New York City’s plan to add 50 Citi Bike docking stations in a Brooklyn neighborhood is frustrating some residents.
The Bay Ridge community members argue the sites proposed by the Department of Transportation are overly concentrated and present safety hazards.
Petition urges NYC to reduce Citi Bike expansion in Bay Ridge
More than a thousand Bay Ridge residents have signed a petition urging the DOT and Lyft, the parent company of Citi Bike, to reduce the number of proposed stations.
Critics say many of the 50 stations are being planned too close together, directly in front of single-family homes or in locations they consider unsafe.
“I had reached out to the community board. I had reached out to the councilman’s office, and it very much felt like a done deal without community input. And I was frustrated by that,” said Josephine Pietanza, a Bay Ridge homeowner who launched the petition.
Danielle Long, a homeowner, pointed to the intersection at 78th Street and Colonial Road, where one of the new bike docks is set to go. Another is planned just one block away.
“It seems like a lot,” Long said. “Having them every two blocks in this neighborhood seems certainly like overkill.”
That intersection has also seen 31 crashes since 2009, according to Vision Zero data. The city previously removed a parking spot there to improve visibility for drivers, a safety measure known as daylighting.
The DOT says a Citi Bike dock in that location would further prevent cars from even temporarily stopping there.
“We still hear frequent horn beeping and cars screeching on this corner. It’s still a concern, but the daylighting has helped, and so we don’t want to reverse that safety improvement,” Long said.
Alexa Sledge, director of communications at Transportation Alternatives, argues visibility concerns may be overblown and that cyclists welcome the expansion.
“It’s not the same issue with Citi Bike stations because they’re so much lower to the ground and it’s so much easier to see around them,” she said.
DOT says Citi Bike is “integral part of our transportation landscape”
Brooklyn Council Member Justin Brannan acknowledged the pushback from constituents, but says he’s been actively involved in advocating for their concerns.
“My staff and I have been going around literally visiting every single location,” Brannan said. “We know better than DOT does where this stuff is going to work. And I have to say, DOT thus far has been very responsive.”
A DOT spokesperson said in a statement, “Bike share has become an integral part of our transportation landscape, and this expansion to Bay Ridge will bring this great service to even more New Yorkers.”
Still, some residents say a slower, more measured rollout would be better.
“Put in 10. Monitor them. See how they’re going and put them in areas where the volume of people are,” said Kim Parker, another homeowner. “Here there’s like six houses on each block.”
Citi Bike’s expansion into Bay Ridge is expected to begin in the fall.
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