Bike Share coming to NYC

Image from flickr

According to blog Commute By Bike, “the City That Never Sleeps has officially requested proposals from private companies with the expectation of implementing a twenty-four hour, 365 day-a-year bike share program by the spring of 2012.”

While the plan is still in the proposal phase, there are a few interesting elements of the report and the RFP.

First, the RFP calls for a “financially self-sustaining” program. No tax dollars will be used to fund the bike share program in NYC, and the private operator to win the five-year contract will share revenue with the city. Additionally, they study found that “small programs do not work.” Therefore the RFP calls for approximately 600 stations with 10,000 bikes in the initial phase of the program. To maximize the usefulness of the program, the stations should be positioned every three or four blocks throughout much of Manhattan and into at least one other borough.

Meanwhile, the blog thecityfix talks about the complexities of integrating more bicycle infrastructure to the city, and how not everyone is advocating for change.