Citi Bike Expansion Map: 375 New Stations for Uptown, Queens, and Brooklyn

The rumors were on target and the wait is over for New York City bike-share: With new management and new capital, the system is on track to cover a lot more ground. Here’s the map of the expanded Citi Bike service area that’s in the works, courtesy of Streetsblog’s Stephen Miller.

City officials including Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg are at Queensbridge Houses this afternoon to announce that REQX Ventures is buying out Alta Bicycle Share, the operator of Citi Bike. As first reported by the Daily News, former MTA Chair Jay Walder will be running things now, so the bike-share system is gaining not only an infusion of funds but a serious management upgrade as well.

Once completed, the bigger bike-share zone will reportedly have about 12,000 bikes and more than 700 stations. The first new stations will be installed next year, and the implementation of all of phase two will stretch into 2017, according to the Citi Bike blog. The price of an annual membership will rise from $95 to $149, but the $60 discount membership for NYCHA residents will not change.

Stephen and Clarence Eckerson are at the presser and will have more details later today.

Jeff

As a proud resident of the McGorlick Park section of Greenpoint… God. Damnit.
ohhleary

Not sure why they would avoid that area in phase 2, given that stations were already cited there prior to launch.

http://a841-tfpweb.nyc.gov/bikeshare/station-map/
Eddie

Where are the new bikes going to come from? I thought that the supply chain is broken, and Alta hasn’t received any new bikes since before Bixi’s bankruptcy.

I hope that Related isn’t going to continue Alta’s record of overpromising and underperforming.
HamTech87

Does the NYCHA resident discount apply to those living in housing projects only, or does it include those receiving NYCHA Section 8 vouchers too?

http://www.nyc.gov/html/nycha/downloads/pdf/sect_8_program_statistics_nov2010.pdf
iSkyscraper

Are they still using Bixi bikes and Bixi stations? The software can be made better, sure, but every single time I’ve used Citibike over the last year I’ve run into problems with broken docks that won’t release or accept bikes. The station equipment is not holding up and it is driving people away from bikeshare after one too many frustrations.
Mr Cogsworth

Ditto!
Alex

Yes finally!!! Super exciting news. Now they just need to finish the Harlem river bike path and the ridership with flourish 😀
blah

great that NYCHA gets practically free parking and a bike share discount.
J

It’s the software that’s the problem. The bikes and stations in DC work great.
J

Great news!

To provide some context, though, the system was originally supposed to launch in summer 2012 with 10,000 bikes and 600 stations. Looks like we’ll actually get to that number sometime in late 2016 or early 2017.
iSkyscraper

And will they switch the software over to 8D, the former Bixi partner that did the software on the older Bixi systems and made a sort of post-Bixi setup in Seattle? Maybe that’s the answer, and that the Citibikes will soon look like this — different, but still fits the dock:

https://www.prontocycleshare.com/

http://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/IMG_1612-620×413.jpg

It’s kind of like Bixi was the PCC streetcar of bikes — universal enough and popular enough that it went to every city and influenced successive generations of vehicles.
Jass

Yup, theyve provided NO explanation. Alta was just the middle man. They operated the system. They did the maintenence, re-balancing, and call center. They never have actually BUILT the bikes or owned the patents. Until THAT company, the one that actually went out of business gets sorted out…no new bikes. That, or the entire Citibike system is pulled and switched out with a new supplier like Bcycle or Social Bikes.
JudenChino

So wait, the Company that made all the bikes was liquidated? I heard it went bankrupt but did it stop operating altogether?
Jass

There hasnt been any bikes rolling off the assembly lines for months, thats why no Alta system has expanded this year. Not because Alta was shaky, but because their supplier was in Canadian limbo. Ottawa gave up waiting, closed their entire system, and relaunched with brand new bikes and docks built by someone else. DC was able to expand because they bought those stations used.
com63

NYCHA fee should be even lower. Something like $10-20 a year would be better. The amount of money that Citibike loses on these discounted memberships is probably nominal. The benefits to increasing diversity in the bike network would be substantial. Many of the NYCHA properties are far from subways and this could become an essential resource for them.
com63

The email I got said this:
“NYC Bike Share will use this winter season to overhaul the entire fleet of bikes and service docks and kiosks, ensuring that Citi Bike is ready to roll come spring. We will work closely with the team at Alta Bicycle Share to improve our operations and the technology that powers bike share.”

