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kottke.org posts about Sommer Mathis

Debunking criticism of NYC’s bike-share program

NYC is set to introduce their bike-share program at the end of the month. I think it’s a great idea and am interested to follow how it does in practice. Many have objected to the share program even before it starts (reminding me of the smoking ban protests, ultimately much ado about nothing) but Sommer Mathis does an admirable job heading them off.

Claim #3: The stations are too ugly for historic neighborhoods, and Citibank’s sponsorship is too crassly commercial.

These are just some of the claims behind a series of lawsuits that are already in the works, brought by specific building owners who argue that docking stations don’t belong next to their beautiful buildings. They’re also worried that delivery truck access may be impeded by the presence of some stations. The lawsuits are being filed within the context of additional complaints that neighbors feel they weren’t consulted on the location of some stations, despite the city’s department of transportation having held nearly 400 meetings on station locations with community boards and other neighborhood groups. This is a classic NIMBY reaction, and by far the easiest one the city could have predicted. The idea that bike-share infrastructure is somehow uglier or more commercial than any other element of New York’s streetscape is easy enough to debunk. But the truth is, one of the best things about the design of the Alta bike-share stations is how easy they are to install and, if need be, later remove. It’s entirely possible that small problems with the specific locations of some stations will become apparent after the program launches, and they’ll need to be moved around the corner or across the street to better serve users. This has happened here in Washington, D.C., and it’ll happen for sure in New York. But that’s all part of the bike-share roll-out process. If there’s a legitimate problem with the location of a single station, that can actually be fixed within in a matter of hours or at worst, a day or two.

Our neighborhood newspaper went full-NIMBY about the bike-share this week and hit all the major points addressed in this article, including the ridiculous “bike racks are taking valuable parking spots” one. (via @jmseabrook)