Press Releases
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press Release #19-017
Monday, April 22, 2019
Contact: Scott Gastel/Brian Zumhagen (212) 839-4850
NYC Department of Transportation Announces Borough-Wide Dockless Bike Share Coming to Staten Island
Successful North Shore pilot begun during City Hall in Your Borough last July could go wider this summer; DOT solicitation posted in City Record today
New York City Department of Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg announced the release today of a Request for Expressions of Interest (RFEI) that could bring borough-wide bike share to Staten Island this summer. Last summer, during City Hall in Your Borough, dockless bikes from two different companies — JUMP and Lime — arrived on Staten Island’s North Shore as one three pilot programs. The RFEI, posted in today’s City Record, asks companies to be part of larger pilot, identifying what a borough-wide dockless bike share system might look like on the entirety of Staten Island. The expectation is that the updated pilot, managed by the DOT, will be operational by this summer.
“In last year’s pilot, we learned that Staten Islanders love bike share, and we often found that their rides sometimes drifted outside of the North Shore boundaries we set last summer,” said DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg. “So now that riders have voted with their feet, we want to have the entire island to be available to them. Not only do we know that bike share is offering a great new travel option of thousands, we also think it has helped contribute to Vision Zero, as the last year with hundreds of Lime and JUMP bikes on the street has also been the safest year ever on the borough’s streets.”
As DOT continues to evaluate the dockless bike share pilots launched last summer, the agency will accept responses to the RFEI through May 22, 2019 and will evaluate submissions throughout the spring. Any potential borough-wide demonstration project would likely launch this summer. The RFEI calls for the interested participants to provide detail on a completely dockless program, either conventional and/or pedal-assist bikes, that would use a boundary consisting of the entire borough, with DOT expressing preference for a multiple vendors to take part in the demonstration. Like with the current pilot, DOT would evaluate this demonstration by looking at sidewalk obstruction and clutter, safety, availability and durability of the bikes in addition to compliance with data accessibility requirements and user privacy.
The RFEI also requires that the dockless bicycles in the demonstration could not be locked or unlocked outside of the borough. Bikes would be required to receive a maintenance check cleaning within the prior 15 days of use, and the RFEI allows for DOT to set minimum standards for maintenance checks in advance of or prior to the demonstration. Costs of use are to be determine and will be established by the vendors.
Starting last July, New York City began operating a dockless bike share pilot on Staten Island’s North Shore, in the Fordham area of the Bronx, and on the Rockaways, all launched last summer following another RFEI issued in December 2017. Since it began, North Shore pilot has seen over 61,000 rides taken on bikes from both companies. The City looks to continue to expand bike share in the five boroughs, with this new RFEI, recent Citi Bike expansion into Bushwick, Brooklyn and other additions made to ease the upcoming L Train repair work.
The City’s primary bike share system, Citi Bike, is operated by Lyft and has over 155,000 annual members and sees daily ridership numbers regularly achieving 70,000 trips during peak riding season. In November the City announced Lyft will invest $100 million to improve and expand the growing system by doubling its current service area over the next five years and more than triple its on-street bikes to nearly 40,000.
For more information on New York City’s bike share system and to give feedback on the dockless pilot, please see www.nyc.gov/bikeshare.
###