response from NYC Bicycle shares program re: bike racks at village train stations

From: Dani Simons [danisimons@nycbicycleshare.com]
Sent: Monday, September 30, 2013 8:25 AM
To: Paul Feiner
Subject: Re: would NYCBICYCLESHARES consider expanding to the river villages in Westchester

Dear Mr. Feiner, 
Thanks for writing, we are delighted to hear that you are interested in expanding bike sharing to Westchester. Right now we are operating under a contract from the City of New York and focused on making bike share here in NYC a success. We'd be happy to speak with you and your fellow administrators more about what it would take to create a successful bike sharing system along the riverfront towns in Westchester. But to be perfectly honest, it might be a rather slow process, since there would need to be adequate funding to start the program, and projected ridership would need to be determined to understand if the program's operations could be self-sustaining based on membership fees alone. 
The City of New York began with doing a needs assessment which you can read here: http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/pdf/transportation/bike_share_complete.pdf
While yours might not need to be as comprehensive, a study like this would be a great place to start. 
Best, 
Dani

On Sat, Sep 28, 2013 at 8:45 PM, Paul Feiner <pfeiner@greenburghny.com> wrote:

My name is Paul Feiner. I'm the Greenburgh Town Supervisor. This past weekend I attended a "Discover Irvington, NY" event on Main Street in Irvington. The village is trying to encourage tourism and was promoting the charming, quaint downtown (just seconds from the Irvington train station), the historic buildings, beautiful parks, terrific restaurants and shops.

 

I think that one way to successfully encourage  even more tourism would be to expand the NYC Bicycle Shares program to the river villages in Westchester. My suggestion: You should consider placing bicycles/bike racks at the Hastings on Hudson, Dobbs Ferry, Irvington and Tarrytown train stations. People could take the train to one of the stations and spend the day enjoying a magnificent bike ride along the Hudson River. Each of the villages has amazing restaurants, shops and attractions that tourists would love. The Old Croton Aqueduct is a beautiful trail that cyclists and pedestrians enjoy every day.

 

If you would be interested in discussing this initiative, please contact me. I am sharing this e mail with the Village Boards of the River Villages.

Thanks for your consideration.

PAUL FEINER

Greenburgh Town Supervisor

914 993 1545 or 438 1343

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Dani Simons

Director of Marketing and External Affairs
NYC Bike Share, LLC (Operator of Citi Bike) 5202 3rd Avenue Brooklyn, NY, 11220-1707 347-916-0215 (Office) 203-980-8820 (Mobile) danisimons@nycbicycleshare.com www.citibikenyc.com