It almost sounds like they are going to swap everything out this winter. Let’s hope that is the case.
danvdk

They’ve said that the first new sections will arrive in 2015, but do we know _when_ in 2015? Will it be by next summer? Dec. 31?
lop

http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20131022/lower-east-side/nycha-residents-make-up-less-than-05-percent-of-citi-bike-riders

Old numbers, but nycha residents were 0.5% of members July 2013. Has that changed much?
BBnet3000

When is the price going up? I might be tempted to squeeze in at the last minute for a $95 membership.
Doug G.

The email from Citi Bike said they’ll send out a notice with more information about that change and when it’s going to happen soon.
soexcited

The NY Times is saying Sunnyside will get bikes in their article today, but the map above and Gothamist’s post don’t mention it. Any word on if the bikes are making it farther east in Queens than LIC/Astoria?
com63

They really should just task a team of people to try to set up 2-3 new stations a week and slowly but surely expand the network over time. There could be an advance team that accepts suggestions and meets with the community when deciding where to place stations and then a construction team that places the stations a few weeks later once the red tape is cleared. No need for a huge resource intensive rollout all at once. Just slowly creep larger and larger and never actually set system boundaries. Study use patterns of new stations and give priority to expansion in heavy usage areas.
Joe

According to the map on the Citibike blog, McGolrick Park WILL be covered. The yellow Phase II coloring clearly envelops it.

The original DOT plan, as ohhleary points out below, called for three stations bracketing the park, with Kingsland being the eastern-most. I’d suspect that plan will still be in place, if only because the indicated expansion area seems the same…unless you know something I don’t.

And just to correct the record, but it’s ‘McGolrick Park’, not ‘McGorlick.’
Joe

There is a (clearer) map on the Citibike blog here:

http://citibikeblog.tumblr.com/post/101182979267/expansion-woo-hoo
soexcited

Yup, looks like the same as the map above—since Sunnyside doesn’t have any parks, I can’t tell how far the expansion will extend, but it isn’t looking good. :/
Joe

You’re right, it isn’t :(. The eastern-most Queens station in the original DOT plan was 31st street near Thomson Avenue. The new map looks similar to that, so I suspect Sunnyside isn’t in the plan right now.

original station plan:
http://a841-tfpweb.nyc.gov/bikeshare/station-map/
Joe

Excellent question. It’s extremely galling, because there’s no real reason for them not to provide estimated dates for the rollout, except of course, they want to avoid accountability as much as possible.

I’m glad the expansion is finally moving forward, but it is very discouraging to see this kind of ongoing bureaucratic hedging and information-hoarding.
Ruben

Former MTA Chair Jay Walder to run the show. Yeah everything will be honkey dorey from here on out.
Maggie

Yup. I’m thrilled they’re expanding. But I wonder how many people are in the same boat as me. Upper West Sider, have been an annual member since the first day you could sign up, but am well aware I don’t ride often enough to get full value myself. I’ve been very happy to support the program / subsidize other users. At this point though, if the best info I can get is that docks are coming north of 59th street by 2017, I may as well drop the annual membership till Citibikes are actually parked on my block.
Dennis_Hindman

What CitiBike needs to work on is getting more bicycles per length of the docking station placements

This can be done by elevating the front wheel of every other bicycle enough to overlap the handlebars of the bicycle placed next to it. The docking station might have to be redesigned to be able to reach it with your fob after placing the bicycles closer together.

It might also be possible to have bicycles docked on both sides in a way that this does not take any more space than the current station set up. Again, this would involve raising the front wheel of the bicycle in order that each bicycle takes up less space by shortening its length. If this can be done, then it might be possible that there would be less need for redistribution of the bicycles and each bicycle could be rented more per day without overloading the system.
AnoNYC

I really wish they would have at least peaked into the Bronx. At least as far north as the Hub or 138th Street.
andrelot

That is more expensive. It requires a permanent “expansion department” in place, and costs add quickly, especially work/overhead costs. It is actually cheaper to plan for a couple “big bangs” and manage them as independent projects that roll-out at once, together with expansion on whatever back-office resources are needed to accommodate the new leaps.
andrelot

Please, bike share is best kept as a service that is mostly free or racialized controversies. There is nothing, other than having availability of income to pay (which is a problem much wider than bike share or even transportation), to prevent anyone from any ‘race’ to ride bikes.

