Two weekend rides, and a CitiBike spotting

Yesterday I rode my bike down to SoHo via the 9 Av bike lane.  It was the first time I had taken the route that far.  At a red light, an elderly gentleman pulled up next to me and said in a heavy European accent, "You are wearing a helmet.  That is good.  We can heal a broken arm but not a broken head."  I thought about how few Europeans wear helmets while bicycling (at least relative to Americans).  Cycling is seen as such a normal activity (just like walking) that it is expected to be safe--and of course it is much safer in Europe due to a combination of urban design and laws that put the burden of safety on operators of dangerous vehicles.

Once I reached the Meatpacking District, vehicular and pedestrian traffic became very congested, with many vehicles blocking each intersection.  It was difficult to maneuver around them.  I wonder if this would be a good place to widen sidewalks and narrow roadways to reduce car traffic.  The West Village was more pleasant, although it was frequently necessary to maneuver around turning vehicles.  Once I got onto 7 Av South I was able to ride much faster, which was nice although it meant being surrounded by speeding traffic.

On the return trip, I took the Hudson River Greenway.  It is one of my favorite places to ride because it is completely separated from motor vehicles and all using it are clearly enjoying themselves.  (Unfortunately, every so often a motor vehicle infringes--a Parks Dept. trash collector zipped past me, its rear wheel coming within mere inches of my left leg.  It then stayed directly in front of me for a long time, trailing a smelly plume of exhaust and trash in my face.)  There is a section above Riverside Park where the path becomes like a washboard.  Every time I ride it I wonder what it will take to have it resurfaced.

Today I took a recreational ride around upper Manhattan.  It is a route I enjoy but don't often ride because the Harlem River Greenway is so neglected.  Washboard pavement, litter and junk detract from the beautiful surroundings and cause me to worry about punctures.  The section linking the waterfront to 155 St involves an uncomfortably narrow cattle chute where two people cannot easily pass.  While I rarely pass anyone coming the other way, many more people undoubtedly would use the path if it were better designed and maintained.

Double parking is a significant problem on St Nicholas Av and Dyckman St.  There seems to be absolutely no enforcement of parking regulations uptown, and even less on Sundays.  I simply rode in the center of the general traffic lane and braced myself for the blast of a car horn.  If anyone yelled at me to get in the bike lane, I would simply point out that their fellow motorists had made that impossible.  Thankfully, no one honked--they seemed to recognize the situation.

I was pleased to see construction of a ramp extending the Hudson River Greenway to Dyckman St so that it will no longer be necessary to use the Hudson River Parkway on-ramp to access the path.  I am hopeful that it can be extended even farther north through Inwood Hill Park--it would be nice to have an alternative to Broadway, which is not very bike-friendly.  Alternatively, adding bike lanes and ticketing/towing double-parkers could improve cycling conditions on Broadway.

Near the George Washington Bridge, some people had stopped to take photos, and a CitiBike was lying across the path.  I maneuvered around it, suggesting that they move it before someone got hurt.  I wondered why anyone would ride a CitiBike up so far, and especially on such a hilly path.

I hope to take a CitiBike for a spin soon.  Until the system is expanded uptown, it is not an option for my daily travel, but I fully expect it to be indispensable once expansion occurs.

