The Mets may or may not be competitive in 2024, but the organization is in talks for a big mobility acquisition next year.
Even before they start working the phones to rebuild Steve Cohen's failed $330-million ballclub, team executives have been negotiating with the city Department of Transportation to finally bring Citi Bike to the similarly branded Citi Field.
"I have had regular contact with NYC DOT since the beginning of 2023 about including Citi Field in Citi Bike’s expansion into Eastern Queens," said L.J. Nassivera, the Mets vice-president for transportation strategies. "We look forward to being a part of the Citi Bike network, ensuring safe and reliable transportation mode choices to the Citi Field area for Mets fans and Queens residents alike."
Right now, Citi Bike is finishing its Phase III expansion, a plan that was announced in 2019 to bring Citi Bike to upper Manhattan, the Bronx, southern Brooklyn and eastern Queens.
The bike share program is expanding as far east as 114th Street and 39th Avenue in Queens, according to station placement on the Citi Bike app right now, with a single potential dock across the Grand Central Parkway from Citi Field and a handful within walking distance of the stadium parking lot.
But the handful of stations near the friendly confines of Citi Field are the end of the system's Phase III eastward expansion, and it's unclear what the future holds after this phase ends in early 2024.
The Mets decision to embrace Citi Bike aligns with the team's general embrace of progressive thinking on the field as well, most recently demonstrated by the team's new pitching lab, an extremely necessary component of creating a winning team year after year. It also matches up with fan demand for better bike access to Citi Field, which Met diehards demonstrated earlier this year when they told the team they wanted to better options than driving to Flushing.
The DOT is being as tight lipped about its plans for bike share at the ballpark as the Mets are about their plans for Pete Alonso, who should be given a contract extension making him a Met for life (which isn't relevant to this story in any way, but is simply a fact).
Officially, DOT is saying less than nothing about adding Citi Bike racks so New Yorkers can truly bike to the Mets.
"DOT has been dramatically improving access to convenient, reliable bike share both in Manhattan and well beyond," said agency spokesman Scott Gastel. "We expect stations in the Corona area west of Citi Field to be installed in the coming weeks, and we are still discussing the possibility of stations near the ballpark."
No word on yet when it will be safe to bike to Citi Field, by the way.
Still, it seems likely that by the time Mets fans are cheering on prospects like Ronny Mauricio, Drew Gilbert or Blade Tidwell, they'll be able to take bike share to or from a Mets home game that will no doubt see the apple raised after another massive Polar Bear blast.
Then again, if the Mets don't sign Pete Alonso to a 15-year extension, none of this really matters.
