Four New York boroughs to trial dockless bike-share scheme

Four boroughs in New York will host a dockless bike share scheme this summer to offer citizens an inexpensive transportation option. The project, announced by Mayor Bill de Blasio, will allow the city to evaluate different dockless companies as well as those offering pedal-assist bikes. Initially, two pilots will launch in beach communities Coney Island in Brooklyn and the Rockaways in Queens in July. Two more initiatives will then follow in the neighbourhood near Fordham University in the Bronx and on Sta
June 4, 2018 Read time: 2 mins
Four boroughs in New York will host a dockless bike share scheme this summer to offer citizens an inexpensive transportation option. The project, announced by Mayor Bill de Blasio, will allow the city to evaluate different dockless companies as well as those offering pedal-assist bikes.


Initially, two pilots will launch in beach communities Coney Island in Brooklyn and the Rockaways in Queens in July. Two more initiatives will then follow in the neighbourhood near Fordham University in the Bronx and on Staten Island's North Shore.

The project stems from a Request for Expressions of Interest issued by Department of Transport (DoT) in December 2017 that sought ideas around next-generation dockless public bike share systems.

The DoT will present plans to each community board and establish the boundaries for each area. In addition, the department will select the companies assigned to the communities.

These bikes will arrive on a rolling basis with the intention of having 200 models available to offer riders half-hour journeys. Users will be able to rent the vehicles from a mobile phone, usually for $1 or $2 per ride.

During the initiative, the DoT will assess companies' compliance with pilot requirements around data accessibility and user privacy. The criteria will also include the safety, availability and durability of the bikes.

After September, the DoT will work with local stakeholders to extend or discontinue the trials based on performance.

Urban Traffic Control

Related Content

  • Report analyses multiple ITS projects to highlight cost and benefits
    March 16, 2015
    Every year in America cost benefit analysis is carried out on dozens of ITS installations and pilot studies and the findings, along with the lessons learned, are entered into the Department of Transportation’s (USDOT’s) web-based ITS Knowledge Resources database. This database holds more than 1,600 reports and periodically the USDOT reviews the material on file to draw conclusions from this wider body of evidence. It has just published one such review ITS Benefits, Costs, and Lessons Learned: 2014 Update Re
    Read More
  • Demand management schemes, is there a better way?
    January 31, 2012
    The European Commission is placing too much emphasis on the use of demand management, according to the FIA. Here, Wil Botman, Director-General of the FIA's European Bureau, explains why. Towards the end of last year, the European Bureau of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) released a statement which criticised the European Commission's (EC's) approach to urban traffic congestion following the adoption of the Action Plan on Urban Mobility. In particular, the FIA voiced concerns over what it
    Read More
  • Stop thinking and act on cooperative infrastructures
    February 2, 2012
    OmniAir's Tim McGuckin looks at why metropolitan transportation networks might be the key to securing the long-term funding of cooperative infrastructure
    Read More
  • Q-Free pilot “will have implications around the world”
    October 13, 2020
    Next year, Q-Free will lead a first-of-its-kind European pilot to consider the viability of use-based driver fees to help fund and promote sustainable transportation. The brainchild of Q-Free engineers, notably overall pilot lead, Ola Martin Lykkja, the study aims to develop a solution for a problem many countries face; declining fuel tax revenues as a result of increasingly efficient vehicles and the growth of electric and alternative vehicle technologies. While the worldwide reduction of vehicle emissions is a crucial goal, one unfortunate by-product is the ever-reducing fuel tax revenue stream that could eventually spiral down to zero.
    Read More

Highlighted Content