Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press Release #13-19

Seth Solomonow/Nicole Garcia (212) 839-4850

NYC DOT Releases Report Documenting Intensive Citi Bike Community Planning, the Most Expansive Public Process in Transportation History

Report outlines public process that shaped New York’s newest transportation option, which launches in May

New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan today announced the release of a new report documenting the intensive community process to establish Citi Bike share station locations, the most extensive public consultation conducted for a single transportation project in New York City and rivaling outreach conducted for any public project in the nation. DOT held nearly 400 meetings during the multi-year process to establish bike share locations, meeting with community boards, elected officials, civic groups and property owners, and hosting public demonstrations and workshops in the service area to plan station locations, which are now being installed in advance of the system’s May launch. The process resulted in about 300 station locations for the first phase, and with each location reflecting specific suggestions made during the 400 meetings, in 10,000 online suggestions and 55,000 additional messages of support, and also from notations made directly onto system maps presented at community-sponsored workshops. Taken together, the broad outreach and sustained participation complement New Yorkers’ overwhelming backing for this new transportation system, with polls showing more than 70% of New Yorkers supporting bike share.

“Citi Bike is a transportation system designed by New Yorkers, for New Yorkers,” said Commissioner Sadik-Khan. “New Yorkers turned out and spoke out in the thousands to help design the network, and the system that launches next month will reflect that granular involvement.”

As part of the initial public outreach in fall 2011, DOT met with 15 community boards, business improvement districts and other neighborhood and civic groups to gather feedback on potential station locations. DOT used detailed maps showing 2,881 potential station locations across the service area—almost five potential locations for each of the 600 stations needed for bike share’s complete rollout. Members of the public could indicate their support for specific proposals, suggest alternate locations and mark sites where they thought stations would not be appropriate, eliminating many from consideration. DOT then hosted another 14 community planning workshops where attendees provided additional input between January and May 2012, highlighting which locations would be most useful for bike share and why.

DOT combined all the comments received during the process with the technical information to further refine location options. Specific requests and comments, neighborhood preferences, proximity to transit and other destinations, distance from other stations, access and proximity to bike lanes and station size all factored into consideration. For example, Manhattan’s Community Boards 2, 4, and 5 stated strong preferences to not have stations on sidewalks, while Brooklyn’s Community Board 3 specifically preferred stations to be installed on sidewalks. Stations for these areas were matched with these preferences to the greatest extent possible. As station plans for each neighborhood were developed, DOT returned to the community boards for further comments and review and continued meeting with BIDs, elected officials and others stakeholders to address questions and concerns.

In addition to these meetings, DOT coordinated 21 field demonstrations, which allowed members of the public to ride the system bikes and become familiar with key system features, from the ease of installation to the durability of the bikes and the use of the stations. They also received information directing them to the DOT bike share Web site and interactive Suggest-a-Station map, among other resources. The Web portal, nyc.gov/bikeshare, proved invaluable for gathering input beyond the physical meetings held in bike-share service areas. DOT also participated in a series of public exhibits and events, further extending outreach to New Yorkers. Presentations were held at the New School, Real Estate Board of New York and the AIA Center for Architecture, among others.

Moreover, DOT’s planning framework created a new model for civic engagement now being replicated in cities planning their own bike-share programs, including Portland and Columbus. The “NYC Bike Share – Designed by New Yorkers” report is available at nyc.gov/dot.

Over the multi-year station siting process, DOT worked with the following partners

