Any NYC brahs using the new bike program?

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Just copped an annual membership, no regrets.

I know there has been a lot of hate, but people will eventually warm up to the idea. An annual membership runs $95 so if you're like me who gets monthly unlimited metrocards this will pay for itself within the first month.

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Interesting to see what while happen when the streets become even more overpopulated with bikes and fatalities increase
 
so you pay to rent out bikes? I wanna read on how they keep track of these bikes

I was reading in the newspaper that you have to check into a bike station every 30 mins or so or else you have to pay some sort of fee, kinda dumb if you wanna go for a long ride in a park or something.

Also someone already stole one of the bikes.
 
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[h1]Half of Paris rental bikes stolen[/h1]
The company running the scheme also said that it can no longer cope financially with a tide of Vélib' vandalism and theft.

Vélib' -a cross between "velo" (bike) and "liberté" (freedom) - has transformed travel in the French capital since it was launched in July 2007. Its sturdy grey bikes have been used 42 million times since then.

But success has come at a high price: some 7,800 of the original 15,000 bikes (20,000 in summer) have "disappeared" – presumed stolen – and 11,600 have been vandalised. It is not uncommon to find them hanging from trees in Paris, while several were spotted in Romania last year.

JCDecaux, which looks after fleet and the 1,250 ranks around Paris, said that it can no longer afford the repair and maintenance bill, and has pleaded with the mayor, Bertrand Delanoë, to provide financial support.

In exchange for running the scheme, the town hall gave the company a ten-year licence to run 1,600 of the capital's billboards. But Rémi Pheulpin, JCDecaux's director general, said that he was losing out on the deal as "the extent of the vandalism could not have been foreseen".

"It is so high that a private business cannot handle it alone, especially as it's a problem of public order. If we want the Vélib' set-up to keep going, we'll have to change the business model," he told Le Parisien.

Every day, his staff repair or replace 1,500 bikes, and he warned that the problem would only get worse when the scheme was opened up to the suburbs, including those where the 2005 riots kicked off. The suburban extension, which began a week ago, will be complete by June.

JCDecaux is considering removing bike ranks in trouble spots, which include the Forum des Halles and Pigalle, near Montmartre.

Staff recover up to 20 abandoned bikes a day.

The town hall, which makes 20 million euros (£17.5 million) per year from the Vélib', has refused to bail out JCDecaux. But it is considering launching an "anti-vandalism" public awareness operation following a recent bike safety poster campaign.
 
I saw this while in NYC last week. Stalls were empty. I would have used it to stroll around lower manhattan. We have them in Houston. They have been here for a while.
 
na if you lose your bike the cost gets charged to your CC :lol:

the every 30 mins nonsense is also dumb.

hour and a half is more reasonable.
 
nah im good on that, I rather cough up a few dollars more and purchase my own much lighter bike.. I like the effort but Citibank and NYC can keep those
 
I wonder if there'll be an increase in bike related injuries as a result of the program. More people on the roads who don't know what they're doing and probably not wearing helmets.
 
na if you lose your bike the cost gets charged to your CC :lol:

the every 30 mins nonsense is also dumb.

hour and a half is more reasonable.

In Houston it's $1500 and it's run by the city. Unlike private places the government has ways to get a hold of you if try to get slick and get a new card.
 
Would suck to ride a bike in the winter months/rainy days

Taxi>>

It wasnt stopping those folls in NYC. Those cats were on road bikes in the rain on NYC streets. I have ridden my bike twice in the rain and got hit both times.
 
Umm yea $2.50 metro card don't sound to bad and rather just spend that $5 to go where I'm going and back home.
 
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they do this in the district (capital bike share) its pretty popular down there

but like ninjahood said, its just easier to get your own bike.
 
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Guess the appeal is not being attached to 1 bike and having to deal with locking it up, riding somewhere but getting a ride home, weather, etc. But yeah, these are all over DC.
 
the ones in Paris cost 1 euro per day and are really useful for tourists aka me. I woudnl't have seen as much as i have if it weren't for those bikes. NYC is late to the game but this is a good move even though citibank is largely doing this to enhance their public image.
if you live in ny, it makes little sense to rent them but the city is the most popular tourist destination in the world after all.
 
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Every one of those citibike stalls I saw were empty when I was in ny last week, maybe the bikes haven't been rolled out to those stalls yet?
 
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