Jeff Underwood, owner of Continuum Cycles on the new CitiBikes program. (via EV Grieve)

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about the the good and bad that’ll come from the bike share program when it launches later this month (btw, I pass 4-5 CitiBike docks on my walk / ride to work each morning).  I’m very bullish on the program and excited to see how it changes the city, but I also think it’ll be a bit of a free-for-all shit-show for the first few weeks as thousands of bikes flood the East Village and residents have to adjust to (a) paying attention to a lot more bikers who aren’t used to riding in NYC (running lights, riding the wrong way down one-ways) and (b) lots more traffic in the bike lanes (which are already dangerous due to pedestrians who just wander off curbs and into the bike lanes without looking).  As a friend of mine said, “expect to hear about a lot of accidents - and maybe even deaths - in the first few weeks”  (yikes!)

Anyway, I hadn’t considered Jeff’s point tho… that many people will get their first taste of bike community via the CitiBikes program, realize “hey, I can do this - it’s great!”, and may eventually upgrade to their owning their own bikes.  Good for the bike shops, good for the city.