May 17, 2012, Staff Report
A bike share program will come to Queens this year after all, reports the Queens Chronicle.
The banking giant Citi, also known as Citigroup or Citibank, will install 10,000 bikes and 600 dock stations in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Long Island City. The bikes in the “Citi Bike” fleet will be branded with the bank’s name.
Mayor Bloomberg, Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan, other officials and Citi CEO Vikram Pandit announced the deal on May 9 at City Hall Plaza. At the time Sadik-Khan said the $40 million project would come to Long Island City eventually, but did not say when. Andrew Brent, a spokesman for Citi, said the bikes would be available in LIC sometime next year.
However the plan quickly changed.
Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer (D-Sunnyside) on May 13, just three days after the announcement of the environmentally-friendly plan, said the bikes will roam the borough that has the company’s name on Queens’ biggest building and on the Mets stadium.
“You can’t have a citywide bike share program that doesn’t include Queens,” Van Bramer said.
