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Bike-Sharing at N.Y.U. Offers a Hint of How City Program Could Work


March 21, 2012

By CHRISTINE HAUGHNEY

Read More: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/22/ny...it_th_20120322

It is the kind of news the city’s Transportation Department would love to report someday: a New York City bike-share program that attracts all types of cyclists, from budding entrepreneurs to university professors, and does not lead to stolen bikes or injured riders. But the results of a small pilot program are not the city’s to claim.

- For the past two years, New York University has had a 30-bike pilot program with 10 locations for its students and employees. The program is but a fraction of the 600 rental stations and 10,000 bikes that will make up the city’s ambitious program, which is to begin this summer. But N.Y.U.’s program does suggest that bike-share programs can work in New York City. On Wednesday, the university added 45 bicycles and made the program permanent. “The demand was very quickly outstripping supply,” said Jeremy Friedman, the manager of sustainability initiatives for the university, who has been working with students to organize the bike-share program.

- The program started in 2008, when Julia Ehrman, a student and cycling fan, sought to repair old and used bicycles for students to ride. But the cost was too high, so Ms. Ehrman applied with a friend for a grant from the university, and they were given $13,000. After they found that the used bikes were too expensive to repair, they reached a deal with Hudson Urban Bicycles to purchase 30 Biria bikes that the shop had bought for the city’s Summer Streets events. Then they enlisted some seniors studying computer technology in the arts to design a type of technology so that students could swipe their student identification card to obtain a bicycle.

- In the fall of 2009, Mr. Friedman stepped in and enlisted the help of dormitory resident advisers. They organized 30-minute training sessions for students to learn how to ride safely and required bikers to wear helmets. They simplified the program, allowing students to sign out the bikes from the front desks of their dormitories, the way they would check out a vacuum cleaner or a board game. At the same time, the university created more space for students to store their own bikes and those borrowed from the program in dormitories and at bike racks. The program began operating in the summer of 2010. Mike Sandmel, the coordinator of the bike-share program, said that during the first couple of months only 200 students signed up for bikes, for which there is no charge. But soon, word of mouth drew 1,000 members. He said that many participants had also decided to purchase bikes after using the program for a few weeks.

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