Thoughts on bike lanes

On Saturday, I rode my bicycle from Harlem to the Theatre District using the 7 Av and Columbus Av bike lanes.  I encountered a few obstacles, such as pedestrians standing or walking in the lanes and, where the lanes were not physically separated from the roadway (mainly on 7 Av in Harlem), an abundance of parked vehicles.  The separated lane on Columbus Av was generally pleasant, but I quickly became frustrated with the frequent red lights for the bike lane to allow a left-turn signal for other traffic (regardless of whether there was any) which greatly reduced the green time for bicycles.  I dealt with this by changing into the traffic lane approaching the intersection, then merging back into the bike lane which worked well.  Near 81 St, there was a farmers’ market immediately adjacent to the bike lane, with produce crates sitting around and people crossing the lane to access parked trucks.  There were cones and signs to caution shoppers and cyclists, and I left the bike lane for a few blocks to find more room and better visibility.  When I reached 66 St and Broadway, a massive intersection with lots of traffic, I felt momentarily unsafe among speeding and turning vehicles, and I kept an eye over my right shoulder to watch for left-turning vehicles.  I successfully reached the other side where the bike lane resumed.  Clearer pavement markings may be needed to remind drivers of the presence of bicycle traffic, highlight conflict zones, and guide cyclists across the intersection.  (Sidewalk extensions could also slow traffic and increase pedestrian safety.)  Farther south, there was construction in the bike lane. In one location, it was completely blocked, and cyclists had to dodge speeding traffic to navigate around the obstacle.  In another location, a bicycle right-of-way had been established around the area with flexible plastic posts.

On my ride back uptown, I used the 8 Av/Central Park West bike lane.  At Columbus Circle, the lane abruptly ended, and I navigated through the circle to get from the left side of 8 Av to the right side of Central Park West.  While startling at first, traffic in the circle was slow-moving and merging was not difficult.  The ride up Central Park West was pleasant, until I reached Frederick Douglass Circle and had a close call with a driver who ignored a red light.  That would be enough to scare some people away from bicycling altogether.

While it is encouraging to see bicycling infrastructure being installed, a lot more needs to be done to make cyclists feel safe if the city is to continue to attract people to such a healthy and sustainable mode.  I am a lifelong rider and regularly find myself in uncomfortable situations in traffic; small wonder that so many people continue to ride on the sidewalk.

CitiBike adventure by Bob Bryce

 

I see CitiBikes all of the time in their racks, and many of those bike racks are mostly empty, but I rarely notice the bikes on the street being used in Manhattan.  It’s such a rare observation, that when I actually do see one being used, it stands out in my mind. 

My general thoughts about CitiBike are positive, in that it seems to be successful from a user perspective, not necessarily a financial perspective since I’ve heard and read that the annual fee is going to be or is considered to be raised.  Does one raise an annual fee on an unsuccessful venture or reduce the fee to entice additional users?  If unsuccessful, a free market capitalist would go with the latter, and the government would elect the former thinking, as Government does, that by raising the fee, more money will be collected.  If successful, both schools of economic thought would raise the fee.    I assume the program is a success and that is why an annual fee increase is being considered.  Because they can.  I consider CitiBike to be a good idea and I’m pleased to see it implemented as well as (apparently) utilized.

From the New York Times Published: March 21, 2013:

“From April through October, an average of 18,717 people were recorded, at the locations on weekdays from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., down slightly from 18,846 in 2011. Over the three previous years, cycling had increased by 26 percent, 13 percent and 8 percent in the same period.”

 

In my Master’s Degree Program at City College, in the Sustainable Transportation Class, taught by Professor Daus, the first assignment is to rent a CitiBike and write about the experience.  This is the only way that CitiBike would ever get one cent of my money or one second of my time.  To get from point A to point B, I am very satisfied with the Metro or my feet.  If the distance is far, beyond my time constraints or physical ability, I take the subway.  Otherwise, I love and prefer to meander around the city by foot. 

From some effortless web surfing, I learned that I may select from a fleet of 6,000 bicycles, scattered across more than 300 stations in Manhattan below 59th Street and parts of Brooklyn.

 

Approaching this project, my initial thinking is that CitiBike is the worst of both worlds for me, but obviously desirable and attractive to many others. The act of concentrating on maneuvering a bike will detract me from the many observations which I enjoy making while walking such as looking at architectural details, or people watching, and if a distant destination were the reason for utilization, the metro would be a better option for me over riding a bike.

