About ↓

During the summers of 2007, 2008, and 2009, the Urban Design Forum and Storefront for Art and Architecture partnered to bring bike share to New York City.

Years before the advent of Citi Bike, they invited New Yorkers to “imagine walking to a sidewalk corner and finding a public bicycle. With a cellphone call or swipe of a card, you unlock it from its bike rack and ride it across town. Once at your destination, you steer to the closest bike rack and, with one more call or card swipe, return the bike to the public network. You pay less than $.50 for the trip, and the bike is once again available for the taking.”

The New York Bike-Share Project consisted of three parts:

The Experiment: Twenty bicycles were available for free 30-minute rentals between Storefront for Art and Architecture (97 Kenmare Street) and a roving, remote location.

The Exhibition: A review of eight successful bike-share programs in European cities was on view at Storefront.

The Charette: Urban Design Forum facilitated a public imagining of a future bike-share program in New York. Design and transportation experts made public presentations on July 9 and 10 at 6pm. Final charette results were published online and presented to the public on July 11 at 6pm.