Today’s Headlines

  • With Two Million Trips and Counting, Citi Bike Works on the Fine-Tuning (NYT)
  • Mayoral Candidates Rake in Money From Taxi and Livery Industry (WSJ)
  • Spitzer Widens Lead Over Stringer to 56-37 In Latest Q Poll (NYT, TU, WCBS, DNA)
  • Avella Drops From Queens BP Race, Narrowing Field to Katz and Vallone (News, CapNY)
  • Into Community Boards and Land Use Planning? Manhattan BP Candidates Want Your Vote (NY1)
  • DOT’s Commercial Cyclist Program Issued 3,000 Tickets to Restaurants in First Four Months (Post, DNA)
  • StreetsPAC Among Those the Observer Finds Chiding Mayoral Candidates for Avoiding Key Issues
  • 2nd Ave Sagas: NYC Has Structural Reasons for Having Nation’s Longest Commutes
  • TA Queens Boulevard Petition Halfway to Goal of 2,500 Signatures (Queens Gazette)
  • East Village Bike Thief Caught on Camera Removing Parking Sign to Get at Bike (Post)
  • Catsimatidis Defies Geography, Proposes Bridge From NYC to Connecticut (News)

More headlines at Streetsblog Capitol Hill

  • I would think the word “Sisyphean” has a negative connotation, right? As a rebuttal to that, I think efficient rebalancing is an achievable task. And if Capn’ Transit’s back-of-napkin numbers were not far off from the reality of the system, CitiBike can afford a good logistical system for that.

    Obviously 3 trucks and 8 vans weren’t enough! But I’m glad they didn’t splurge on equipment for that until they knew what they were facing, either.

    This is all a distraction from what the system probably needs regardless of rebalancing: more docks (and more street space) in the highest-demand sites. Rebalancing should just be to fix the stranding of bikes or the unusual depletion of bikes at low-use docks. No reason we should be paying people to move dozens of heavy bikes – slowly! – out of a dock just to put them all back in 7 hours, every day. Or vice versa.

  • Brad Aaron

    We retooled that hed.

  • Anonymous

    Instead of trying to drive the bikes around through rush hour traffic, they should instead pull a portion of the bikes in the early pre-commute morning and load them onto trucks.

    Position full trucks near departing-heavy stations before the rush hour starts, and empty trucks near arrival-heavy stations. When stations fill up, pull them into the empty trucks. On the other side of town, unload different bikes from the full trucks when stations are empty. The two bikes net out, and you’ve essentially got a bike transporter that doesn’t need to fight traffic. During the day, re-balance and re-position the trucks for the evening commute without being under the clock in peak hours.

    The only downside to this is you need to populate the trucks’ “reserve stock” from somewhere, either by buying a lot more bikes, or temporarily decreasing the whole system’s overall capacity during rush hour. Still, just buying more bikes is less of a political headache and cheaper than buying more bikes AND expanding dock numbers on existing stations. Bikes on a truck stuck in rush hour traffic aren’t helping anyone anyway, and you have a convenient opportunity to swap out broken bikes during the rush hour. Call it “net balancing”.

  • Ian Turner

    Instead of trucking around bikes, I think they should just offer an incentive system. Take a bike from a >90% full station and return it to a >90% empty station, get points. Redeem points for citibike membership, food/dining, airline miles, or whatever (even cash).

  • The NYPD was back at Rivington & Christie (a T intersection) ticketing cyclists this morning.

    https://twitter.com/BrooklynSpoke/status/368001254569435136/photo/1

    The guy with the child carrier was probably a huge threat to life and limb. Who knows how many innocent pedestrians and motorists he could have killed while slowly rolling through an empty intersection?

    Note the squad car door that’s open into the bike lane.

  • Anonymous

    Gotta love the shot of JCats emerging from the back of his chauffeur-driven limo!

  • Mike

    I saw that one too, I rolled through the light while they were busy extorting money from other cyclists.

  • tyler

    He cannot be a healthy man… He makes Chris Christie look downright svelte.

  • kevd

    As absurd as it is… one really has to not be paying attention at all to get caught at that spot.

    “Look, a police car and a cop in white shirt.
    To go through the red light, or not to go through the red light…..
    hmmmm.”

    It could not be easier to spot.

  • In a couple of cases, cars and even a giant garbage truck were parked in the bike lane, obstructing the view. Cops ticketed cyclists but did not ask for the drivers to move, at least not for a little while.

  • Jeff

    Has anyone attempted to simply dismount and walk/jog the bike through the intersection?

  • Anonymous

    I guess the trucks can double park in a bike lane while they are waiting for stations to empty out?

  • Anonymous

    I do it all the time.

  • Seriously. Putting bikes on trucks — or, using hydraulic lifts to put bikes on trucks — is very sad. I mean, the sponsor is a bank. Surely they can come up with an economic incentive that would create a balanced cycle, instead of just throwing petroleum at the problem.

    This is like the NYPD using automobiles as ad-hoc, gas-burning gates to government parking lots in the aftermath of 9/11. Also for the following twelve years.