As I write this, I will admit that I am not looking forward to my ten dollar, 30 minute experience; however, that is my first blush, and first glance understanding of what my expense will be. My expense may be more.  I am always up for an adventure.  However, this is an adventure which I am not in any way excited about, even though I love adventures.  When I lived in Michigan, I kept my boat in Maine in the summer and Miami in the winter and my crew and I sailed her north and south many times in the heavy seas as well as heavy winds present in the Atlantic Ocean. Additionally, as a pilot, I flew my plane from Michigan to and from wherever the boat was located.  I’m calm headed in situations where my crew and passengers lives depend on clear thinking and quick reactions to situations, and I am always cautious.  Riding a bike in Manhattan seems to me to be an even more potentially dangerous situation than sailing in the enormous Atlantic Ocean or flying thousands of feet above the ground.  I am exposing myself to the bad judgment of others, especially those who are driving many ton vehicles which, if we were to find ourselves on a collision course, I have  little control of the situation, few  escape route options, and the results could be very deleterious to my well-being.

I asked my girlfriend to come in to the city from Oyster Bay to join me in this adventure, and her first reaction was to tell me about seeing a girl riding a bike in the city getting hit by a car.  Not a good start.  Trooper that she is though, she agreed, and on Friday, September 12^th, 2014 after I finished teaching my class in Brooklyn at 12:30 pm, she will join me for this adventure. 

Step one was to determine where we would meet, so I accessed the CitiBike website to learn of the locations of the bike racks, and was very surprised to see how many locations are active.  I was also impressed that one could hover over or click on a location and learn how many bikes were out and how many bikes were available. 

My current thinking is that we will bike through Central Park to avoid the cars as much as possible and drop the bike off at the other end of the park.  Hopefully this adventure will take less than the half hour allocated, which will then NOT require additional expense above and beyond the initial ten dollars per person which is my understanding of the cost.

Another reason I would not use this service were it not an assignment is that I usually have a briefcase with me when I’m in the city and I don’t recall seeing any device to put this brief case in.  If true, that would be one suggestion for improvement in the service that I would make- a basket for carrying items such as groceries, packages and of course my briefcase.  The transportation of heavy items is one advantage that CitiBike may have over the Metro.  CitiBike might be able to do the heavy lifting, while using the Metro makes me do the heavy lifting.  If I had a big package, and CitiBike has a respectable front and/or rear basket, then I may alter my thinking and suggest that perhaps I would in fact find the bike more desirable than walking or subway riding when I have a heavy package to lug around.

 

Notes from “the” Friday.

Of all the things that I thought would or could go wrong with my CitiBike assignment, the multitude of wrongness’ that actually did occur, none make it to my imaginary list.

I awoke on Friday morning, awaking a half hour late from my desired time of 4:30 am, but still leaving me a comfortable window to arrive at my first class in Brooklyn on time.  As I prepared to depart my comfortable abode, I did my usual checklist of necessities:  wallet, watch, sunglasses, phone, pen, briefcase, keys…and it was at that point that I realized I had not placed my keys in their usual resting spot.  Being a “Place for everything and everything in its place” kind of guy, this is an extremely unusual occurrence.  As I searched high and low, I decided that it might as well get a few more minutes of charging time into my phone while I searched for my keys, and returned it to its cradle.  I was stumped.  Every conceivable place that my keys could be, when searched, yielded a failure.  Finally, I was convinced that my dog had to have taken them outside, so I grabbed a very powerful spotlight and searched high and low with another failure as the outcome.  Fortunately, and finally, at one point, I did locate my keys (one of those “oh yeah” moments) and in my rush to depart, I forgot to grab my phone from its charging cradle. 

As I pulled my car into the train parking lot, I watched my train beginning its departure.  Not an issue I felt, because there always is another.  I reached for my phone to use the great Long Island Railroad app to see when the next train was scheduled to depart.  It was then that I realized that my trusted sidekick, the beast, was resting comfortably at home, in her cradle, lapping up juice, or energy as it is technically referred to.

“No big deal” I thought as I did a ‘work around a bad situation’ stroll to the posted printed schedule and learned that I had a half hour before the next train departure. I pulled my wallet from my front pocket to purchase my round trip ticket and then returned to my car.   The dilemma which faced me was this: “could I make it home, retrieve my phone, and return in time or should I go get a cup of coffee. “ I knew I could do the coffee run in plenty of time, but the home trip was a big question mark.  I went for coffee.

