With an additional 390 miles of NYC bike lanes added since 2002 – for a total of 700 miles of NYC bicycle lanes- you’ll soon be able to pick up a bicycle on the street and ride away!
Sometime in the second half of 2012 (the launch date seems to be a moving target), the Citibike program will launch. Here’s how it works:
- Annual Membership: $95, 45 min rides
- 7-Day Membership: $25, 30 min rides
- 24-Hour Membership: $9.95, 30 min rides
2. Go to any of the 600 bike-share stations to access one of the 10,000 bicycles in Manhattan, Brooklyn, & Queens
3. Use your Unlocking Code and touch-screen to remove the bike from the dock (Annual Members will have a key)
4. Take a look at the Citibike map system to know where you’ll be returning the bike, if it’s going to be a different station
5. Ride 30 – 45 minutes, depending on your Access level
6. Return the bike to any of the 600 stations, pay any surcharges if you’ve used the bike longer than allowed
Members will have unlimited trips. Stations are tentatively planned for Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan below 59th St. Here’s the draft map.
Privately sponsored by Citi and MasterCard, and privately operated by NYC Bike Share LLC, this program is running with no public funding. Citi’s contribution as the title sponsor is $41 million. MasterCard is sponsoring the payment systems, and will outfit the stations with advanced, contactless PayPass payment points. In addition to this hardware, MasterCard is contributing $6.5 million. Citi’s brand appears on all 10,000 bikes, 600 stations, membership keys and the NYC Bike Share website. MasterCard’s logo will appear on the station kiosks, and on printed receipts. The program operates 365 days a year, 24/7 to anyone over 16 years or older.
More information about the Citibike program is on the NYC DOT (Department of Transportation) site.
Want to know more? Experience a demo of Citibike on August 4th from 12 – 4pm on the North side of Union Square.
