No Bike Share Locations in Park Slope Until Spring 2013

Slopers who are excited to have a quick ride on the will have to wait a year until the program comes to Park Slope.

But, if you can’t wait, you can go to Manhattan, Williamsburg, Fort Green, Clinton Hill or Bed-Stuy. The city’s DOT released a draft map of the first locations in this summer’s rollout of a portion of their 600 Bike Share docking stations.

Come Phase II, which will debuted spring 2013, the rest of the Citi Bike docking stations will pop up in neighborhoods that were not included in Phase I, including Park Slope, Cobble Hill, Prospect Heights and Crown Heights in Brooklyn, the Upper West and East Sides in Manhattan and Sunnyside, Queens.

The installation of bike docking stations will begin in late July. The solar-powered, wireless docking stations will be located on sidewalks, curbside road space and plazas, and accommodate between 15 and 60 bikes each.

The closet dock to Park Slope will be on Fourth Avenue and Dean Street in Boerum Hill. According to the DOT, there will be 27 docks on the sidewalk at this location.

Craig Hammerman, the district manager of Community Board 6, said that although he wishes Park Slope did not have to wait for the Bike Share program to come until next spring, the wait will be worth it.

“Certainly there was a lot of enthusiasm expressed, people are hungry for this program and I look at that in a positive light, so naturally I am sure there are disappointed folks,” Hammerman said. “But we will also have the opportunity to learn from other peoples’ experiences. Hopefully we will get the program when all the kinks are worked out.”

Hammerman said that residents who attended the DOT’s planning sessions in March, where the public basically put dock sites on a map, revealed great suggestions.

“Hopefully people from further reaches can show up at the Seventh Avenue subway station, hop on a bike and spin around the park for a little,” Hammerman said, explaining that the public wants to see docks near subway and bus stations. “This idea being that bicycling can be a great form of intermodal transportation—so people can cover longer distances through different forms of transportation.”

But he also said locations of docks will likely be near places where people want to bike to and bike from, or big employment centers. 

For example, he said great places in the neighborhood would be at Washington Park on Fifth Avenue and New York Methodist Hospital on Seventh Avenue, which is the biggest employer in Park Slope.

Hammerman said that the final locations should be finalized in fall 2012.

Doug Gordon, the founder of the website Brooklyn Spoke, said that waiting for the Bike Share program to hit Park Slope isn’t bad. Also, he said since he works in Manhattan, he will be riding this summer.

“Ultimately, the way I feel about it is all in due time,” Gordon said. “This thing that was not even an idea for New York is going to come to our neighborhood just a little later than expected, and I am willing to wait.”

Gordon said he also understands why other neighborhoods, like Williamsburg and Bed-Stuy, were chosen before Park Slope. He thinks the Brooklyn areas Bike Share will be this summer need it the most.

“Williamsburg is more transit starved, Park Slope has great transit access in the north end,” Gordon reasoned. “If I had to ride the L train everyday, I’d want Bike Share right now. This is also going to make people’s commute in Bed-Stuy much easier. They can hop on a bike and ride to the subway and get to Manhattan much more easier than before.”

What do you think? Are you bummed that Park Slope is not included in the first rollout of the Bike Share program? Or do you feel like the rollout is fair?

Let Patch save you time. Get great local stories like this delivered right to your inbox or smartphone everyday with our free newsletter. Simple, fast sign-up here.