As I grabbed the empty Styrofoam cup from its holder at the local caffeine dispensary, apparently I squeezed a bit too hard because I crumpled it just the slightest bit.  Regarding the indentation and wondering if my superhuman strength had caused a slight break in the surface, I concluded that the only superhuman strengths I possess are in my head and proceeded to fill the cup. 

As I arrived (again) at the Oyster Bay train station, I removed my cup from its German crafted cup holder to learn that in fact I DID have superhuman strengths and dripped coffee all over myself and my car.

Walking to the train platform, I saw a five dollar bill on the ground, near the ticket vending machine.  “Woo hoo,” I thought, the CitiBike curse, as I had come to think of this day and the event, had eluded me, perhaps forever, but at least for now.  I had two five dollar bills in my front pocket, change made the previous day from a local vendor who only had three fives and five singles to exchange for my twenty.  I intended to tip the launch driver who transports me back and forth from shore to my boat, moored in Oyster Bay, with those two fivers. That is why I had the twin fives in my front pocket. Usually, they would be in their proper place, next to the other dead president pictures in my wallet.  As I attempted to add the found fiver to my other two fives in my front pocket, I realized that the five spot that I had found was actually half of the twins previously residing in my pocket and that they must have fallen out as I pulled my wallet.  No matter how hard I searched around the ticket vending machine, I could not find the other one.

So without coffee, and without a phone, and five dollars poorer, I boarded the Manhattan Bound train.  As I stared out the window assuring myself that I could get by for one day without a phone, I realized that Michele (my date) and I had not confirmed a time nor a place to meet the night before, instead relying on telephony the day of the event to establish a rendezvous.  This oversight of leaving my phone at home was now not a simple inconvenience but may be the third and final strike.  Identifying the first strike for the reader, I wore jeans to ‘The Club’ for a formal dinner, a very big no-no  (which I knew) and were it not that she had pre-assembled a table of eleven including the Commodore, we would have eaten our dinners on the beautiful back porch overlooking the great sailing Yachts moored in Oyster Bay.  We were politely requested to do just that, but Michele would not hear of it due to our table guests whom she had put forth the effort to assemble.  Strike two occurred the previous night to the big bike event when I (due to technical phone issues) bailed on our dinner date - Or so it appeared to her.   And now, I envisioned that she would travel from Oyster Bay all the way to Manhattan continuously attempting to contact me regarding our meeting place and time, only to be directed to voice mail which would inconveniently reside on my phone at home. A valid strike three.

I made it to Atlantic Terminal with time to spare to catch the subway uptown to my class and as I departed the subway station, what did I observe but a CitiBike rack!  Since I had a few minutes remaining before class was scheduled to start, I took a closer look to learn how the thing worked. 

Observing the rack, I realized that I had falsely assumed that since the sponsor is a bank that one could simply swipe a card in front of the desired bike and the bike would be released.  The only instruction on the rack is to “enter your five digit code”.  Since I didn’t have a code, nor did I understand how to get one, I was temporarily confused until I saw a posted phone number for assistance.  Reaching for my phone to call, I was reminded (again) how much I rely on the beast in my everyday life. 

So this adventure which I was not looking forward to in the beginning was not starting well at all.  Our Professor suggested that we add photos to our blog and thinking that I could make this situation into less than a total loss, I reached for my camera, to photograph the bike instructions for my blog report, the camera being a part of my phone; and once again failure describes the result.

As I was departing the CitiBike rack for class, I noticed that the device used to advertise CitiBike could also be used to store my briefcase.  Mental note made to myself: “bring a bungee cord.”

So off to teach a class.

As I rode the elevator up to my class, I realized that there are other ways to connect besides voice and text messages via phone, and upon entering the classroom, I fired up my email account and sent Michele a message explaining my non phone situation with a simple request for her to tell me when and where she would like to meet and closed with a promise to be there.

Three hours later, after the class had ended, I checked my email to find a message from her waiting.  She was not coming but before reading my email, she noted that she had left a lengthy voicemail with respect to circumstances conspiring against the adventure today.

