Citi Bike-New York City’s Bike Share

I love riding my bike around St. Marys and on Andros and it seems like New Yorkers like riding too.

Thousands of people (in NYC) have signed up for annual memberships for unlimited bike rides on any of the program’s 6,000 three gear cruising style bikes that can be unlocked, ridden, and returned at 330 docking stations (bike racks). There’s a cost to the membership but that hasn't stopped the program from growing, and New York City has laid down more than 300 miles of new bike lanes in the last five years in an effort to encourage healthy lifestyle choices and decrease the number of drivers on the road. The glitch mentioned in the article I read (the focus of the article actually) is the fact that helmets are not required. I get it because even though there’s a helmet law here it is hard to enforce and I have often seen kids leaving the school campus with their helmets dangling from their handlebars rather than their heads at dismissal. But back to New York, some studies have shown that the bike lanes are blocked, more often than not, yet there is also research supporting the theory that bike share schemes calm traffic because drivers are more cautious when cyclists are on the road.

I can’t ride my bike with no hands on the handle bars but I like bike share programs. Wish we had one here!