I’d agree there are gender issues regarding cycling in general, though, such as the fact cycling activism is often oblivious to the fact women cycling for work need far more time and facilities at workplace to get ready for a workplace. Young male cyclists, in particular, ignore that pretty much any office environment has a far higher bar in terms of accepted appearance for women, thus requiring them to wear some make up and also to have presentable hairstyles, both being more cumbersome than what men usually get away with (a quick shower and dressing a simple suit).
com63

Who said anything about race? You touched on the main type of diversity that citibike is lacking and that is economic diversity. I have to say that citibike seems better than cycling in general with gender diversity. Age diversity could use some work too.
Here is the way I see it. If low income people come to love citibike and see it as an essential transportation resource, this will help to get more people behind the system and expand even more. I think this city could eventually have a dock on every block throughout the dense parts of the city. The more enthusiastic users now, the better.
KeNYC2030

The expansion will be a huge tailwind behind efforts to calm and democratize New York City’s streets.
Jeff

You’re right. I thought that horizontal cutoff was Meeker, but it’s probably Norman Ave or so, meaning the sewage treatment plant and industrial area is excluded, which, yeah, of course that’s excluded!

And sorry about the spelling. Obviously it’s “Winthrop Park”!
KG18

Priorities… Plenty of ppl in NYCHA have expensive video game systems – sneakers – smart phones. Many also own cars.
KG18

Do you know much money Nike makes in the projects? They really don’t need a discount.
vgXhc

My guess would be: they don’t really know themselves.
vgXhc

Well, maybe they also saved on maintenance in NYC, thereby leading to problems. But yeah, here in Montreal there rarely were problems with the stations or bikes.
WoodyinNYC

The expensive cars you see in the lots may belong to outsiders, perhaps active in the underground economy, if you get my drift, who “sublet” the rights to a parking space. Little old ladies, who qualify for parking slots in the projects but can’t afford a car, probably do need the extra money.
Tyson White

I’m scratching my head to trying to understand what is Phase II yellow and what is Phase II orange? Is that Phase III?
qrt145

Not all Phase II stations are created equal. Some are “Phase II first stations”. Think of it as II(a) and II(b)…
stairbob

I got email yesterday saying “This is your last chance to renew at the current rate of $95,” but I followed the link just now and it’s already $149 + $13.22 tax.
Danny G

Have you ever lifted up a CitiBike? They’re heavy, and I don’t think it would be user-friendly to have a vertically staggered arrangement, unless I am misunderstanding your suggestion.

I find it more convenient to let the stations be somewhat permeable (as they sort of are now – well, not for wheelchairs or strollers, and not if the station is full), so that you can don’t have to walk all the way around the station if you want to get across it.
Cold Shoaler

Presuming it’s functional and timely. I won’t be renewing at either the current rate (if it’s even still available) or the new 50% higher one until there’s a dock near my phase II(b) home AND the rest of the service area is more reliable and denser. If expansion doesn’t go a whole lot better than launch, this thing is gonna get ripped out. Secure bike parking, mo’ better bike lanes, improved retail bike rental, etc. may ultimately be a better fit for this city. I love the idea of bike share, but with PPP+NYC it may just not work here.
Joe

Yes to Winthrop! 😉
Dennis_Hindman

This suggestion is based on what is commonly done on two-tier indoor racks. The difference is that there would be a ramp for the front wheel as there is to a smaller degree now with the docking stations.

Here’s an example of lifting every other front wheel to get the bikes closer together on a Dutch bicycle rack:

http://www.velopa.com/productcatalog/bicycle-parking/griffin/

Most of this companies’ bicycle parking stands are designed this way. The Dutch usually have many bicycles parked at a location. Designing a bicycle rack that gets the bicycles closer together is very important to get more bicycles parked in a given amount of space.