Citi Bike is a privately owned public bicycle sharing system that serves parts of New York City. It is the largest bike sharing program in the United States.
Alta Bicycle Share was selected in September 2011 to develop and operate the system using Montreal's Bixi technology. The system, which operates without city subsidy, is named for Citigroup, which spent US$41 million to be its lead sponsor for six years. The system opened to the public in May 2013 with 332 stations and officially with 6,000 bikes. As of March 31, 2016, the total number of annual subscribers is 163,865, and Citi Bike riders took an average of 27,287 rides per day in 2015.
On October 29, 2014, Alta Bicycle Share and the City of New York announced an agreement to expand and improve the Citi Bike program. Jay Walder, former chairman and chief executive of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, was named new chief executive of Bikeshare Holdings. By 2017, Citi Bike plans to double its bike fleet to 12,000 and add 375 docking stations to expand service further into Brooklyn, upper Manhattan, Astoria, and Long Island City.
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History
Development, delays, and deployment
In an effort to reduce emissions, road wear, collisions, and road and transit congestion and to improve public health, the New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) researched alternative forms of transportation, publishing a strategic plan in 2008. It found that 10% of automobile trips are under one-half mile, 22% are under 1 mile and 56% are under 3 miles, distances readily served by bicycle. The city, which had already been encouraging cycling as transportation, decided to establish a bicycle share program of the kind that had seen success in other cities. Citi Bike was born as a public-private partnership operated by NYC Bike Share LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Alta Bicycle Share. In the 2009 bicycle share feasibility report, the New York City Department of City Planning (DCP) recommended building out the system in three phases in the four most populous boroughs, but no timeline has been made public. The system, which was first supposed to start in fall 2011, got pushed back to July 2012.
The planned July 2012 start was delayed first by software problems, then by Hurricane Sandy, which damaged bicycles in storage at Brooklyn Navy Yard. As planning progressed, some residents expressed dismay at the lack of docking stations in their neighborhoods while others fought against stations on their blocks.
Citi Bike finally began operations on May 27, 2013, with 332 stations in Manhattan south of 59th Street and in Brooklyn north of Atlantic Avenue and west of Nostrand Avenue. Officials said the system opened with 6,000 bikes.
When launched, the system was slated to expand to 10,000 bicycles and 600 stations in Manhattan south of 79th Street, plus stations in several Brooklyn neighborhoods, including Greenpoint, Crown Heights, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Park Slope and Carroll Gardens as well as parts of Queens. No timeline for the expansion has been made publicly available. There has been increasing interest in further expansion across New York City; for example, in June 2013 a Brooklyn politician opened a petition drive to accelerate deployment in Greenpoint. In contrast, the May 2013 installation deliberately bypassed South Williamsburg. In July 2013, several news media outlets fell for a hoax by a comedian who said he found a spy camera on his bike.
Complaints
Some local bike shops in tourist areas reported a decline in their bike rental business, and some complained that Citi Bike's advertising was misleading tourists. Some critics disparaged the bright blue color and branding of the bicycles or accused the stations of being fire hazards. Another complaint was that bike stations take up a "much needed" car parking space for each eight bikes.
Expansion
On August 6, 2013, riders took 42,010 trips, the largest single-day total for any North American bike-sharing system.
In January 2014, the designer of Citi Bike's bicycles and docking stations filed for bankruptcy protection. Officials with Montreal, Canada-based Public Bike System Company (also known as Bixi) said they were $46 million in debt, partly because the operators of Bixi-powered bike-sharing systems in Chicago and New York had withheld $5 million in payments because of software glitches in the docking stations. Alta Bicycle Share officials, who operate the New York system as well as those in Chicago and Washington, D.C., said they anticipated no interruptions of service.
On September 17, 2014, in the face of overwhelming support for unionization, Citi Bike agreed to recognize Transport Workers Union of America Local 100's representation of Citi Bike's labor force.
On October 29, 2014, Alta Bicycle Share and the New York City Department of Transportation (NYDOT) announced a plan to improve and expand the Citi Bike program. Bikeshare Holdings LLC, a new entity formed by the partners at real estate developer Related Companies and gym chain Equinox Fitness, acquired Alta Bicycle Share and named Jay Walder as the new chief executive. New investments include $5 million from Bikeshare Holdings, an increased sponsorship commitment from Citi of up to $70.5 million extended through 2024, and a $15 million increase in the credit facility from the Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group. As part of the restructuring deal, Walder moved the company headquarters from Portland, Oregon, to New York City. The Citi Bike system will continue to be operated by NYC Bicycle Share, a subsidiary of Alta Bicycle Share. By 2017, the owners announced, Citi Bike will expand its operations by 6,000 bikes and add 375 new docking stations. This agreement also calls for improvements to the system's operations, including upgrades to its software and technology. Walder said the company would appoint a vice president for technology.
Following two years of buggy software plaguing the bike share system, Motivate shut down the Citi Bike system over the last weekend in March 2015 to replace the existing system software with that of 8D Technologies. Since then, the Citi Bike system has continued to expand its installations using the 8D Technologies as its software and station equipment supplier.
In early 2015, NYC-DOT and Alta increased the cost of annual memberships from $95 to $149 plus taxes, although annual rates for New York City Housing Authority residents and members of some Community Development Credit Unions will remain at $60 per year.
In 2015, the company installed 91 new stations in Long Island City, Greenpoint, Williamsburg, and Bed-Stuy, plus 48 new stations on the Upper East and Upper West Sides, up to 86th Street.
The system opened in Jersey City, New Jersey, on September 21, 2015 with 35 stations and 350 bikes. Some residents complained of lost parking spots for cars.
In August 2016, the company began to install 139 new stations. This expansion has added service in Manhattan up to 110th Street and in Brooklyn between Red Hook and Prospect Park. Some residents of Park Slope were outspoken in opposition to the loss of car parking.
The system had a record-breaking 64,672 trips on September 13, 2016.
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Bike description
The bicycles are utility bicycles with a unisex step-through frame. Their one-piece aluminum frame and handlebars conceal cables and fasteners in an effort to protect them from vandalism and bad weather. They are equipped with a Shimano Nexus three-speed, twist-shifter-operated internal geared hub, full mudguards/fenders and chainguard. The heavy-duty tires are puncture-resistant and filled with nitrogen to maintain proper inflation pressure longer. Twin LED rear lights of the pre-2015 design are integrated into the frame, which weighs about 45 pounds (20 kg). The bikes are designed by industrial designer Michel Dallaire and built in the Saguenay, Quebec, region by Cycles Devinci, with aluminum provided by Rio Tinto Alcan. The bikes are assembled in Detroit.
In 2015, Ben Serotta helped redesign the bicycle to include a new seat, a simpler gear shifting mechanism, fewer and brighter lights, and a European-style center kickstand.
Payment
As of March 2016, yearly passes cost $155, or $60 for NYCHA residents who are 16 or older. Purchasers using a Citibank card receive a 10% discount when purchasing annual memberships through the Citi Bike website. Annual members receive a key and can make trips of up to 45 minutes without added charge.
Initial prices for passes sold at Citi Bike docking stations were $9.95 for a daily pass, and $25 for a weekly pass. Prices were eventually changed to $12 for a daily pass, and $24 for a three-day pass. Trips using these passes are limited to 30 minutes before extra fees kick in. The 8.875% New York State sales tax is added to the cost of all passes.
All payments are by credit card; Wageworks and Transitchek prepaid commuter cards are not accepted, as bike sharing programs do not qualify as eligible commuting expenses under US tax law.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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