Passerby examine and try out bicycles at an Alta Bicycle Share demonstration of their program in Bowling Green Park in New York on Wednesday, September 21, 2011. The company plans on constructing 600 bike share rental stations with 10,000 of their custom bikes in New York. The forty-two pound bikes, distinctive in their style and plastered with advertising, will be available for short-term rental, possibly replacing trips by taxi, bus or the subway. RICHARD B. LEVINE/Newscom. Find it on Newscom.com: lrphotos064462
The city announced this week the locations of the thousands of bikes at sharing stations that they are going to set up. They also announced that Citibank will be the sponsor so we can all look forward to Citibank advertising plastered all over the clunky bikes.
Passerby examine and try out bicycles at an Alta Bicycle Share demonstration of their program in Bowling Green Park in New York on Wednesday, September 21, 2011. RICHARD B. LEVINE/Newscom. Find it on Newscom.com: lrphotos064457
They gave demonstrations and tested them last fall to gauge customer response which has been pretty positive. For 95 bucks a year you unlock a bike and peddle to the next location, which hopefully is pretty close to where your destination is, and lock the bike up there for the next rider.
A bike rack in Williamsburg in Brooklyn in New York, entitled "The Hipster" designed by former Talking Heads member David Byrne is seen on Thursday, August 21, 2008. Byrne designed a total of nine racks located in various neighborhoods around the city, each one contextually dependent upon the neighborhood where they are located. Byrne is an avid bicycle enthusiast and the NYC Dept. of Transportation, which oversees the project, is endeavoring to create more interest in biking as part of Mayor Bloomberg's PlaNYC, creating a greener and more sustainable city. New York City also has 5000 more utilitarian bike racks. FRANCES M. ROBERTS/Newscom. Find it on Newscom.com: lrphotos038606
Bikes in the city are nothing new. We’ve been covering bikes for a number of years. There were even bike racks designed by celebrities set up around the city (okay, that should be celebrity, singular, as David Byrne designed them). Byrne is an avid cyclist and we’ve seen him more than once maneuvering through the city’s streets on his bike.
First responders remove the damaged bicycle of a bicyclist after he was hit by a turning bus in the New York neighborhood of Chelsea, on the eastern corner of West 26th Street and Ninth Avenue, in New York on Friday, December 10, 2010. Authorities are investigating the accident. FRANCES M. ROBERTS/Newscom. Find it on Newscom.com: lrphotos058306
There are of course, dangers to riding in the city. Despite all the bike lanes that are being constructed, separating bikers from vehicular traffic, both parties do meet occasionally, primarily at corners where turning is involved. Luckily for this rider he wasn’t seriously injured.
The President of the Republic of Slovenia, Dr. Danilo Turk, visits an exhibit of BigFish folding bicycles outside of the Clinton Global Initiative at the New York Sheraton Hotel on Monday, September 20, 2010. The bicycle company will be shipping a black model of their state-of-the-art folding bicycles to the president for his use when he gets home. Turk was in the city because of the United Nations General Assembly as well as the Clinton summit. RICHARD B. LEVINE/Newscom
Not everyone likes bikes. Motorists are complaining about the bike lanes (Hey, legally driving is considered to be a privilege, not a right, learn to share). The bike sharing stations will take up some parking spots (there’s almost nowhere to park legally in Midtown anyway, so those stations aren’t going to take up any spots). However the President of the Republic of Slovenia, Dr. Danilo Türk likes bikes. Here he is getting a neat folder to take with him when he gets home to Ljubljana.
Check out more coverage of National Bike Week on FocalPoint.
Richard Levine and Frances Roberts, of Levine Roberts Photography, are a husband and wife team of photographers covering politics, environmental issues, the economy, business, and social and cultural issues in the Big Apple. See more photos from their collection on Newscom.
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Tags: bike sharing, citibank, levine roberts photography, new york, new york city, the big apple