NYC Bike Share Crowdsourcing
Perhaps one of the best parts of the newly announced New York City bike share system is the way they are using crowdsourcing to make it serve the public as best as possible. You can go onto the NYDOT website, and suggest a place you would like to see a bike station, allowing them to then be voted on, creating a bike share program supported by the people who will use it!
New York’s announcement included the specifics of a system with 10,000 bicycles and 600 stations (!)… so start planning your trip to New York to check it out next year.
Designing a system that’s big enough is key to it’s success. If there aren’t enough stations or bikes, it’s not easy enough for people to pick up and drop off bikes. In it’s first year, Capital Bikeshare (in Washington DC) far exceeded the expectations, reaching 1,000,000 rides!
With over 1,100 bicycles at 110 stations, and 18,000 registered users (you don’t need to be registered to use it), it’s currently the largest in the country, soon to be outdone by New York. The Coalition used it as our main form of transportation when we were at the National Bike Summit in March, and it was amazing!
