Some neighbors felt blindsided when a CitiBike station was placed on 76th street. Photo by Joseph Bolanos.
The city quietly changed the locations of two Upper West Side CitiBike stations, upsetting some locals who consider the change “sneaky.”
A CitiBike station that the Department of Transportation had said would be placed on 81st street between Columbus and Amsterdam was moved to 82nd street between Columbus and Central Park West. A station set to be placed on 78th between Columbus and Amsterdam was moved to 76th street west of Columbus.
The Department of Transportation didn’t respond to requests for comment on the changes. Community Board manager Penny Ryan confirmed the changes but neither she nor board chair Elizabeth Caputo explained why. Council member Helen Rosenthal’s office also didn’t respond to a question about the new locations.
DOT heard complaints about many of the 39 stations planned for the neighborhood at meetings over the past few months. At a June meeting, multiple people complained about the 81st street station, in part because it would be in conflict with a crosstown bus. But the city published a final plan in July that included that station, along with the one 78th. You can see it here.
Collette Shine, a member of the 76th street block association, said there was no public process to place the station on her block. She said the city gave them 36 hours notice the stations were coming. That block, she noted, has “a lot of other stuff going on,” including a synagogue, a school and Riverside Chapel.
“I like to think of the UWS as a great community and this was certainly not community minded,” she wrote to us. “It’s not just about parking. It’s about accidents, increased bike traffic on already crowded side streets and aggravation to vendors in a thriving flea market. We have a terrific block association that works collaboratively with the school, JASA, the synagogue, the funeral home and GreenFlea. I am incredibly upset by the sneaky nature of this Citibike station.”
Shine said the block association is considering a formal challenge to the new station.
There was also an issue with Citibike placement near an East Side school.
Citibike was installed outside of PS 290 and there were concerns as the street is closed to traffic for school recess. In addition, some parents felt the Citibike station impedes school bus and vehicle access at drop-off/pick-up.
God forbid THE CHILDREN are inconvenienced.
Before they came, I thought they’d be on the sidewalk, which would have been a disaster, but instead they are taking up parking spaces, which are at a premium on most side streets. Leaves and litter get trapped between the curb and the 35-bike long stations. Who is going to clean this? Who is going to shovel them out when it snows?
The Sanitation Department does try to clean though clearly in NYC, people litter everywhere unfortunately.
However, depending upon the location, Citibike stations do make it more difficult for sanitation workers to do street pick-up. Sanitation trucks cannot no longer get close to the curb and workers need to haul trash bags over the Citibike station – more physical stress for sanitation workers. (And hopefully for cyclists, the trash bags don’t break when the workers are hauling over the bike station.)
How many cars are displaced so that 35 people can use bikes?
answer: 4?
35 vs. 4?
you lose.
Bikes4all.
actually, I was kind of surprised at how many parking spaces were usurped for the Citibike stands, especially at 84th between Broadway and Amsterdam. It nearly takes up half the block! I don’t understand why they can’t put some of these stations on the sidewalk, particularly in places where the sidewalk is super-wide.
Citibike can come up to west 97th street and put a bike station on the 50′ wide sidewalk!
still plenty more bikes vs. cars.
you still lose.
More like 12 parking spots are gone…. and I have seen no more then 5 bikes stationed on 76th street since it has been installed. Just multiple empty bike slots.
THere are hundreds of citibike stations throughout NYC. All of these concerns are addressed. I don’t know exactly how, but I don’t really care, since it works.
Ahhh…the NIMBYs are alive and well!
NIMBY, of course, means Not In My Back Yard.
Its subsidiary is OIYBY, or Okay In Your Back Yard!
Both organizations are sub-sets of UWSKS.
That’s Upper West Side Kvetching Society, whose motto is: Lamento Ergo Sum,
or I Kvetch, Therefore I Am!
I’ve seen you Kvetch just as much as the next headache, we’re just not talking about one of your Kvetch subjects today. Be patient, somebody will complain about a homeless person breathing out in public where their family can see and you can have your turn.
