November 14th, 2019: Sharing Is Caring

Slightly warmer today, fortunately:

Thursday Partly sunny, with a high near 45. Light and variable wind becoming southwest 5 to 7 mph in the morning.

Thursday Night Mostly cloudy, with a low around 39. West wind 5 to 7 mph.

Sunrise 6:41am

Sunset 4:39pm

The 19th Precinct continues to ingratiate themselves to cyclists:

You know when it's almost like someone likes you too much and it starts feeling weird?  We may be getting into that territory:

Or maybe it just feels like that because of the comparable neglect from other precincts.

Starting next spring, Staten Island will have a new bike share provider:

Streetsblog has more:

The Beryl system is dockless, but relies on incentives to get users to return the bikes to “bays” — parking spaces that are painted on the ground and which appear in the Beryl app. In the United Kingdom, users are charged 2 pounds if they do not return the bike to a bay — “a strong incentive” to avoid street clutter, said a company spokeswoman.

In a statement, DOT spokeswoman Alana Morales said, “Beryl presented a robust proposal to cover the whole island and has a proven track record overseas particularly in regards to their ability to limit sidewalk obstruction and clutter.” (She did not provide additional information about the track record of a company that apparently only operates 1,500 bikes in two small English towns and a small portion of London.)

Ideally we'd have Citi Bike in all five boroughs, but it looks like Staten Island will remain quarantined for the foreseeable future.

Meanwhile, Citi Bike celebrated its new Brooklyn stations yesterday:

Alas, still no word on when ebikes will return to the system:

Good news for people who like bike news, certainly. But sadly lost in all that cheering is any mention of pedal-assist. That fleeting, glimmering shooting star of the cycle-share cosmos, you'll recall, disappeared without warning more than six months ago. Time and time again we have asked the people at Lyft, which now owns Citi Bike: Where have all the e-bikes gone? Time and time again, they have said: nothing.

Though shots do indicate the city may be piloting porta-potty share:

Hey, they're in the best possible spot to relieve yourself after the fraught act of crossing a New York  City street.

And beyond the city limits, the Yonkers electric car charging network is coming along nicely:

If it proves successful it'll be extension cords and power strips for everybody.

Yesterday, Hudson River Greenway commuters got a preview of the sort of fun they can expect this winter:

It's only been a year since lights finally came to Cherry Walk, and now the new detour is plunged into darkness:

State Senator Robert Jackson wrote a letter to the Parks Department raising a “grave concern” about the path around the 79th Street Boat Basin section, where the roundabout puts vehicles and cyclists in closer contact. The bollards separating cyclists from cars in that section are not substantial enough, he writes. And the angle of the roadway at the southern part of that bypass is steep and not well-marked, creating new problems for pedestrians and cyclists. See the full letter here.

Should be lots of fun when it's icy.

Finally, one New York Times writer needs to work on his closing arguments:

Exhibit A: What percentage of bike riders do you see ignoring traffic lights, riding the wrong way in traffic, using, or not using, bike lanes at their discretion? And Exhibit B: How many times have you seen a police or traffic officer stop and ticket a bike rider for a traffic violation? I rest my case.

Only 16,254 times in 2018 alone.

But who's counting?