Bicycle Sharing One Step Closer To Roosevelt Island - B Cycle Hosting Demonstration Program On Tuesday August 24 - Come Show Support & Vote For RI

You Tube Video of B-Cycle Sharing Program

A Roosevelt Island Bike Sharing Program is one step closer to reality.

Image of Potential Roosevelt Island Bike Sharing Station from Hunter College Access RI(Page 39)

Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) Board Member Jonathan Kalkin has been working to bring Bicycle sharing to Roosevelt Island for some time. What is Bicycle Sharing? According to The Bike Sharing Blog, Bike Sharing is a:

short-term bicycle rental available at a network of unattended locations;

Mr. Kalkin now reports:

I am really excited to announce that B-Cycle will be presenting their bike sharing program on Roosevelt Island on August 24, 2010 from 2pm to 7pm. The Columbia U transportation study I commissioned recommended bike sharing and I have been contacting bike sharing companies ever since.

I contacted b-cycle awhile back to state RIOC's support and interest which you did a post on. Thanks to the hard work of Erica and the great staff at RIOC, we are part of their national tour.

It's not over yet though, please encourage people to the come to the presentation and email b-cycle about their interest. They also have a vote contest on their website that people should click on. These programs need government cooperation and support in order to thrive. As the new Chair of the Operations Committee at RIOC, I will do everything I can to make bike sharing a reality on Roosevelt Island.

RIOC Community Relations Specialist Erica Wilder provides some additional information:

On Tuesday August 24, 2010 from 2 PM to 7 PM, we will be hosting a demonstration of the B-Cycle company’s modern bicycle rental mechanism and bikes. Island residents and visitors will have the chance to test drive the bikes for free and learn how to use the intuitive, automated solar powered kiosk. The B-cycle system can measure and track various parameters of usage including miles ridden, calories burned, and carbon off-set.

Residents and visitors will be surveyed for their interest in bike-sharing programs and their assessments of the current bicycling and transportation situations on the island. The survey and the exhibition are part of RIOC’s appraisal of island accessibility and possible plans to implement a bike-sharing program.

Location: On the west promenade, across the street from Starbucks and the subway.

Image From RIOC

More on the bike sharing concept from earlier posts.

Click here to vote for Roosevelt Island Bike sharing at B Cycle.

Engadget reports on another bike sharing concept, Social Bicycle, that will begin beta testing in New York City soon:

Social Bicycles is a bike sharing system with a twist. Using an iPhone app, the system allows users to drop off, locate, and borrow a bike nearly anywhere. The bikes are equipped with a GPS device which is locked to one of the wheels, and when the bike is locked, it's locatable using the app, so that someone can borrow it; when it's in use and unlocked, it doesn't appear in the app. The real upside to Social Bicycles is that the regular infrastructure required for bike lending systems -- such as docking stations in a lot of convenient locations -- are unnecessary with this system,...

Don't forget to vote here and show your support for Roosevelt Island Bike sharing.

UPDATE 11:30 AM - WCBS TV News has more on Mayor Bloomberg's proposal to add 50,000 bikes for a New York City Bicycle Sharing plan.