Its official Greenpointers, Citi Bike is coming to the hood and we’ve got the map to prove it! The gears in the long stalled Citi Bike expansion appears to have finally been greased, but don’t go out and buy that helmet just yet—we won’t be seeing any bikes until the end of this year.
As Greenpointers reported in November, Citi Bike announced plans to bring the popular bike sharing program to the outer boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens. The expansion plans included adding 6,000 bikes and 375 new docking stations to locations by the end of 2017. Lucky for us and the nearby nabes of Williamsburg, Long Island City and Bedford-Styvesant, we’ll be getting 1,000 of those blue babies this year.
It wasn’t long ago that hopes of bringing the bike sharing program to Greenpoint was turning into a pipe dream. After Hurricane Sandy ravaged the Brooklyn Navy Yards and all the Citi Bikes with it, the project which intended to expand into Brooklyn by May of 2013, had been put on hold indefinitely. But thanks to a real estate developer who bought Citi Bike’s ailing parent company Alta Bicycle Share last year and infused the company with $30 million dollars, it appears the Citi Bike expansion finally got its wheels.
According to the map, Greenpointers should expect to see at least 12 new stations in the upcoming months. Stretching all the way from Dupont Street to McGlorick Park, the Citi Bike map shows stops at key transit locations including the India Street pier and nearby subways stops along G line.
Spokeswoman for Citi Bike, Dani Simons, said the locations “were chosen to minimize community impacts and maximize connections to transit and local destinations”.
While most of us welcome Citi Bike’s arrival, some area residents are concerned the added bikes will create an uptick in traffic accidents. But those fears may go unfounded as the timing of the Citi Bike’s entry into the neighborhood couldn’t be more perfect. Just recently our own State Assemblyman Joe Lentol and City Councilman Steve Levin implemented Vision Zero, which slowed down city speed limits to 25mph. Even better may be the push to install bumper guards to city buses which prevent pedestrians in traffic accidents from slipping underneath bus wheels.
Regardless if you love or hate the idea of Citi Bikes in Greenpoint, they are coming to more neighborhoods real soon. The next wave of bikes will be placed in Carroll Gardens, Red Hook, Cobble Hill, Park Slope, Gowanus, Crown Heights and Boreum Hill by the end 2017.
Not following traffic rules will increase accidents — both drivers and cyclists.
I’ll take anything over the possibility of another Chevrolet Suburban.