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MTA may pay for Citi Bike expansion to areas facing G train outages


Turbo19

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The first expansion of Citi Bike could be to Brooklyn and Queens neighborhoods that are facing extensive subway outages to allow post-Sandy repairs on the (G) train. MTA and Bloomberg administration officials are exploring an accelerated Citi Bike expansion to Long Island City, Queens, and Greenpoint, Brooklyn, sources said. The possibility of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority picking up some or all of the cost is one focus of the talks, sources said. “It’s an active discussion,” a transit source said. “We recognize the (G) train serves an area without other subway options.”

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Any opinions to add?

 

While it's understandable that the (MTA) is looking to remedy the situation that the passengers affected by the (G) shutdown will face, I personally don't see this accomplishing much at all for the affect straphangers. If the (MTA) wants to use it's funds wisely it should be using them to help its own services, and not to accelerate an expansion which will take place regardless.

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Ummm...I think Citi should be paying for CitiBikes. For the price that you pay and the abysmal quality of the kiosks, they have to be making a killing. Also, if they have them located all throughout Bed-Stuy, it's only a matter of time before they come up to Greenpoint. 

 

And if you're relying on rental bikes to do your daily commute, you might as well...umm...just buy a bike?

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I do not support the MTA paying for this, but I do support expanding Citi Bike to that area to give residents an alternate to the (G) train while it's out.  According to the MTA website it says that free shuttle bus service will be operating, so why should the MTA be financially responsible for shuttle buses and bikes?  If Citi Bike wants to go ahead and pay for the stations themselves then I'm all for that.  If I remember correctly it's run for-profit and doesn't use any tax money.

 

But on the topic of Citi BIkes, the bikes can actually go pretty fast.  Keep in mind that I'm a healthy able bodied male, but I've used it to get from Downtown to Midtown and I was surprised that it took me less time than the subway (plus walking time to get to/from the subway) has taken me in the past.

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I do not support the MTA paying for this, but I do support expanding Citi Bike to that area to give residents an alternate to the (G) train while it's out.  According to the MTA website it says that free shuttle bus service will be operating, so why should the MTA be financially responsible for shuttle buses and bikes?  If Citi Bike wants to go ahead and pay for the stations themselves then I'm all for that.  If I remember correctly it's run for-profit and doesn't use any tax money.

 

But on the topic of Citi BIkes, the bikes can actually go pretty fast.  Keep in mind that I'm a healthy able bodied male, but I've used it to get from Downtown to Midtown and I was surprised that it took me less time than the subway (plus walking time to get to/from the subway) has taken me in the past.

It makes me wonder if the (MTA) doesn't mind helping in further reducing bus usage because this is exactly what a service like this does.  People would normally take the bus for short trips may now opt for the bike instead.  They need to be focusing on rolling out Bus Time and looking for ways to improve bus service.  Let the city worry about the bike program.

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It makes me wonder if the (MTA) doesn't mind helping in further reducing bus usage because this is exactly what a service like this does.  People would normally take the bus for short trips may now opt for the bike instead.  They need to be focusing on rolling out Bus Time and looking for ways to improve bus service.  Let the city worry about the bike program.

 

I can definitely see Citi Bike taking rides away from crosstown buses.  In Midtown the crosstowns are a huge pain to deal with, and there's no doubt that biking is much faster than that.  I don't think that the bikes are going to take away any rides from north-south buses, but rather riders who would've taken the subway.  When I think of the typical north-south bus routes (with the exception of the M15 SBS), I tend to think of the riders being elderly, children, and others that can't or don't want to take the subway, all of whom would not want to bike.

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I can definitely see Citi Bike taking rides away from crosstown buses.  In Midtown the crosstowns are a huge pain to deal with, and there's no doubt that biking is much faster than that.  I don't think that the bikes are going to take away any rides from north-south buses, but rather riders who would've taken the subway.  When I think of the typical north-south bus routes (with the exception of the M15 SBS), I tend to think of the riders being elderly, children, and others that can't or don't want to take the subway, all of whom would not want to bike.

 

That is a good point, yet ironically many of the bike lanes have been placed on the avenues (e.g. 2nd avenue), making it somewhat more difficult for a significant amount of bikers to go crosstown. Plus with the placement of most bike stations in the downtown area, it makes it even less likely to be used crosstown in midtown where it might save the most time. 

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As somebody who bikes everywhere, biking as an alternative to the subway is ludicrous. It's a nice novelty trick on Bloomberg's part to get the bikes out to LIC more quickly, but making the MTA pay for something like this is insane; honestly, the MTA would be essentially buying advertising for Citibank.

