After much gnashing of teeth from city residents, NYC’s transportation department has the go ahead to launch their planned bike-sharing system, comprised of 10,000 bikes and 600 stations that will cover much of Manhattan and Brooklyn.
The original plan was first proposed last year, and since then, the city has been working to gather support for the project. Now that they have it, they’ve shared more details. According to the New York Observer, here are some of the key bits of info:
• Bikes will be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
• Stations will span across the city from the Upper West Side neighbourhood in Manhattan out to Brooklyn neighbourhoods like Greenpoint and Crown Heights.
• Portland-based Alta Bike Share is the company responsible for installing and managing the bike sharing infrastrucure.
• The first 30 minutes of any ride are expected to be free, with fees for additional time.
• An annual membership is expected to cost less than a MetroCard (which normally costs about $US100/month).
If this works out, it would be a godsend for getting between neighbourhoods that aren’t connected by train lines and require excessive amounts of trainhopping. [Observer]