Will Official Citi Bike Docking Station Come To Roosevelt Island? There's An Unofficial One At Roosevelt Island Subway Station.
Roosevelt Island has no official Citi Bike docking station but that did not stop one user from adopting the Roosevelt Island subway station bike rack as a personal Citi Bike dock station. According to the Roosevelt Island Twitterverse
Dear @CitibikeNYC I think someone needs a docking lesson. Saw this on the rack by the Roosevelt Island F train stop. pic.twitter.com/GSmME5ExnC
— Jeff Lee (@jeffreally) August 5, 2014Also, Michael Hocke shares this picture of the personal Citi Bike docking station at the Roosevelt Island Subway Station Bike Rack
Image From Michael Hocke
and adds yesterday:
Somebody seemed to have claimed a Citibike as his/her own.The Citi Bike was still docked at the Roosevelt Island subway station this morning.
I snapped this picture yesterday morning. The bike was still there this morning and notice the lock! I’ll let Citibike know so they can reclaim it but it will probably take a while according to reports on the Gothamist.
Roosevelt Island resident Janet Falk reports on her conversation with a Citi Bike Program Manager:
Citi Bike, the bicycle sharing system in Manhattan and Brooklyn, is enormously popular, exceeding expectations. I have used it numerous times to take short hops between appointments in Manhattan. It's fast, a light work-out and saves the cost of subway fare on these interim trips.According to the NY Times, REQX is:
Of course, it could be even more convenient. The northern-most docking stations are very close to the tram at 58 and 2nd Avenue
and 58th and 3rd Avenue. In the morning, the bikes at these stations are quickly snapped up, according to my neighbor.
On Saturday, August 2, I spoke informally with a manager of the Citi Bike program and congratulated him on its success. I asked when the program might be extended to Roosevelt Island. Unfortunately, our Island, flat and scenic as it may be, does not appear to be on the Citi Bike radar screen. The next areas of expansion are likely to be Greenpoint and Williamsburg in Brooklyn, followed by the area between 58th and 79th Streets, on both the East and West sides of Manhattan.
In 2009, RIOC briefly considered an Island-based bike sharing program, which at the time struck me as doomed. Anyone who wants to zip around the Island probably has their own bike already. Riders using the proposed bicycles could transport very few items from a store in the carriers provided. As someone who once hoisted a backpack laden with a 10-pound bag of frozen chicken breasts on a bike ride from the nearby Costco, I know the folly of shopping by bicycle.
A bike program that communicated with Manhattan, however, would be viable and might even bring more tourists and visitors to the Island's restaurants and stores. If REQX Ventures, an affiliate of real-estate giant Related Cos, completes the anticipated investment in the Citi Bike program, that might make the Island an attractive location for some Citi Bike stations at the Tram, subway, Good Shepherd Plaza and under the helix.
...a venture formed by some principals of the real estate firm Related and the fitness chain Equinox....Related Companies is a joint venture partner with Hudson Companies (Hudson Related) as developers of Roosevelt Island Southtown Riverwalk buildings and as Main Street Retail Master Leaseholder.
A Citi Bike location on Roosevelt Island would make a great connection to Long Island City and Astoria, as well as Brooklyn and Manhattan.
The August 4 WNYC Brian Lehrer radio program
has more on the future of Citi Bike.
3 comments :
A docking station on Roosevelt Island would eliminate the need to pay for the tram or train if you use Citibike as your means to commute to work.
Yeah, alot of things would be nice. How about if the pier near M-P or near the subway were fixed up as a ferry pier - so we could have the option of commuting by boat - and how about if Citibike racks were available at the Manhattan ferry docks??? Then, we wouldn't need to bus to Mid-town from the E. River to go to work. How about it? How about extending ferry service to RI?
Maybe the WIRE or the blog or RIOC could do a survey to find out how many would actually use a ferry if it were available, what would be the fare they'd be willing to pay. Then a ferry operator could find out in advance if enough are interested to make it worth it for him to stop @ RI and make a decision on offering ferry service here accordingly.
How much would it cost to construct a dock at either of the existing piers? It can't cost that much. A hundred thou? Two hundred thou?
For the many years I've been on the Rock, nobody ever seems to be able to get it together to do a feasibility study, to do a survey as to how many might use the ferry if it were available, to get some estimates on the cost of improving the dock, and then to line up a ferry operator. Why is ferry service on RI "the impossible dream?" Why?
I saw a Citibike van leaving the island last night. I assume they picked up the bike? I forgot to pay attention this morning.
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