So, after class, instead of executing my CitiBike adventure, I walked to a near building which houses the ‘teachers’ lounge’ which serves the most incredible array of food for the faculty and at an unbelievable price.  The good news was that I could indulge in a reasonably priced meal (for one), and would not have to shell out a small fortune for a trendy, overpriced meal (for two).  Unfortunately, the CitiBike curse followed me to that building and the lounge was open, but they were not serving food.

I subwayed back to The Atlantic Terminal and checked in with the information booth as to which track and at what time the next train for Oyster Bay departed.  “Track one, three twenty three” was the reply from a very friendly attendant comfortably seated behind what appeared to be bulletproof glass.  Was this glass to protect her from unhappy recipients of train schedule news?  As I once explained to my London Based Sailing crew as we were docked in Atlantic City awaiting the passing of a storm to continue our Miami bound trip, when they returned from a sightseeing excursion and excitedly expressed that they had just seen a person shot dead in the streets: “that’s how we resolve disputes in this country”, but seriously, a dispute over a train schedule?

 

The analog clock behind the information station said two fifty one, so I realizing that there was some time to kill, I departed the building to enjoy some of the fine weather which I was sure would be rain for the bike adventure, and another assumption was that  Michele would appear equally inappropriately attired for the CitiBike Adventure in her  custom made Ferragamo shoes and some other outrageously overpriced designer dress-inappropriately attired equal to my previously inappropriate attire in my jeans (yet with required jacket) at ‘The Club’, but since the adventure aborted, mother nature decided to shower me with sunshine. 

As I stepped out of the terminal, what did I see?  I saw none other than another CitiBike rack.  I spent some time observing the bikes and the racks and the instructions which were of no help to me but I did notice that the small area for storing objects has a bungee cord built into it.  So the plus is the bungee cord (for my briefcase), but the minus is that the storage area is too small to carry groceries.

Returning to the terminal, I could see the digital clock behind the ticket counter and it read 03:23.  For any blondes reading this, that was the time I was told the train would depart.  All thoughts that I could still perhaps make the train during that one minute were dashed as the clock immediately switched to 03:24 and I smiled and shook my head at my misfortune, and marveled at the continuing CitiBike curse.  I watched the clock advance to 03:25, then a second later, 03:26.  As I repositioned myself to see the entire digital clock display, I learned that what I initially thought read 03:23 was actually 3:03:23 meaning that I had plenty of time to catch my train.  And I did.

Saturday.

I’m back to the CitiBike website to figure out the payment options and am finding it difficult to learn about how to pay but I did notice this fact, that a pass bangs my credit card for not only the cost of the pass, but an additional $101.00 for every pass I purchase.  That means that had Michele shown up and had I figured out how to unlock the bikes (with my card), when we arrived at the overpriced trendy restaurant for lunch, which would have been my toll for exposing her to the adventure, after eating and when the bill arrived and I tried to pay for it with my card, the waiter would have returned saying that my card had been declined.

 

Note from the CitiBike website:

Get Started

Purchase a 24-Hour or a 7-Day Access Pass. A $101 security hold will be placed on your card for every pass you purchase.

My question is a simple one; “how long does CitiBike keep that hundo?  Is it until I return the bike, or is it longer?  No explanation of length of hold has been found yet.

At the CitiBike website, when one hovers over the “get started” icon, it displays a message: “just swipe a card, unlock and ride.  A card?  What card, my credit card?  A card issued from CitiBike?  There is NO WAY that I’m putting my credit card into a CitiBike bike rack device because there doesn’t seem to be a display terminal on the rack which allows me to select which option I’m swiping my card for.  How would CitiBike know that I don’t want a yearly pass, just a quick ride option? 

 

Further CityBke website investigation yields this message: “Before you ride, you have to purchase a pass to the system.” How do I purchase a pass?

