Bike Sharing Definitely Coming To New York City - You Can Help Bring Alta Bicycle Sharing To Roosevelt Island By Voting For It Now

RIOC President Leslie Torres & Rivewalk Bar/Nonno's Pizza Owner Alphonse At Bike Sharing Demonstration Last Year

Streetsblog reported today:

Addressing a plaza full of reporters at Madison Square this afternoon, Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan announced that the city is entering the next phase of its initiative to launch a public bike system stretching from the Upper West Side to Bedford Stuyvesant. The system will be run by Alta Bike Share and consist of about 600 stations with 10,000 bicycles, creating a network of comparable size and density to bike-share systems in cities like London and Paris....

How does this New York City program effect Roosevelt Island's attempt to bring bike sharing to our neighborhood? I asked former Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) Director Jonathan Kalkin who was involved in previous efforts to bring bike sharing to Roosevelt Island that question.

Former RIOC Director Kalkin and Current Director Faye Christian At Bike Sharing Demonstraton Last Year

Mr. Kalkin replied:

As many Islanders know Roosevelt Island tested bike sharing and did a survey after both Columbia and Hunter recommended a program like this on Roosevelt Island in their study. The response from the survey and residents trying it out was very positive. While I was on the RIOC Operations Committee we moved forward on an RFP for bike sharing. It was written and ready for distribution, but during subsequent meetings I set up with DOT we discussed having a station or two on the Upper East Side and/or in Queens. A lot of people in the survey had shown an interest in using the bikes off Island or to ride into other parts of the city and so I brought up that idea with DOT. DOT was also very interested in bike sharing at the time and they said to us that they liked the idea of Roosevelt Island having a bike sharing system that works with the NYC program. There were meetings and communication with DOT after that and RIOC was told that a  bike sharing vendor would be chosen around now and that if we waited we could have a compatible system. It is very exciting to hear this announcement and I'm looking forward to biking around Roosevelt Island and in the future other parts of the city.

According to NYC Bike Share:

...Bike share is a privately-funded & operated, city-supported, program that adds a new affordable option to getting around New York City. Think Zipcar with bikes, and you don’t have to bring the bike back to where you started! Alta Bicycle Share will run, manage and maintain the bike share system, while NYC DOT will coordinate community outreach and regulate station siting....

... NYC DOT and Alta Bicycle Share invite you to help craft a system that's designed for New York City. We invite you to attend special events, open houses and workshops throughout the city, try out the bikes and give your feedback. Get started now by dropping a pin on the map and telling us why you'd like a station there....

So here's what you can do to bring bike sharing to Roosevelt Island. Click on this link and say you want a bike sharing station on Roosevelt Island - do it now - please.

Here's how bike sharing works.


The Phenomenal Success of Capital Bikeshare from Streetfilms on Vimeo.

and for the planned New York City program:


Remember to click here and make your voice count to bring bike sharing to Roosevelt Island.