A Bike Sharing program in NYC has been the dream of many of my bike riding friends. After my recent experience with one vender vying for NYC’s bike future, now, it’s a hope for me as well. I spent Sunday morning on a car-free Park Avenue (the last summer streets of the season, sniff!) trying out Montreal’s bid for NY bike sharing, Bixi, short for “Bike Taxi”.

I took some cell phone pictures of my sweet smooth ride and the bixi tech:

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Increased bike riding in our city would counteract many ills like obesity and environmental issues. Bike riding helps to eliminate pollution, carbon output, sedentary lifestyles lacking exercise. It provides quicker access to and around  neighborhoods in NYC that are not served well by the transportation grid.

It is economical. Compare the costs of bike vs car maintenance and insurance, the upkeep of roads, cleanup of pollution caused by cars, traffic congestion that robs businesses of customers and product.  A service like bixi also solves other obstacles to owning a bike in NYC: storage room at work and home, costly repair, and bike thefts, a problem too many bike owners in this city know firsthand. A cheap means to move around would increase the number of riders, and that would lead to more roads adapted for bike use. With the ratio of bikes to cars increasing, it forces cars to change their behavior: driving more slowly and carefully. Trust me, there are more arguments for bike sharing.

I also hope they plan on extending these stations to the outer boros, where focus should be placed to make  a 30 min bike commute a goal for the area.