West 76th St. is already massively congested, with a very active synagogue that houses service for the elderly and a daycare center, a school, a flea market, a farmers market, and at 118 W. 76th St., a heavy-gauge construction site where a dumpster is permanently located to accommodate the drilling into bedrock. The installation of these citibikes displaces parking for the flea market, the space utilized for loading and unloading vans. This move by the Transportation Authority constitutes a hostile takeover.
Judy, could you please tell me where the flea market and farmer’s market are located? I’m always in the Lincoln Center area and didn’t even realize there was another one ‘up’ town.
This is a different Judy replying, but the farmer’s market is behind the Natural History Museum on Columbus on Sunday and the flea market is inside and on the outdoor fenced in space behind the school at 77th and Columbus, opposite Shake Shack, also on Sunday.
Thanks so much for the info Judy Harris, I really appreciate it!
Move ’em closer to the subway entrances. We need more stations with fewer bikes at each!
Whether you like it or not the official plan had these bikes on other blocks. This sounds like a sneaky plan by city officials and some powerful neighbors to move the bikes elsewhere. I WANT THE BIKES ON 81st!!! Dozens of cars park there, we can have a few bikes. Citibike is welcome to place the station right in front of my building.
I’m with you, Richard! I live on Amsterdam and have been waiting for the last few Citibike stations to get filled in, but also dismayed to watch two planned stations jump much further from my door. Amsterdam is going to have a nine-block gap between stations, once they install the 82nd Street station, and Columbus has a ten-block gap, from 74th all the way to 84th.
Having to walk at most four and a half blocks if stranded in the middle of the Citibike Amsterdam Avenue desert doesn’t seem particularly onerous….
I hope the Citibikes keep expanding within the current zone and continue moving north.
Yup – I can walk, I just liked the initial plan better. I’m with you, I hope they fill in up north quickly too.
Streetsblog covered the lower density of bikeshare in the UWS and UES and how it can weaken the beneficial network effects – this is from before the station spots were pushed away from 78th and 81st.
https://www.streetsblog.org/2015/07/01/motivate-and-dot-squabble-jeopardizing-success-of-bike-share-expansion/
It’s quite a Citibike gap that the nimby’s and community board have created. Real disservice to the community.
So lets take a bet and see just when the Citibike management goes to the city and demands XXX millions to keep the thing runing?
Once again…Attention UWS Ultra Progressive, Mankind is Warming the Climate, Big Oil Is Killing US All, Al Gore Worshiping Democrats…We need to get rid of cars. Cars are bad for the environment. Bikes are good. Manhattan is a small island. Why do you need a car? Bikes are good for the air, good for the body and good for our society. A bike stand does not impede old people, houses of worship, or school fairs selling counterfeit crap and used furniture. Please put aside your patented UWS NIMBYism and remember you are supposed to believe in Green solutions. If you forgot, I am sure that Al Gore has a phone line you can call.
Oh, Please. Talk about kvetch.
Jeff, about a month back, I made the same assertion, but I was corrected.
Apparently, the transportation of bikes, by motor vehicle, from location to location to meet various peak demands negates any value for the environment.
For what it’s worth, I’ve never seen citibikes being transported from location to location by a motor vehicle. I have only seen 3 or 4 them at a time on a little flatbed type thing attached to a human-powered bike. A sort of pedicab for citibikes.
I see a truck bringing bikes to 84th & Columbus every morning, simply because Citibike has become so popular straight away that all the bikes are gone by about 8.30am. The popularity is why you only see a few bikes on the stands – as soon as they’re brought along they’re used! The big problem is finding somewhere to leave them at night as plenty of people are riding home from work and filling the stands!
Each time I’ve seen it, mainly across the street from the Time-Warner building, the bikes were being moved by (motorized) trucks.
I saw the 84th/Columbus station being replenished with bikes off a truck last Thursday at 8:40am. During street cleaning, while the garbage truck was blocking traffic. The entire block/Columbus intersection was backed up for 20 min.
Not sure why the need for the bike station on 85th/CPW and also on 84th/Columbus.
