Citi Bike (Queens Post/ Michael Dorgan)
Oct. 23, 2020 By Michael Dorgan
A preliminary map of Citi Bike’s continued expansion into western Queens has been released showing more than 50 additional docking stations going down in Astoria, Woodside and Long Island City.
The draft map was presented by the NYC Dept. of Transportation to Community Board 1’s Transportation Committee Monday as part of plans to increase Citi Bike’s bike-sharing network in the area.
The preliminary plan calls for 51 docking stations to be constructed in an area from Shore Boulevard and 20th Avenue in the northwest of Astoria to Ditmars Boulevard and the Grand Central Parkway in the east. The area runs through Woodside and south as far as 43rd Street and 37th Avenue in Long Island City.
The total area of this expansion covers 2.11 square miles, according to a DOT spokesperson.
Of the 51 new docking stations, 31 would be installed on roadways and 19 on sidewalks–with one other station on a pedestrianized roadbed space. All the stations will be solar-powered and wireless and will not be hardwired into the ground.
The number of bikes that would fill all of the docking stations has yet to be revealed and it is unclear how many parking spaces, if any, would be lost.
The DOT is looking for public feedback on the plans and will host a virtual town hall event on Oct. 28 with the agency releasing an updated plan in the middle of November.
Construction of the docking stations is scheduled to begin in early 2021 and will take around two months to complete, the DOT said.
Citi Bike first came to Queens in 2015 with docking stations in Long Island City. The program was then expanded into Astoria and the far reaches of Long Island City in 2017.
The latest expansion is part of a partnership between DOT and Citi Bike to increase the city’s current service area by 35 square miles and triple the number of bikes to 40,000. The cost of the project is around $100 million and is being funded entirely by the ride-sharing company Lyft.
The plans for the western Queens expansion follow a public outreach process where the DOT solicited feedback from residents on where the docking stations should be located.
The process sought to space out the docking stations and have all the docks within three to five minutes walking distance of each other. Other considerations include keeping the docks away from fire hydrants, ensuring docks don’t block travel lanes and that sidewalk stations have adequate room for pedestrians.
Those looking to attend the virtual town hall event discussing the western Queens expansion can register in advance by clicking here. The event will be held via Zoom and all attendees will each receive one Citi Bike Day pass.
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8 Comments
This is fantastic news!! Astoria loves Citi Bike and more stations and more coverage are needed. Good news, I will be at the public Zoom meeting to listen and support!!
Go-CITI BIKE-GO!!!!
Astoria is being destroyed by Citibikes!
We are bombarde with this citibike all over our city. Can’t walk on our sidewalks. The bicycle riders ride in the sidewalks. This las is created by the DOT Commissioner just to please an organization whose leader has taken hunted of thousands of dollars to enrich himself and the Dot Commissioner. Business as usual! Someone already tripped with those bikes while walking on the sidewalk, it will be a potential lawsuit!!We need a REFERENDUM on this crap of nicole invasion!!
street parking was already very limited pre-covid.
post-covid forcing restaurants to build outdoor extensions is further reducing parking for residents and small business patrons. adding more citi bike locations on the streets is going to further squeeze the already terrible street parking situation.
ill bet city officials will also require protected bike lanes and concrete dividers to be installed, even further reducing parking. what a disaster.
With the trajectory of the world, driving shouldn’t be made easier. (It can’t be made impossible either as to accommodate those with little mobility.) But when parking gets harder people who are on the fence of having a car might not opt for one and the problem will sort itself out incrementally.
I know this is likely not the goal being aimed for as the sustainability bar in American society is abysmally low, but it is a good side effect that I am 100% for.
We all pay taxes for those streets. Not being able to park your personal private property in publicly funded streets to make them more functional for everyone is exactly what this overcrowded city needs.
If we are going to define “we”, we should really get precise with it.
https://edc.nyc/article/new-yorkers-and-their-cars
That number is roughly 50% right now. When driverless cars become ubiquitous that number will likely drop drastically as there likely will be an increase in people seeing the inefficiency of maintaining a gigantic hunk of metal that is only utilized 10% of the time.
If it’s too overcrowded, what keeps you here? The infrastructure has it where 99% percent of people in the US not able to function without a car. People who have different priorities don’t really have much elsewhere to go…
Wild how streets apparently are the property of car owners and not anyone else. Amazing. Congrats!