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| Citi Bikes land in New York: what to expect from the long-awaited scheme | Citi Bikes land in New York: what to expect from the long-awaited scheme |
| (4 months later) | |
| They have arrived! Glowing in Citbank blue, hundreds of Bloomberg Bikes emerged from nowhere onto the streets of New York in the early hours of Friday, greeted with a combination of curiosity, puzzlement, and not a little suspicion. | They have arrived! Glowing in Citbank blue, hundreds of Bloomberg Bikes emerged from nowhere onto the streets of New York in the early hours of Friday, greeted with a combination of curiosity, puzzlement, and not a little suspicion. |
| Which is hardly surprising, as it's not been plain cycling so far. Residents of the West Village think the docking stations will destroy the area's historic character. In Brooklyn, treasured parking spots have been usurped. Tabloid columnists fear the city's streets will be littered with the bodies of mown-down cyclists. And the whole scheme was delayed for months because of various technical problems. | Which is hardly surprising, as it's not been plain cycling so far. Residents of the West Village think the docking stations will destroy the area's historic character. In Brooklyn, treasured parking spots have been usurped. Tabloid columnists fear the city's streets will be littered with the bodies of mown-down cyclists. And the whole scheme was delayed for months because of various technical problems. |
| As a veteran of the London scheme, I've heard it all. The three-year build-up ran to much the same script. Conventional wisdom before the launch in July 2010 had one overarching theme: it'll never work. But it did. | As a veteran of the London scheme, I've heard it all. The three-year build-up ran to much the same script. Conventional wisdom before the launch in July 2010 had one overarching theme: it'll never work. But it did. |
| So, New York, with the benefit of experience, let me guide you through the myths. | So, New York, with the benefit of experience, let me guide you through the myths. |
| This is a disaster! All these inexperienced cyclists wobbling around on the streets of the city that never sleeps! | This is a disaster! All these inexperienced cyclists wobbling around on the streets of the city that never sleeps! |
| London's Cassandras had to wait a whole five days until one of our hire bikes ended up being squashed against some railings by a truck (the rider survived ). But the accident statistics show that those on the hire bikes are no more likely than any other cyclists to be hurt. In the first 11 weeks of our scheme, Transport for London (TfL) received reports of ten cyclists being injured – not bad given that 1.6m journeys had been made on the bikes in that period. Initially, the kind of folks you'll get using the bikes at the start are confident sorts who are more than capable of executing an arm signal without losing control and are probably just fed up of their own wheels getting stolen all the time. But in time more newbies will start to saddle up. According to TfL, nearly 8 in 10 members either started to cycle (49%) or cycle more often (28%) as a result of the scheme. With any luck, the Citi Bikes will have a civilising effect on New York streets. There is lots of evidence which shows that cycling gets safer the more people do it. | London's Cassandras had to wait a whole five days until one of our hire bikes ended up being squashed against some railings by a truck (the rider survived ). But the accident statistics show that those on the hire bikes are no more likely than any other cyclists to be hurt. In the first 11 weeks of our scheme, Transport for London (TfL) received reports of ten cyclists being injured – not bad given that 1.6m journeys had been made on the bikes in that period. Initially, the kind of folks you'll get using the bikes at the start are confident sorts who are more than capable of executing an arm signal without losing control and are probably just fed up of their own wheels getting stolen all the time. But in time more newbies will start to saddle up. According to TfL, nearly 8 in 10 members either started to cycle (49%) or cycle more often (28%) as a result of the scheme. With any luck, the Citi Bikes will have a civilising effect on New York streets. There is lots of evidence which shows that cycling gets safer the more people do it. |
| It's too expensive! | It's too expensive! |