 

 

Ok, even further surfing of the CitiBike website yielded the below image which implies that there is a kiosk at the bike rack, something I did not notice.  That makes sense, but I do not remember seeing kiosks at any of the bike racks.  Perhaps an oversight on my part?  I may sometimes be oblivious to certain things, but failing to observe the kiosk?  Hmmm, that’s a pretty big oversight.  Ok, my online quest to find out the payment options has ended and since noticing the $101.00 temporary bang to my credit card, this has absolutely become a solo adventure.  As if that option is still up to me…

 

 

Monday, September 15, 2014.  Ok color me oblivious.  The first Citybike rack I saw from across the street today, had what I considered simply a skinny vertical two sided advertisement sign. 

 

 

As I looked across the street, convinced that there was no kiosk for purchasing a pass, four CitiBike riders crossed in front of me, single file.  They were on the side of a busy street and not one of them looked like they were enjoying themselves, but looks can be deceiving.  I remember once being on a tour bus in St. Petersburg. Russia, and as our bus passed another regular transport bus, we looked in the windows of a passing bus to see the faces of the residents of the city, and one of the passengers on our bus commented; “no one was smiling on that bus.”  I thought to myself: “they may be thinking the same thing about us.” So looks can be deceiving, because we were happy-happy to be on vacation and happy that we didn’t live in St. Petersburg.

Anyway, I returned to the first scene of the crime,  the CitiBike rack in front of my class building today, and noticed another of those vertical signs, and this is why I say color me oblivious.  There is a kiosk sandwiched between the two vertical signs.  The bike racks were empty and I had read on the CitiBike website that one could get a fifteen minute free ride if there were no bikes available in the bike rack, so I went to the kiosk and punched “get a credit” button expecting to receive my credit and thinking that if I do this often enough, this class assigned adventure will cost me nothing, but since I didn’t have a card to insert for the credit to be applied to and since free is my favorite word, I consider this a failure as well.  But a small one.

 

Station Full?

Select “Request Time Credit” on the start screen of the kiosk. You will have 15 minutes added to your time at no charge to find a nearby station with available docks.

Navigating back to the CitiBike website to cut and paste the above caption I realized the site said: “Station FULL”, not empty!  I thought if one found an empty rack that one could get the credit, but as with many things CitiBike, my assumptions are wrong.  But it seemed like I was successfully navigating the Kiosk to obtain a 15 min credit.  I thought the only reason I didn’t succeed was because I didn’t’ have a CitiBike card to insert to collect the credit.

 

All of the racks were blocked by cars or so I thought, and proceeded to pull out my phone, which I did have with me this day to take a picture.  I positioned myself at the absolute end to make the shot good and during the one second between when I was ready to take a shot and actually hitting the button, someone found a way to squeeze his bike into bike slot, sandwiched between two cars, destroying my potential photo of a completely empty but blocked from use bike rack. 

  

 

 

I politely and with a smile said to him: “you couldn’t have waited one more minute?” and then as he looked at me with a puzzled look, I added; “well, I suppose I should have taken the shot one minute earlier.”  He ask me what I meant and I explained that I was trying to get a shot with all the bikes gone and blocked by the parked cars.  He said; “hold on” and proceeded to unlock the bike and move it out of the picture frame for me.  Nice guy.  Probably not a New Yorker. Perhaps I should have asked if he was a native New Yorker.  Since I didn’t ask, I am going to assume that he was originally from the mid-west.  As with most CitiBike related assumptions, this one is probably wrong too.  Imagine the different outcome had the vehicle been a car and not a bike.  I can’t imagine a car driver being so accommodating regardless of where he or she originated from.

 

 

 

 

 

With respect to the free fifteen minutes AFTER I have already paid my dues for this assigned adventure, I’m thinking now that an additional 15 minutes of use is probably the last thing I want, even if it were free.  When people see me on a CitiBike, they will correctly assume from the look on my face that I am not enjoying it.

