The return of the electric Citi Bikes was a big story yesterday, with major outlets' stories timed to Lyft's 5 a.m. news embargo.
It was great to see coverage of the redesigned bike in the Daily News, Curbed, Gothamist and the Post (with an oh-so-meta picture of Daily News reporter Clayton Guse). There was nothing in the Times, of course, except a Reuters wire story on the web (amNY ran the same wire). We can forgive the Schneps-owned amNY for scattershot coverage, but we simply don't understand the Paper of Record's continued inability to see Citi Bike's importance in the public transit network.
And no one took Streetsblog's angle: That electric Citi Bikes should force Mayor de Blasio to put some public money into Citi Bike so that its benefits can spread further and faster into neighborhoods that would especially benefit from the easy, car-replacing e-bike technology. (Memo to City Hall: We'll be asking Hizzoner about this next time we see him.)
In other news:
- Deliberations continue in the Harvey Weinstein case downtown, which means another day of massive placard abuse by the media. (Streetsblog)
- Cabbies, beware the new taxi app! (NYDN)
- Gotham Gazette did a deep dive on last year's cyclist death spike.
- Like Streetsblog, the Post's David Meyer and the WSJ's Paul Berger covered the city's announcement of more protection for Sixth Avenue cyclists. Mark Hallum at amNY focused on Queens Boulevard — which, under questioning from our own Julianne Cuba, DOT pledged to complete this year (though the mayor seemed to undermine that pledge at a late town hall in Queens last night). See below:
Who is watching @NYCMayor town hall in Forest Hills and just heard him cave to @CMKoslowitz by instructing @NYC_DOT to study her completely nonsensival "proposal" to continue Queens Blvd bikelane without removing any parking. WTF??!! Pls someone tell me I misheard.
— Radlerkönigin (@radlerkoenigin) February 20, 2020
Bingo! @CMKoslowitz suggesting that @NYC_DOT abandon the safest configuration for inferior one this late in the game is just a delay tactic. @NYCMayor shouldn’t be dumb enough to fall for it. #FinishQueensBlvd
— Laura Shepard (@LAShepard221) February 20, 2020
