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City abandons plan to for dockless bike share program in Coney Island
Vol. 74 No. 18 BROOKLYNPAPER.COM
BY JULIANNE MCSHANE
They’re dock-less!
The city has offi cially abandoned
its plan to bring 200
dockless bikes to Coney Island,
according to a spokeswoman
for the Department of Transportation.
Agency honchos are instead
channeling all of their
energy into increasing the
number of untethered twowheelers
in the distant land
of Staten Island, according to
spokeswoman Alana Morales,
who added that offi cials plan
to keep Coney Islanders in the
loop as they continue on their
quest to make the Big Apple a
more bike-fi lled city.
“DOT is currently focused
on our request for expressions
of interest and plans for a
larger dockless bike share pilot
on Staten Island, and have no
immediate plans for additional
pilots at this time,” Morales
said. “We look forward to continuing
our conversations with
the Coney Island community as
we explore ways to expand bike
share options throughout the
city in the future.”
Transportation agency offi
cials fi rst announced the pilot
program in the People’s
Playground last May, but then
delayed the roll out until the
end of last year, after locals
charged that the plan would
NO GO: City offi cials have given up on a plan to bring 200 dockless bikes to the People’s Playground. Photo by Steve Solomonson
bring chaos to Coney by allowing
riders to drop the bikes
wherever they wanted and exacerbating
the problem of allegedly
reckless cyclists careening
down the crowded
Riegelmann Boardwalk.
Offi cials never brought the
bikes to Sodom by the Sea —
which does not have any other
bike share services — but they
did roll out pilot programs in
the distant boroughs of Staten
Island, Queens, and the Bronx.
And the transportation agency
announced this month that
honchos are seeking proposals
to institute an expanded, borough
wide dockless bike share
program to likely launch this
summer in Staten Island following
last year’s trial.
Coney Island offi cials —
who last year sent a letter to
both the transportation commissioner
and the mayor outlining
their strong opposition
to the plan — rejoiced at the
news of the reversal.
Eddie Mark, the district
manager of Community Board
13 — whose members passed a
motion last summer rejecting
the plan — cheered city offi cials
for listening to the concerns of
his fellow board members who
raised their voices in opposition
to the proposal.
The board’s chair was similarly
jubilant, and claimed that
the plan was illogical from the
start.
“Thank God,” said Joann
Weiss. “Canceling it out is the
right thing to do for the welfare
of the community, because
it would have only been a hindrance
and not a help. Having
these bikes and being able
to drop them wherever you
choose was just a ridiculous
situation.”
Statistics show that having
more bikes in an area leads to
safer overall conditions for cyclists,
transportation agency
reps told this newspaper last
summer, citing a 17 percent decrease
in cyclists killed or severely
injured in bike-rental
zones citywide after CitiBike
launched in 2013.
/BROOKLYNPAPER.COM