Bicycle Canticles

Why Conservatives Hate Citi Bike So Much, in One Venn Diagram.

“It is a very slippery slope from sharing bikes to sharing everything.”

Haha.

CitiBikes launched. Wahoo!

I very much enjoyed this small UI touch: On the map, each pin is color-coded to show bikes/docks availability.  You can still click on each pin to read that same information (which is how Hubway’s map works.)

It has not yet expanded to parts of Brooklyn and Queens that I frequent, but the initial coverage is impressive!

Congratulations, NYC.

New Yorkers displayed their pent-up demand for a bike-sharing program, expected to roll out in May, when the earliest batch of keys sold out in less than two days.

Read more here.

With the birth of baby Vesper (who is related to me) a couple of weeks ago, I’m now more motivated than ever to head down to NY more often. This reminded me that I wanted to follow up on the NYC bike share system after they announced the delay last fall, so I did a bit of Googling to see how they’re doing.

The first bikes have arrived in Brooklyn! And look at all the promised stations!  They’re due to launch in May, so very soon!

No surprise to anyone, I’m sure, that it’s a hair more expensive as compared to Hubway.

Otherwise the structure is pretty similar:

• Pay for a certain membership/pass to get in to ride
• Both have annual membership.
• Both have 24-hour passes.
• CitiBikes offers a 7-day pass and Hubway has a 3-day pass.

Any additional charges come from rides over x minutes.

• Hubway: Extra charges by 30min increments, for both annual members and folks on passes.
• Citibikes: Annual members get 45min before the first fee. Additional fees at 30min increments. For riders on passes, all their fees are based on 30min increments.

(Double check my reading comprehension here and here.)

Pretty excited for NYC. Hubway has been wonderful for Greater Boston since its birth. Many of my non-cycling friends and colleagues are now expressing interest (well, they’re not all early adaptors, alright?) in getting a Hubway membership because “now that it’s everywhere. Might be fun to ride around town!” The stations resurfaced in the last couple of weeks after winter hibernation. Even though I’ve got my own ride, seeing them give me an boost of Feels Like Spring.

Can’t wait to see what CitiBikes does for NY. Lookin’ good so far!…except for the whole CitiBank paid for a bunch of it so their branding is all over everything and – Aaaanyway.

Hey, woman in sedan with MA plate 788 BR8:

• I can’t be in the bike lane if there’s a car in the bike lane. I and that car are both solid, we cannot occupy the same physical space.
• I signaled and left you plenty of room prior to merging into traffic. I was signaling to return to the bike lane when you got all honk-happy at me.
• I’ll stop yelling at you if you stop yelling at me with your horn.
• If you want to be aggressive with your car, don’t be a pussy: roll down your window all the way when I confront you.
• Hang up and drive.
• Put the pen and notebook down and drive. You don’t have enough hands left for your steering wheel, since you’re also on the phone.

During my commute to work this morning, a cyclist ahead of me was doored by a woman exiting a parked car just before the intersection of Beacon/Hampshire St and Cambridge St.

I didn’t stop as I rolled by (he got up just fine, no limping, said that he was ok when I asked), but saw that his front basket was knocked out of place and maybe something else was wonky with his handlebars. I did suggest that they maybe call the police since it was technically a car accident.

Here’s what troubled me: As I approached I heard the cyclist mumbling “…sorry…due to happen at some point…,” looking extremely apologetic.

Granted, I did not actually see the door-ing since I had my eye on another vehicle who was about to pull into my path just as the accident took place.  But I confirmed with the cyclist that he was indeed doored – and I just can’t think of any situation where it could possibly be the cyclist’s fault to be doored.

The woman in the car got out, looked slightly guilty but never apologized.

The whole thing was very odd.

This just in:

There will be no shiny blue Citi Bikes on the streets of New York until March.

Mayor Bloomberg cites “software issues.”

More here.

So the score stands.

1. “watch for bikes” mirror sticker 
   Tossed. Don’t need it on my own car since I do watch for bikes, and never did get the opportunity to slap that on a mirror of a car that nearly killed me.
2. CitySmart Reflective stickers from two different packets
   When you turn some of them upside down, they look like robots:
   

   Aren’t they adorable? I imagine they’re shouting things like, “Awww MAN! You parked in the bike lane!”

3. Green ID holder
   Honestly I have no idea where this went.
4. Walk Boston East Cambridge Map, for next time I visit my friends who live in that neighborhood
   Who am I kidding: I hardly ever walk when biking is an option.
5. 2010 CharlieCard discount book to flip through at least one more time (and then probably give away)
   I did flip through it one more time, and ended up using the CharlieCard discount for a visit to the MIT Museum. It’s a good deal!
6. Getting Around in Cambridge map, plus distance guide overlay
   Also tossed. I wanted to use this for when we have guests, but my guests end up riding with their host (me). Seeing as I know my way, the map is moot.
7. Cambridge Police Department Bicycle Registration Card
   I registered my bike! …although I can’t tell you where I stored the registration info at the moment.
8. Coupons for: Menotomy, Broadway Bicycle School, The Bicycle Exchange, and maybe Urban Adventours
   All expired before I got to use them.
9. Rubel’s Boston Bikemap
   This is the best. Always have at least one copy of this.
10. CitySmart keychain
    Tossed?
11. CitySmart pedometer
    See #4.
12. Patch kit
    Yes!  Can never get enough patch kits between my civi/SCUL bikes.

BONUS: the tote is definitely still in heavy rotation as one of my go-to lunch/grocery bags.

Here’s their official report. I’m discovering it very belatedly (lesson: life continues when blogging goes on hiatus).

NY Bike Share due this summer. Buuuut…

with Labor Day looming, the city’s bike-share program, to be the largest in the country and once promised for July, has not yet hit the streets.

Meanwhile, in Boston and beyond:

The gray and green bicycles of the popular Hubway regional bike-share program have become ubiquitous in Boston and now will spread into the nearby communities of Cambridge, Somerville, and Brookline.

Check out the locations of their new stations here.

Thank you, Nicole Freeman!

Which reminds me – Does anybody know who is the new Boston Bicycle Programs Director? Google got me no news (in the last 5 minutes). Did they fill the position? Are they even looking?

I recently, belatedly, discovered Bikeyface.

I’d like to grow up* to be more like Bekka. I constantly struggle with the frustrations of being an urban cyclist. The thought that one simple inconsiderate act or lack of attention (from motorists and/or another cyclist) can take away a life — it makes my blood boil. The results are that I basically resemble this guy**, or at the very least I sound a whole lot like him (with perhaps more expletives).

I’m not helping.

Bikeyface shares aspects of bicycle safety with both cyclists and motorist in easily digestible comics. She masterfully illustrates (see what I did there?) how to best share the road without being confrontational, so that critical feedback is much more acceptable and effective. Sure, she also shares some frustrations here and there, but they are all delivered with a healthy portion of smiles** and funnies.

Thank you, Bikeyface! You help make the rest of us look less like jerks.

*Actual age & age difference irrelevant
**See Bekka’s original post here