 

I have noticed that after purchasing a new car, that I see more of that same make and model on the streets after my purchase.  It’s not that I’m any kind of trend setter as if people say: “wow, Bob bought this car so I must have one too… “and at the beginning of this assignment, I hadn’t noticed very many CitiBikes being used on the streets, but since this assignment, I am noticing more and more.  I doubt that it’s a set-up or a prop like the movie “the Truman Show” (Where a fake city was created around an unsuspecting occupant) as in “cue the bikes, here comes Bob.”  I think I’m simply more observant of them now that I’m focusing on the CitiBike project. 

Friday, September 19^th, 2014.  So today is the day that I was not looking forward to.  The day that after my class ends at 12:30 pm, I have no excuse not to get it over with.  So after my class ended, I approached the CitiBike rack outside of my class building.  From afar, I observed two guys sitting atop the bikes pointed into the racks but not actually secured in them.  As I moved closer, they were simply chatting between themselves so I approached them and said my usual opening line: “can I ask you a question?”  Without hesitation, one said yes, so I asked them if they were natives or visitors.  It turns out that they were not natives but rather visitors from Holland.  We chit chatted for a while, sharing that I had visited the Scandinavian countries many times and that I suspected that a CitiBike experience was not new to them implying that their town had something similar.  They agreed about the bike experiences not being new to them and we discussed the propensity of pretty blonde women in their town, the red light district as our Professor had also illuminated in class, and I asked them how their experience was after learning that they were not departing the bike rack but returning the bikes.  They were positive in every way and suggested that a gps color moving map would be a nice feature integrated into the bikes for out of towners.

  

I thought about just asking them to let me ride their bike around the block, saving me the ten spot, but then decided against it, since it kind of deep sixed an integral part of the experience that we are supposed to write about and I think they probably would have agreed, but what would I have to give them as collateral for their rented CitiBike? My gold Rolex, my briefcase which houses my computer, a few bucks, my $1,200.00 Mont Blanc pen, or perhaps some other object which would clearly be worth more than the savings of ten bucks should they skate? I let that thought slide into oblivion without giving the idea a voice.

 

I searched the depths of my remaining brain cells for a reason not to do the adventure, and having failed to come up with any satisfactory excuse, while realizing that there may not be too many days remaining in this year where riding a bike in the city would not be an affront to my personal comfort, I took a deep breath and accepted the inevitable.

When they boys from Holland departed, I approached the kiosk which I had so obliviously passed by so many times on my way to and from class, followed the posted instructions and began to follow the on screen directions. The screen explained that the $101.00 bang on my card will only last as long as my bank policy enforces.  Not much help in learning how long I have lost use of MY MONEY, but I think I will survive.  Yet that’s lost interest and as Mr. Kresge (the founder of the five and dime store which later became Kmart) is credited with saying: “take care of your pennies and your dollars will take care of themselves” so, how much will this adventure really cost me in the lost use of that hundo is a question bouncing around in my head. 

Before long, and quite easily, a code was displayed 33322, and I had hoped for a printed code, as I am a child of the seventies and my memory is not so great anymore.  The slot which I expected my printed code to exit from did not present a printed code, so repeating the code under my breath several times, I approached the closest bike.  I began by securely fastening my briefcase in the holder with the conveniently supplied bungee cords and then proceeded to enter my five digit code.  Nothing.  After several attempts, I considered my options.  If I had failed to remember the proper code, I wondered if I was out of luck.  To confirm the code, I unfastened my briefcase, and selected another bike.  This time I merely set my briefcase in the holder, not wanting to take the time to fasten it since it was possible that failure would be the word to describe this attempt as well.  Fortunately, the code was accepted and the bike was released for me.  It was then that I attempted to bungee my briefcase and learned that one of the lugs necessary to adequately and properly secure my briefcase had been removed.  Ten years of college was not wasted on me and after a few minutes, I successfully secured my briefcase using the remaining lugs.

 

 

 

 

Pulling the bike from the rack and repositioning it for travel yielded my first conclusion: “wow, this bike is really heavy.”

The ride itself was uneventful as I had hoped it would be, and I encountered no catastrophes.  No one stared at me from the sidewalk as if I were from outer space, so I assume CitiBike is generally accepted as a common occurrence and not some out of the ordinary passing by.

