No, we're not satisfied. We're never satisfied. Sure, Citi Bike and the Department of Transportation announced on Tuesday that the bike-share system would expand deeper into Queens and Brooklyn, fill out all of Manhattan, and finally get to about half of the Bronx ... by 2023. That's 10 years after Citi Bike launched.
And what of Bay Ridge? And Riverdale? And where's the protected bike lane network that will match this expanded Citi Bike footprint, with 40,000 bikes? Does the expansion zone truly improve Citi Bike's reach to lower-income communities and transit deserts? And will the NYPD do a better job punishing reckless drivers? So, yes, Streetsblog asked those questions, and others, at Tuesday's press conference in the Bronx. And, frankly, we're not satisfied with the answers.
And you, dear reader, wouldn't want it any other way. Until Vision Zero lives up to its surname, we'll keep comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable. Sorry, but at Streetsblog, have only one speed: on.
Here's how the rest of the press corps covered the Citi Bike launch:
- The New York Times — yes, the Times! — focused on the long-overdue expansion into the Bronx with some solid coverage, though the Gray Lady fell for the oldest trick in the press office playbook: taking the staged photo of the officials arriving to the presser on Citi Bikes (our photo, above, was taken a block later, when DOT's nice green lane turns into a regular painted lane filled, of course, with double-parked cars and trucks).
- The Wall Street Journal also focused on the Bronx.
- Curbed followed our headline from the day before, referring to the rollout as "slow."
- CBs2 ran a error-filled retrograde segment that said the expansion would be dangerous because, you know, cyclists are always killing people (hey, CBS2, 1980 called and it wants its tabloid sensationalism back).
- Gothamist also didn't run the photo-op picture — and also focused on how slow the Citi Bike expansion will be. (Never satisfied!)
- The Daily News played it straight, but Clayton Guse also showed he's never satisfied, by highlighting Trottenberg's claim that it would cost $400-$500 million to bring Citi Bike to the entire city. Seems like a fair price for a mode of transportation that is far more popular than the mayor's ferry system.
- Vin Barone in amNY also played it straight (but his shooter didn't fall for the photo-op either).
Here's the rest of yesterday's news:
- There was a terrible crash on Park Slope's gruesome Fifth Avenue, when a speeding truck driver severely injured a Citi Bike rider as he attempted to make a left turn from behind another truck. Fifth Avenue is a deathtrap: It's too narrow, there are too many trucks making deliveries and, for some reason, the city insists on allowing on-street car storage. (Brooklyn Paper)
- Gov. Cuomo is grumbling about the MTA reorganization that he controls. (NYDN)
- Like Streetsblog, the Post's David Meyer jumped all over the story of two bros harassing a female cyclist. But Meyer didn't do a two-fer like his former colleague Julianne Cuba, who also penned a second-day piece on the daily hassles female cyclists face in the city — a must-read for Mayor de Blasio, who will certainly be asked about the cycling gender gap at today's 11 a.m. avail.
- Like Streetsblog a few months ago, WNYC explored the twisted psychology that makes pedestrians fear cyclists more than drivers — who kill and injured tens of thousands of people every year and cause nearly all of the 225,000 or so crashes.
- And, finally, all aboard this 102-year-old subway train on Saturday! (amNY)
