Was this wheelie the best spot?
A brand-spanking new peloton of Citi Bikes has been sitting unused in their Queens docks for weeks — angering locals who say they’re too expensive, crowd the sidewalks and gobble up precious parking spaces,
Several stations popped up across Forest Hills in the past month, but are seemingly always full and underutilized.
“There are too many. It’s ridiculous. It’s out of control, and as you can see, no one is using them,” fumed Joe Augello, 70, an insurance broker who has lived in the nabe for three decades.
Augello pointed out that many Forest Hills residents are car drivers, but at least one of the dock stations was planted in front of private homes.
“People can’t walk the streets because these things are in the way. I mean, if you have somebody that had to walk here with a wheelchair or a stroller, you have to navigate the stupid bicycles,” Augello said.
Forest Hills now has 44 Citi Bike stations across both major and residential streets, as part of the network expansion announced earlier this week by Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
The network increased by 11%, with 234 total stations popping up in seven neighborhoods in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx.
Augello said he started noticing the increase in docking stations in the last month or so.
“Especially what’s really ridiculous is when they have these stations in front of a private residence,” he added.
Lyft has other plans to add “hundreds of docks” within the existing service area this fall, including in Midtown, Chelsea, Williamsburg, Greenpoint and Gowanus, City Hall said.
But the growing network comes amid complaints that riding the silver electric bikes has become too expensive.
“A five-minute trip shouldn’t be $8. That sucks,” David Ruiz, 23, of Corona, who has coughed up the $220 for an annual electric membership because it’s more cost-effective than purchasing as-needed rides.
Other Queens residents griped that the bikes were taking away precious street parking opportunities — especially considering Forest Hills is a car town.
A DOB spokesperson said the city takes a “thoughtful approach” to identifying locations.
“Citi Bike is popular because it’s a convenient way to get around, and even in neighborhoods where there may be some skepticism at first, we see high ridership from residents who ultimately embrace the service,” the spokesperson said.
The city did not offer specifics on how Forest Hills was chosen.
Locals are going to take some convincing.
“I think it’s too much,” said Sergey Davydov, 41. “They take a lot of parking space. Not a lot of people use them — you see, it’s mostly always full.”
Arthur Feigenbaum agreed, calling the docks “a bad idea.”
“I don’t like them!” the 73-year-old said.
When asked whether he supports Mamdani’s Citi Bike expansion, Feigenbaum quipped: “I don’t agree with most of what he says.”
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