STATEN ISLAND — Bicycle racks will be installed on two Staten Island bus lines, the S53 and S93, in a year-long pilot program starting Sept. 6, the MTA announced Monday.
The Bike & Ride program is designed to make commuting easier for bicyclists who travel between Brooklyn and Staten Island via the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, said President of MTA Bus Darryl C. Irick.
"Before this program, our customers had no direct way to travel with their bicycles on public transportation between Brooklyn and Staten Island," Irick said in a statement. "Now customers can take advantage of the city’s bike lanes and greenways without worrying about how to transport their bicycles.”
"A future expansion will depend on results of this pilot and will most likely focus on routes that cross bridges," Irick added.
The S53 and S93 lines run between Staten Island and Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, and were chosen on account of their "safe access to current and planned bicycle paths, ridership and routes," according to an MTA press release. Together, the two lines serve more than 13,000 customers on an average weekday.
The bike racks will be front-mounted and each has room for two bicycles. The racks will be free to use and are available on a first-come, first-serve basis, MTA stated.
The Bike & Ride program comes on the heels of a test run in March, which was conducted without major issues, according to the MTA.
On regular MTA bus lines, bicycles are prohibited unless they are foldable bikes. In July, an MTA bus operator in Manhattan was assaulted after he refused to let a man bring a bicycle onboard the bus.
