Citi Bike Opens First Queens Docking Station In Long Island City
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Citi Bike is now in Queens.
The bike-share network opened its first docking station in the borough in Long Island City on Wednesday.
Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer helped cut the ribbon for the station at Hunter's Point South Park, WCBS 880's Marla Diamond reported.
#Queens are you ready for @CitiBikeNYC's arrival to our beautiful borough this morning?! I know I am! pic.twitter.com/9TKb4Z0Jlv
— Jimmy Van Bramer (@JimmyVanBramer) August 5, 2015
It's the first step in a plan that will double the size of Citi Bike from 6,000 to 12,000 bikes in the city over the next two years.
"We are here to literally double the size of Citi Bike and to make it one of the largest bike-share systems anywhere in the world," said Jay Walder, president and CEO of Motivate, the company that rescued the struggling operation.
Next up is Brooklyn. Docking stations will be added this month to Greenpoint, Williamsburg and Bedford-Stuyvesant.
An additional 48 stations will be coming to the Upper East and Upper West Sides between 59th and 86th streets this fall.
By 2017, Citi Bike hopes to expand into Harlem, Astoria, Prospect Heights, Crown Heights, Park Slope, Carroll Gardens, Boerum Hill, Cobble Hill, Red Hook and Gowanus.
Next month, Citi Bike will set up shop across the river in Jersey City, CBS2 reported.
Citi Bike membership costs $149 a year. To celebrate the expansion, new members who sign up before Aug. 31 will receive $25 off their first year of membership.