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That is a good point, yet ironically many of the bike lanes have been placed on the avenues (e.g. 2nd avenue), making it somewhat more difficult for a significant amount of bikers to go crosstown. Plus with the placement of most bike stations in the downtown area, it makes it even less likely to be used crosstown in midtown where it might save the most time. 

 

Not to go too off topic, but I believe that there's bike lanes on side streets crosstown from river to river every 10 blocks. 

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Interesting. They must be small, I never notice them

 

There're more bike lanes than that...but they are small, and it's often safer to take the middle of the street at the speed of traffic than to take the lane put yourself at risk of morons blinding opening doors or pulling out of spots.

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There're more bike lanes than that...but they are small, and it's often safer to take the middle of the street at the speed of traffic than to take the lane put yourself at risk of morons blinding opening doors or pulling out of spots.

If anything that should be the general rule. I personally find it better to ride in the flow of traffic, rather than on the side.

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Whenever I bike I always take the entire lane if I'm going the speed of traffic or if there's a red light up ahead.  If I'm going slow and there's a bike lane then I'll ride in the bike lane to let cars pass me.  Whenever there's a "shared lane" I take the entire lane regardless of how fast I'm going because no matter how slow I'm going it's still illegal for a car to pass me in that lane.

 

I was surprised that I was able to keep up with the flow of traffic on Centre St/4 Av for the most part on the Citi Bike.

 

I definitely see myself using Citi Bike more when it eventually comes up to the Upper East Side.  Might even consider buying an annual membership at that point as a back up for when the Lexington Avenue subway gets completely screwed up, or hell even to get from Brooklyn Bridge station to the WFC when they finish all that construction on Chambers.

 

 

Anyways this seems like it's going to turn into a bicycle/Citi Bike talk rather than about the (G) train issue.  They were going to expand Citi Bike to that area anyways later on, but it's better to do it now to give another alternative to those affected, however not a single cent of MTA money should be used for it.

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Whenever I bike I always take the entire lane if I'm going the speed of traffic or if there's a red light up ahead.  If I'm going slow and there's a bike lane then I'll ride in the bike lane to let cars pass me.  Whenever there's a "shared lane" I take the entire lane regardless of how fast I'm going because no matter how slow I'm going it's still illegal for a car to pass me in that lane.

 

I was surprised that I was able to keep up with the flow of traffic on Centre St/4 Av for the most part on the Citi Bike.

 

I definitely see myself using Citi Bike more when it eventually comes up to the Upper East Side.  Might even consider buying an annual membership at that point as a back up for when the Lexington Avenue subway gets completely screwed up, or hell even to get from Brooklyn Bridge station to the WFC when they finish all that construction on Chambers.

 

 

Anyways this seems like it's going to turn into a bicycle/Citi Bike talk rather than about the (G) train issue.  They were going to expand Citi Bike to that area anyways later on, but it's better to do it now to give another alternative to those affected, however not a single cent of MTA money should be used for it.

And that's why I created this thread. I find it ridiculous that the MTA is viewing this as a solution. If anything they should contribute those funds to the area's local bus routes.

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Bus Shuttle service operates between Nassau Av and Court Sq, making subway stops during weekend closures

http://web.mta.info/nyct/service/G_GreenpointTunnelWeekendClosure.htm#ServiceChanges

 

The MTA is even providing shuttle buses to provide alternate service.  No need for them to spend money on a service that another company will profit off of.

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Bus Shuttle service operates between Nassau Av and Court Sq, making subway stops during weekend closures

http://web.mta.info/nyct/service/G_GreenpointTunnelWeekendClosure.htm#ServiceChanges

 

The MTA is even providing shuttle buses to provide alternate service.  No need for them to spend money on a service that another company will profit off of.

Great to hear, as at first it seemed no alternative would be provided. The MTA has it covered in that regard at least.

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Great to hear, as at first it seemed no alternative would be provided. The MTA has it covered in that regard at least.

 

The shuttle buses were always part of the plan. http://www.mta.info/mta/news/books/docs/130605-Montague-Greenpoint-briefing.pdf - see the last page.

 

Bikeshare would be a nice addition, but it couldn't carry anywhere near the number that the buses would carry, and I don't see how it's the MTA's responsibility. If the city can get the bikeshare stations in Greenpoint and LIC up and running soon, that would be good.

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Interesting. They must be small, I never notice them

 

Well, the biggest crosstown lane that's coming online will be the 60th St one, which is basically going to redirect bikes off the Queensboro out of the way of turning vehicles using a two-way buffered lane.

 

Citibike isn't a particularly expensive program, and the only reason these areas don't have it right now is because of Sandy, so I doubt that it's implausible to have Citi do it all by itself or with the city and the feds. (MTA) needs every bit of money it can get, though.

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