 

My route of travel through and around Brooklyn is illustrated in the below graphic. Traveling almost exclusively in the bike lane, I was blocked once by a USPS truck and another time by an elderly gentleman with his care giver who found my lane more convenient than the sidewalk.  I was surprised to learn that I could still admire the great architectural details on the buildings, and if I saw one of particular interest, I could stop for a closer examination.  Because of the speed of the bike, when a pretty girl approached from the opposite direction, I was not able to enjoy the view for as long as I could if we were approaching each other at walking speed, a tremendous disadvantage this CitiBike is in my opinion. I can stop the bike and ogle an architectural detail, but stopping to observe a pretty girl while  on a bike is nothing short of creepy.

 

I am always finding money on the ground and usually it is NOT mine, and today was no exception.  Were it not for this adventure, I would not be richer by the amount indicated in the below picture because I would not have been in the CitiBike lane. 

It took a while to manipulate the gears, not knowing how to change them, yet not long after observing the hand grip as I coasted along, and once understanding how to change gears, I realized that unlike the furniture in the story The Three Bears, no gear was ‘just right’.  Low gear was too low to use, high gear was too difficult to pedal and the middle gear which in a perfect world would have yielded satisfaction was neither too low nor too hard, but still didn’t feel ‘just right’.

During the trip, I realized that pedaling the bike reminded me of Miss Gulch, the wicked witch of the west, who rode a bike with a basket on the front.  It was not the basket which created the similarity, but rather my posture which was hunched over with my knees almost touching my chest as she was portrayed in the movie the Wizard of Oz. All that was lacking was the soundtrack of music which will always be associated with evil.    It was not until the end of the ride that I realized that I could have but did not adjust the seat, which would have eliminated the wwotw posture.

 

After returning the bike to its rack, I hung out for a while just to observe the activity at the rack and make sure that no one skated with my bike because it was not properly secured.  There was no activity and no one attempted to remove my bike.  After checking and rechecking at least a dozen times to confirm that the bike was properly attached to the rack, I returned to the kiosk and noticed that the area where I had expected my code to emerge in printed form was not where it did in fact emerge from.   Scooping out the many pieces of paper from the proper dispenser, I found my code along with many others.

So now I have proof of this adventure. Just as when I purchase a coffee at Starbucks, I am offered a receipt and always reply with:” I do not wish to carry around a reminder that I just paid five bucks for a cup of coffee,” I now have in my possession a permanent reminder of a momentary event of unenjoyable action and significant expense.

 

My adventure began at 12:57 pm and ended at 1:20pm.  Slightly shorter in length of time than I paid for, but long enough to reinforce my previous conclusion that CitiBike is not for me.  Not wanting to end any encounter or monologue (digital ink in this case) with a negative, the positive is that a CitiBike adventure is no longer a foreign one.  If ever I wish to do it again, I know how.

Summarizing my adventure, I realized that all of the difficulties presented to me were operator error, not CitiBike roadblocks.  Had I been more observant, the portion of the adventure which was involved with acquiring access to the actual bike would have been executed flawlessly. 

CitiBike has successfully captured the market with respect to those who seek more control over their mobility while avoiding Cabs, the subway and private vehicles, yet it seems clear that they have failed to capture other markets.  Businessmen dressed in suits are rarely seen utilizing the bikes, perhaps because of the side effects of pedaling the bike.  I suspect that were the bikes motorized with a small electric motor, which is a common accessory, people who are not appropriately dressed for the side effects of exercise may utilize the program.  Additionally, there is absolutely zero ‘cool factor’ with the present bikes.  Providing a more appealing looking bike might very well attract those who find it necessary to project a ‘cool’ image.  The below picture is one example of the kind of bike I would propose.

 

 

Welcome to Transportation Sustainability

Welcome to the blog of the Fall 2014 Transportation Sustainability class at the City College of New York.  Please post your experiences with CitiBike and bike infrastructure in New York City.  We hope to have a fun and engaging discussion about the impact of bicycling in NYC on the sustainability of our transportation system.