| Actually, New York's scheme is a bit of a rip-off, at least for casual users. $9.95 plus tax for 24-hour access does seem a little steep. Until London's bike-mad mayor put the prices up in 2013, it used to cost Londoners just £1 (about $1.60) for 24 hours of unlimited journeys of 30 minutes or less. Now we pay £2 ($3). Still cheaper than a single journey on the tube. But I've seen Wall Street – you guys are loaded! People often misunderstand the pricing structure by complaining about the high cost of holding onto a bike for more than an hour – if you're on the day rate you'll get whacked with a $9 charge for every 60-90 minutes you keep a bike over your "free" first 30 minutes, and it's a whopping $12 for every additional 30 minutes after that. But the point of a public bike hire scheme is to share bicycles, not hog them. They're not for pootling around Manhattan all day as you flit from deli to cafe to office to bar. They're a substitute for one subway ride, an alternative way of getting from A to B with no stopping in between. | Actually, New York's scheme is a bit of a rip-off, at least for casual users. $9.95 plus tax for 24-hour access does seem a little steep. Until London's bike-mad mayor put the prices up in 2013, it used to cost Londoners just £1 (about $1.60) for 24 hours of unlimited journeys of 30 minutes or less. Now we pay £2 ($3). Still cheaper than a single journey on the tube. But I've seen Wall Street – you guys are loaded! People often misunderstand the pricing structure by complaining about the high cost of holding onto a bike for more than an hour – if you're on the day rate you'll get whacked with a $9 charge for every 60-90 minutes you keep a bike over your "free" first 30 minutes, and it's a whopping $12 for every additional 30 minutes after that. But the point of a public bike hire scheme is to share bicycles, not hog them. They're not for pootling around Manhattan all day as you flit from deli to cafe to office to bar. They're a substitute for one subway ride, an alternative way of getting from A to B with no stopping in between. |
| But there is no lock! How dumb! | But there is no lock! How dumb! |
| Again, the bikes are for simple journeys. The Citi Bike folks don't want you chaining up their hardware outside the bakery while you pop in for a bagel. They know how many bikes are stolen in New York each year. No locks means you can only leave a bike in one of the secure docking stations across the city. You have a very good incentive to keep your hire bike at close quarters: the $1,000 fee if you don't return it within 24 hours. | Again, the bikes are for simple journeys. The Citi Bike folks don't want you chaining up their hardware outside the bakery while you pop in for a bagel. They know how many bikes are stolen in New York each year. No locks means you can only leave a bike in one of the secure docking stations across the city. You have a very good incentive to keep your hire bike at close quarters: the $1,000 fee if you don't return it within 24 hours. |
| All the bikes will get stolen! | All the bikes will get stolen! |
| No they won't. Sure, thousands of bicyclettes disappeared when Paris launched its Velib scheme years ago. But that's because the Frenchies trusted their users with in-built locks, les cretins. In London, where bikes do not have wheel locks, only 24 have disappeared since the scheme began in July 2010, and that's over 21 million journeys. "We are confident that the number of stolen bikes will remain low through effective policing," said a spokeswoman for TfL. The majority of bikes that are reported stolen are later recovered, she added. | No they won't. Sure, thousands of bicyclettes disappeared when Paris launched its Velib scheme years ago. But that's because the Frenchies trusted their users with in-built locks, les cretins. In London, where bikes do not have wheel locks, only 24 have disappeared since the scheme began in July 2010, and that's over 21 million journeys. "We are confident that the number of stolen bikes will remain low through effective policing," said a spokeswoman for TfL. The majority of bikes that are reported stolen are later recovered, she added. |
| The commercial sponsor is antithetical to the free-wheeling spirit of cycling! | The commercial sponsor is antithetical to the free-wheeling spirit of cycling! |
| Get over it. Barclays bank sponsors London's scheme and from day one literally no one other than the bank's PR woman has ever has referred to the bikes as Barclays bikes. They are Boris Bikes, named after our flaxen haired mayor, Boris Johnson, who arrives to all meetings helmet in hand, his suit -a-crumple. He really can't claim credit for the initiative. It was the brain child of his predecessor, Ken Livingstone: Boris just pedalled into City Hall a few months before launch and stole the glory. If you don't like the sponsor, get creative with some stickers, like this. | Get over it. Barclays bank sponsors London's scheme and from day one literally no one other than the bank's PR woman has ever has referred to the bikes as Barclays bikes. They are Boris Bikes, named after our flaxen haired mayor, Boris Johnson, who arrives to all meetings helmet in hand, his suit -a-crumple. He really can't claim credit for the initiative. It was the brain child of his predecessor, Ken Livingstone: Boris just pedalled into City Hall a few months before launch and stole the glory. If you don't like the sponsor, get creative with some stickers, like this. |
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