Markeshia Ricks Photo
Pinto and Co. rolled into City Plan Wednesday looking for site plan approval at Cit Hall.
If Rudolph and the rest of the reindeers decide to take the night off, Santa Claus might consider borrowing a bike to deliver gifts in New Haven this year — at least for deliveries in and around downtown. That’s because the first nine bike share stations could be up and operational by Dec. 25.
The City Plan Commission Wednesday night gave approval to a site plan for the planned new New Haven Bike Share program, meaning its developer can construct the first nine of what will eventually be 30 stations.
The first nine stations, which will have between five and nine bikes and be installed in the public-right-of-way, will be concentrated downtown at the following locations:
• Elm Street and Broadway.
• Grove and Church streets.
• Audubon and Orange streets.
• Howe and Chapel streets.
• York and Chapel streets in front of the Yale Repertory Theater.
• Church Street in front of City Hall (near the Elm Street bus stop).
• Elm Street in the New Haven Parking Authority lot.
• College Street and South Frontage Road in front of Alexion.
• Church and George streets next to Gateway Community College.
Radcliffe: Why concentrate bikes downtown?
The proximity of the first nine locations to places that many people can already walk to was puzzling to Commissioner Leslie Radcliffe.
“They’re in such close proximity to each other, I don’t think we’ll get a real good handle on how they will be used or can be used,” she said.
Deputy city transit chief Michael Pinto said that most bike share rides actually last less than six minutes. It makes the program more functional and profitable if it is started with a high concentration of stations in places that people can get to pretty quickly, he said.
“It’s primarily a last-mile system,” he said. “In the initial rollout, someone could walk out of City Hall, pick up a bike and run up to Broadway and instead of taking 15 minutes to walk, they would take a quick three or four-minute bike ride. Drop the bike off at Broadway and take a new bike back to City Hall.” He said as the next phase of the program rolls out it will connect further out to Union Station, the hospital and then to neighborhoods like those close to the Farmington Canal.
Adam Marchand, a bike enthusiast who serves as both a commissioner and alder, asked what happens if someone locks a personal bike to a bike share location.
Bike New Haven Instagram
Program manager Carolyn Lusch said the bike’s owner would get a notice on the bike that if it isn’t moved within a certain amount of time, it will be removed and essentially impounded.
Marchand said he hadn’t thought through the idea of “a private vendor taking temporary possession” of someone’s bike. Though he noted that it wouldn’t be unprecedented given that the city can have cars towed and the owner must go through a retrieval process.
Back in May, alders authorized a contract for New Haven Smart Mobility LLC to operate the bike share program, which will make bikes available at stations through the city. Smart Mobility operates successful bike share programs in Hoboken, N.J., West Palm Beach, Fla., and New Rochelle, N.Y. It will be responsible for establishing what will ultimately be a 300station, 3000bike system for New Haven. Smart Mobility’s contract is for five years, with the possibility of two five-year renewals.
Once the necessary construction permits are in place and if the weather cooperates, Lusch estimated, the installation of the stations, which will be bolted directly into the concrete of sidewalks, will take a few weeks. In some cases, concrete will have to be poured. At the Elm and Broadway location, some of the decorative bricks will have to be removed.