Will Citibike Save Stranded G Train Riders?
Citibike—the bike share program that everyone loves to hate, loves to love, loves to vandalize, etc.—has come under some criticism (from our own Henry Stewart!) for not catering to many areas of New York, including several parts of Brooklyn that are already underserved by public transportation. In fairness, the bike share program has only just launched, and a slow roll-out was always part of the plan, and yet the glaring omission of Citibike stations in places like Greenpoint only became more noticeable with the recent announcement by the MTA that the G train (the main mode of public transportation for most Greenpointers) will be largely out of commission due to extensive repairs that need to be done because of that bitch, Superstorm Sandy. So how will Greenpointers get around, if not by the G? What will they do?
Well! The Daily News reports that Citibike just might be what will save Greenpointers from having to stay in Greenpoint and…do all the awesome stuff there is to do in Greenpoint, like drink at Achilles Heel, and eat delicious Polish food. The News says, “MTA and Bloomberg administration officials are exploring an accelerated Citi Bike expansion to Long Island City, Queens, and Greenpoint, Brooklyn” and that the MTA would likely pick up the tab for the hastened expansion. Even though this isn’t set in stone yet, it would be great news for Greenpoint, which was supposed to be one of the neighborhoods to get the bike share when it launched. In an interesting twist, the reason that Greenpoint didn’t get the bike share is because it was “excluded after equipment stored in a Brooklyn warehouse was damaged by Superstorm Sandy flooding.” So, even though Sandy’s effects are still being felt, it’s due to the storm’s destruction of the G that Greenpoint will get the bike share program after all. And then everyone will live happily after, biking on rolling bank advertisements forever and ever. Utopia, here we come.
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