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Locals to Discuss Bike Share Locations on Hell's Kitchen Streets

By Mathew Katz | January 30, 2012 7:34am

HELL’S KITCHEN — Bike riders are getting the chance to choose where to pick-up some of 10,000 new bikes that are coming to the city.

Chelsea and Hell's Kitchen residents will pick locations for new bike-share stations in Chelsea and Hell’s Kitchen at a forum on Tuesday at Holland House, at 351 W. 42nd St.

The city is set to launch its new bike share plan next summer, modeled after similar programs in Paris, London and Washington, D.C. The summer roll out is set to include 10,000 bikes, which can be borrowed from and returned to any of 600 solar-powered stations across the city.

Under the program, people can either buy an annual membership for around $100, or a weekly or daily pass, at street kiosks or online. The price of those passes hasn't been settled on.

Alta Bicycle Share, a company that runs bike share programs around the world, will run the program.

Tuesday’s meeting will be the first of many in neighborhoods across Manhattan and Brooklyn where residents will be able to place the stations.

The stations will typically be about 1,000 feet apart, can’t be on narrow sidewalks, and should avoid being on parking spaces in busy avenues.

Most of the decision-makers behind the project will be at the meeting, including representatives from the city’s Department of Transportation and Community Board 4, State Senator Tom Duane, Councilwoman Gale Brewer, and Assemblyman Richard Gottfried.

Making the final decision where to put the stations may be a challenge for the DoT — an online map that allows New Yorkers to suggest spots is crowded with potential bike share stations, with one on almost every block in Manhattan.

The Chelsea/Hell's Kitchen Bike Share Forum starts at 6 p.m. in the Piano Room of Holland House, 351 W. 42nd St.