Dockless Bikes To Roll Out In NYC This Summer

NEW YORK, NY — A dockless bike-sharing program will hit the streets in New York City's outer boroughs this summer. The Rockaways, Coney Island, the Bronx and Staten Island will be proving grounds for the program offering cheap bike rentals without bulky docking stations, Mayor Bill de Blasio's office announced Thursday.

The city chose four areas that existing bike-sharing efforts have not yet reached. Unlike Citi Bike, which makes riders park bikes in curbside docks, the new program will let riders rent freestanding bikes using a mobile phone for $1 to $2 a ride.

"We are bringing new, inexpensive transportation options to neighborhoods that need them," de Blasio said in a statement. "Dockless public bike sharing starts this summer, and we're excited to see how New Yorkers embrace this new service."

Officials plan to test the program along the beaches in Coney Island and the Rockaways, near Fordham University in the Bronx and on Staten Island's North Shore. The exact boundaries have yet to be finalized.

The city plans to roll out 200 bikes offering half-hour rides into the four areas in July. The program will include some electric bikes that require the rider to pedal, which the city recently sanctioned after launching a crackdown on electric bikes earlier this year.

The zones won't overlap with areas served by Citi Bike, which has recorded nearly 60 million trips since its launch in 2013.

The Department of Transportation plans to pick companies next month to run the program in each of the four zones. Twelve companies have expressed interest in helping the city create a dockless bike program.

The DOT will decide whether to extend or stop the pilot programs in the fall based on performance and work with local communities. The city may eventually decide to bring the bikes to other areas.

"We will start in July on a small scale in each borough outside Manhattan, and we will take what we learn over the next few months to make informed, clear-eyed decisions as to whether New York City’s bike-share future is dockless," Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg said in a statement.

(Lead image: People cycle on the Coney Island boardwalk in April 2018. Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)