6/12/2013
By Ivan Pereira and Dan Rivoli
Citi Bike may be taking off and attracting thousands of users a day, but outer borough leaders say the city needs to put the pedal to the metal for their neighborhoods.
On Thursday, City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer and other Queens leaders will rally outside City Hall to call on the Department of Transportation to expand its bike share program beyond its current stations in midtown, lower Manhattan and downtown Brooklyn.
Van Bramer, who represents Long Island City and Sunnyside, said there’s huge demand from his constituents as well as New Yorkers in other areas that are devoid of the blue bikes because they need the alternative commuting option.
“The message I want to give is Long Island City is open for business and open to bike share and that extends to the rest of the city,” he said.
Currently there are 6,000 bikes available at 300 stations. Long Island City was originally going to be part of the initial rollout, however Superstorm Sandy altered DOT’s plans, Van Bramer said.
The councilman said there have been 36,000 members and nearly 200,000 rides in the first two weeks of the program.
A DOT spokesman said the agency plans to roll out Citi Bike to Greenpoint, Williamsburg and Long Island City with 4,000 more bikes and twice the number of stations, but couldn’t give a timetable. He added that they are open to comments from residents in other neighborhoods too.
Jeremy Laufer, the district manager, for Community Board 7, which covers Sunset Park and Windsor Terrace, said his community needs the service soon, especially with the planned service changes to the R train starting this summer.
“People want additional options for transportation,” he said.
City Councilman Stephen Levin agreed and added that his constituents in Greenpoint and Williamsburg are active bikers and would add to Citi Bike’s growing popularity and revenue.
“It seems like the implementation of bike share in Greenpoint and Williamsburg as soon as possible is a win win for everybody,” he said.
The pro-bike sentiment in the outerboroughs is felt even in car-friendly Staten Island. Leticia Remauro, the chair for the borough’s Community Board 1, said bike lanes are all over the place and they’ve constantly send messages to the city expressing their interest.
“What about us? Get it over here, quick. Why are we left out?” she asked.