  • 133 Lafayette Corporation
  • 23rd Street Partnership/Flatiron BID
  • 34th Street Partnership
  • 59 Maiden Lane Management Corporation
  • 5th Ave BID
  • 5th Avenue BID
  • 5th Avenue Park Slope BID
  • Adelphi University
  • AIA Center for Architecture
  • Avenue of the Americas Association
  • Bank of New York Melon
  • Basketball City
  • Battery Park City Authority
  • Battery Park Conservancy
  • Bed-Stuy Restoration
  • Bicycle Habitat
  • Bike & Roll
  • Bike New York
  • Borough of Manhattan Community College
  • Boston Properties
  • Brookfield Properties
  • Brooklyn Borough President Markowitz
  • Brooklyn Brewery
  • Brooklyn Community Board 1
  • Brooklyn Community Board 2
  • Brooklyn Community Board 3
  • Brooklyn Community Board 6
  • Brooklyn Community Board 8
  • Brooklyn Community Board 9
  • Brooklyn Heights Association
  • Brooklyn Navy Yard
  • Central Park Conservancy
  • Chelsea Improvement Company
  • Chinese Chamber of Commerce
  • Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association
  • City University of New York
  • Clinton Hill Apartments
  • CodeGreen Real Estate
  • Columbus Ave BID
  • NYC Comptroller Liu
  • Concord Village Tenants Association
  • Confucius Plaza Co-op
  • Continuum Health
  • Cooper Union
  • Deutsche Bank
  • Diamond District BID
  • Downtown Alliance
  • Downtown Brooklyn Partnership
  • DUMBO BID
  • Durst Realty
  • East Midtown Partnership
  • East River Ferry
  • EWVIDCO
  • El Puente
  • Essex Street Market
  • Fashion Center BID
  • The Fashion Institute of Technology
  • Fischer Brothers Realty
  • Flatiron/23rd Street Partnership
  • Forrest City Ratner
  • Foursquare
  • Friends of Duane Park
  • Friends of the High Line
  • Friends of Petrosino Square
  • Ft. Greene Park
  • Fulton Area Business Alliance
  • Fulton Ferry Landing Association
  • FX FOWLE Architects
  • Goldman Sachs
  • Google
  • The Gotham Organization
  • Governors Island
  • Graham Avenue BID
  • Grand Avenue BID
  • Grand Central Library
  • Grand Central Partnership
  • Grand St Settlement
  • GreeNYC
  • GrowNYC
  • Heart of Brooklyn Cultural Association
  • Hines Realty
  • Hospital for Special Surgery
  • Hudson River Park Trust
  • Hudson Square Connection BID
  • JRT Realty
  • JSRE LLC Realty
  • League of Conservation Voters
  • LES BID
  • LES Credit Union
  • LIC Partnership
  • Lincoln Center BID
  • Lincoln Square BID
  • Local Spokes
  • Lower Manhattan Construction
  • Command Center
  • Madison Ave BID
  • Madison Square Garden
  • Manhattan Borough President Stringer
  • Manhattan Community Board 1
  • Manhattan Community Board 2
  • Manhattan Community Board 3
  • Manhattan Community Board 4
  • Manhattan Community Board 5
  • Manhattan Community Board 6
  • Manhattan Community Board 7
  • Manhattan Community Board 8
  • Marriott
  • Memorial Sloan Kettering
  • MiMA
  • MoMA PS1
  • Montague BID
  • MTA
  • Municipal Arts Society
  • Myrtle Avenue BID
  • Natural Resources Defense Council
  • Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project
  • The New School
  • New York City Department of
  • Environmental Protection
  • New York City Fire Department
  • New York City Housing Authority
  • New York City Police Department
  • New York Presbyterian Hospital
  • New York Public Interest Research Group
  • New York State Department of Transportation
  • New York University
  • New York’s Waterfront Bicycle Shop
  • Nicholas & Lence
  • NOHO BID
  • North Flatbush BID
  • Northside Merchant Association
  • NY Waterway
  • NYC & Co
  • NYC Council Member Brewer
  • NYC Council Member Cabrera
  • NYC Council Member Chin
  • NYC Council Member Comrie
  • NYC Council Member Garodnick
  • NYC Council Member James
  • NYC Council Member Lander
  • NYC Council Member Lappin
  • NYC Council Member Levin
  • NYC Council Member Mark-Viverito
  • NYC Council Member Mealy
  • NYC Council Member Mendez
  • NYC Council Speaker Quinn
  • NYC Council Member Reyna
  • NYC Council Member Rose
  • NYC Council Member Vacca
  • NYC Council Member Van Bramer
  • NYC Council Member Vann
  • NYC Department of City Planning
  • NYC Department of Citywide Administrative Services
  • NYC Department of Health
  • NYC Department of Park and Recreation
  • NYC Department of Sanitation
  • NYC Economic Development Corp.
  • NYC Office of Economic Empowerment
  • NYCHA Resident Leaders
  • NYS Assembly Member Brennan
  • NYS Assembly Member Camara
  • NYS Assembly Member Glick
  • NYS Assembly Member Gottfried
  • NYS Assembly Member Jeffries
  • NYS Assembly Member Kavanagh
  • NYS Assembly Member Kellner
  • NYS Assembly Member Lentol
  • NYS Assembly Member Lopez
  • NYS Assembly Member Millman
  • NYS Assembly Member Nolan
  • NYS Assembly Member Quart
  • NYS Assembly Member Robinson
  • NYS Assembly Member Rosenthal
  • NYS Assembly Speaker Silver
  • NYS Assembly Member Towns
  • NYS Senator Adams
  • NYS Senator Dilan
  • NYS Senator Duane
  • NYS Senator Espaillat
  • NYS Senator Gianaris
  • NYS Senator Krueger
  • NYS Senator Montgomery
  • NYS Senator Squadron
  • NYU Polytechnic
  • Pace University
  • Park Slope Civic Council
  • Park Slope Food Co-op
  • Partnership for NYC
  • Partnerships for Parks
  • Pier 79
  • Port Authority Bus Terminal
  • Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
  • Public Advocate de Blasio
  • Queens Community Board 2
  • Real Estate Board of New York
  • Recycle-a-Bicycle
  • Red Lantern Bicycles
  • Related
  • Rockefeller Foundation
  • Rockrose
  • Rodale Press
  • Seward Park Co-Op
  • Silverstein Properties
  • SL Green
  • Stuyvesant High School
  • Sutton Area Community
  • TF Cornerstone
  • Times Square Alliance
  • Tishman Speyer
  • Transportation Alternatives
  • Turtle Bay Association
  • Two Trees Management Company
  • Union Square Partnership
  • U.S. Representative Clarke
  • U.S. Representative Nadler
  • U.S. Representative Rangel
  • U.S. Representative Towns
  • U.S. Representative Velasquez
  • U.S. Representative Maloney
  • Village Alliance
  • Vornado
  • Woodhull Hospital

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