the city is now asking the bike-sharing program to pick up. Turns out, it’s part of the contract’s fine print.

Citi Bike Money Pit

The Media Is Back to Bashing the Wildly Successful Citi Bikes
Rubber meets road (NYDN Ed)

Citi Bike operators should open up about their shaky finances. There’s no denying the popularity of bike sharing in New York City, not when an estimated 90,000 riders have signed up for annual memberships. You can see them — and daily and weekly renters — pedaling around, all indications being that Citi Bike’s operators have ironed out early technical kinks. But . . . Mayor Bloomberg on Thursday said that his vaunted leap into two-wheeled transportation has yet to become profitable. Uh, oh.


Nobody has been killed on a Citi Bike in the program's first five months.

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More Citi Bikes Coming
New York City plans to add 4,000 bikes to its Citi Bike program, however nearly 45 percent of the bike share stations planned for certain locations in the spring were moved because of residents’ objections, according to a DOT report, the Post reports:  * Some Bronx Business Owners Upset With Timing Of Bike Lane Construction(NY1)


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