After Several Delays, NYC Bike Share Begins

Matt Flegenheimer notes a milestone day in New York City's transportation history, as the surprisingly controversial Citi Bike program launched with thousands of bikes deployed at 300 stations located throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn. "With the program’s arrival, officials believe they have plugged some decades-old gaps in a city whose transportation network has at times strained to match its growth," says Flegenheimer. 

"Faster than a slothful crosstown bus and cheaper than the subway — at least for annual members — the bike share system was greeted on Monday with a mixture of hope and trepidation. It is the crowning, valedictory piece of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s extensive investment in cycling, in which the city has added more than 350 miles of bike lanes in recent years under the stewardship of Janette Sadik-Khan, the city’s transportation commissioner."