Another example of why community board meetings and group discussions are a joke. Tammany Hall will do what they want whether you like it or not. Money brings political clout and favors. DOT is no different than those agencies that secretly allow developers to build, while the people voice their opinion or displeasure. In this particular example people met to discuss and agree on locations with city approval. And yet the people’s voice is voided. 🙁
Re: “…Tammany Hall will do what they want….”
Ummm…F.Y.I., Tammany Hall (the organization, not its historic building, DISAPPEARED decades ago, its demise hastened by “The Little Flower”, the great reformist/progressivist Mayor Fiorello La Guardia.
AND Tammany was NOT so terrible for the many ways it helped the dirt-poor Irish immigrants in NYC. Want proof? Read “Machine Made”, a recent history of Tammany.
It started out with good intentions, but it quickly grew corrupt – magnified with Boss Tweed. In the halls of City Hall, Tammany Hall is known for a period of corruption in the history of NYC.
Machine Made is indeed a good read, but as it clearly also notes , , , a bad time for NYC Politics!
I was told that the bikes were moved from 81st st. to 76th st. due to problems with the 81st. st. location – namely, that the area where the racks were installed was on an inclined portion of the road, and the racks don’t work well on an incline. So it was relocated.
I agree that 81st and Columbus was a bad site for the Citibikes. Besides the incline, that is a very busy intersection and the cross-town bus passes by there. Sounded like an accident (or accidents) waiting to happen. I kind of like them on 82nd and CPW. The street is quiet and near the entrance to the park. I park my car on the street, but I’m not too concerned about the loss of parking spots. We need to encourage bike usage in the city and decrease reliance on cars. (I use my car primarily for out-of-town trips.)
Why is there such venom being directed towards Citybike here on this blog? The UWSider love for the car is a true indication that we are now a suburb within Manhattan.
No truer words have ever been written!! As a born and raised UWSer (who knows that “real” NYers don’t have drivers licences, let alone an actual car), this is incredibly sad..
True, it certainly does have many suburban qualities. In fairness, though, automobiles seem to occupy every available on-street parking space in every neighborhood in the city. East Village, West Village, Chelsea, Inwood, and so on are all packed with car owning residents.
The citi-bikes will become part of the fabric of the city. People just need time to adjust and get over themselves.
Very True!!!
Ditch the “Citi” part and I’m on board.
I’m betting you won’t be.
how much?
Why does sneaky and deceitful behavior by this Administration surprise you? DeBlassio believes in keeping the voters in the dark.
They already have citibikes on W 76th and Central Park West. Do we really need more one block away?
More bikes, less cars. Win-win.
Not a fan of cars – don’t know how to drive – but not happy about Citibike expansion either.
Does not seem right that bus and subways continue to deteriorate and fares rise – but the biking infrastructure expands.
And, more often than not, seems that NYC cyclists disregard pedestrians. (Seems to be “regular” cyclists who disregard pedestrians, not exploited and underpaid delivery workers)
More recently have noticed more cyclists disregarding MTA buses, causing buses to slow or stop.
while your comment might have been written to sound very PC, the “exploited and underpaid” delivery bikers actually break the rules of the road CONSTANTLY. I see it dozens of times per day within the 5 blocks I walk from my home to the subway. In fact a couple weeks ago I was walking home from Trader Joe’s and saw a delivery guy nearly hit (at high speed) a very elderly man who was crossing with the light. The biker was running a red and, of course, biking the wrong way on the one-way street. The elderly man dropped his bag of groceries (I think because he was startled) and after I helped him rebag them he and enjoyed a lovely stroll to his WEA apartment. The delivery guys are the worst. I wish they could be better policed.
Think about this next time you order in.
It sounds like you’re not happy about or a fan of anything
So many experts. The UWS would be nothing without our “experts” on so much stuff! But here’s a question, where are the facts? How many accidents involving Citibikes have occurred? How many Citibikes riders have been injured by “traffic”? How many pedestrians have been injured by Citibikes and their “incompetent ” riders? Surely there must be statistics supporting so many experts facts/opinions!
Why are experts, traffic and incompetent in quotes? Is supposed to make your request easier to understand?
You can be an expert too by using the internet. I’ll do you a solid and help you out.
https://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2014/05/30/nyc_citi_bike_zero_fatalities_in_new_york_city_bike_share_program_s_first.html
“Sneaky” is exactly right. Why not half as many bike stations here? Why take nine parking places WITH NO NOTICE? With the funeral, synagogue and school bus traffic, it’s not a good block for bikers.
Oh please stop.
It amazes me how anyone can make a clear argument against citibikes. If you go to any progressive city in the world it is clear that a population density anywhere close to manhattan relies more on public transportation and public bike systems than cars. For those who bellyache about the intersection around the natural history museum, there is no reason why the whole two block radius should not be shut down and pedestrian only for the flea market and farmers market. In fact they should both be larger and more of an event. It amazes me we shut down streets for the cookie cutter summer street fairs but not for things like flea markets and farmers markets. We complain about empty storefronts and businesses leaving, but we are unwilling to make the UWS a destination for anyone other than people who live here. We want people to ride their city bikes up here and use our businesses and have convenient places to dock them. We want people to come to the best farmers market and flea market on the weekend. Or may be we don’t….. and we prefer to live in the UWS vacuum where we just complain all of the time.
In sum, more of a “destination” and less of a residential neighborhood.
Oh, I see.
That’s not what I said. I am not asking the UWS to turn into times square, but in order to pay the overpriced rent businesses need more manhattan traffic than just uws residents. If your definition of a residential neighborhood in manhattan is having a parking space outside of your building, a 7-11 on the corner, and summer street fairs selling socks made in china I don’t think you are setting expectations very high.
To clarify my expectations:
I prefer supermarkets and laundromats over trendy restaurants and tourist bars.
That’s what defines a residential neighborhood. Not tourist destinations.
Will anyone ever offer an official explanation why it was moved?
My guess is that the construction on W78 where the bikes were going to go is reason, but what do I know
The stations were moved due to a high number of complaints from residents, and ongoing construction:
https://www.nyc.gov/html/mancb7/downloads/pdf/Citi%20Bike%20List%20with%20emails.pdf
Per the above, the station at West 78th Street and Columbus will be placed there after construction is completed.
If someone offered free money to every resident of 10023, 100024 and 10025 zip codes, the comments on this board would be about how that is “destroying the UWS”. My goodness..
I would take the money without complaint.
Citi Bank vanity project? Inconvenience thousands for a few. As someone said, this isn’t Copenhagen or Amsterdam–it’s NYC. We need our parking spots and traffic lanes and walking space and buses–we do NOT need the handful of people who may or may not ride these eyesore bikes. We need to take back our city from the DOT (they probably don’t live here)and everyone else who thinks it’s fine to have pedestrian plazas (full of drug addicts) anad unused bike lanes. Who are you people doing this??
Bunk! Most of the use of these parking spots and big city traffic comes from out of towners, and this includes the outer boroughs. If you move here from some suburban town and expect to park in front of your walk up, you need to get over it. This is a city, use mass transit. Citybike is now part of mass transit. The pedestrian plazas are a hit with tourists. Do you know the history of the street grid that you would like to return to? Is was designed to move suburban traffic in and out of the city? Google Robert Moses for a start. It was never for the locals.
In fact, NYC is new amsterdam and the streets and population densities were modeled after other european cities. If you are looking for parking spaces I hear it’s rather easy to find one in borough park. Imagine the reduction in pollution and general better healthiness if more UWSiders biked around rather than take taxis and drive cars. Sounds more residential to me.
The stations were moved due to complaints from residents:
https://www.nyc.gov/html/mancb7/downloads/pdf/Citi%20Bike%20List%20with%20emails.pdf
I think it is fine to have more bike riders. The problem is than most of them do not obey traffic lights, they ride on the wrong side of the street. It is dangerous when crossing streets.
I work on the UWS. The site of these bikes and the imposition they cause is terrible. This is a neighborhood of folks who live and work here and own cars. There is something discriminatory about this change forcing natives to use garage space is unfair. The city belongs to its residents in all the boroughs not just to Manhattanites and tourists. Bad plan.