Citi Bike Rolls Into Central Brooklyn
CROWN HEIGHTS/PROSPECT HEIGHTS/PLG – Citi Bike will roll out the final phase of the bike share program’s 2017 expansion plan over the next few weeks, fulfilling the company’s goal to increase the number of shared blue bikes across NYC to 12,000 before the year’s end.
Citi Bike kicked off this phase on Tuesday, September 12, which will bring 27 new stations, approximately 400 bikes, to Crown Heights, Prospect Heights, and Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, according to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.
The extra shared bicycles will come in handy for the nearly 70 participants of Bed-Stuy’s Interfaith Medical Center’s “Prescribe-a-Bike” program, a year-old collaboration between Citi Bike, Better Bike Share Partnership, and the NYC Health Department that encourages exercise as a part of a healthy, daily lifestyle, WNYC reported earlier this week.
Bed-Stuy was selected for the pilot program due to the neighborhood’s “high rate of premature deaths (deaths before age 75), adult diabetes, hypertension and obesity,” Deputy Health Commissioner Dr. Aletha Maybank told WNYC.
“Prescribe-a-Bike” offers a free one-year membership for Citi Bike and “encourages patients to discover the health benefits of daily exercise for themselves,” WNYC reports.
The program had a successful launch with 69 participants and more than 1,600 bike rides in its first year, a NYC Health Department representative said, adding that the program will assist patients in finding discounted programs once their free Citi Bike memberships expire. The “Prescribe-a-Bike” program has been extended for a second year, the representative noted.
Citi Bike launched in 2013 with 6,000 bikes. By the end of 2017, Citi Bike will increase the number of its fleet to 12,000. The program already has stations located in 55 neighborhoods across the city including Bed-Stuy, Boerum Hill, Brooklyn Heights, Carroll Gardens, Clinton Hill, Cobble Hill, Downtown Brooklyn, DUMBO, Fort Greene, Gowanus, Greenpoint, Park Slope, Red Hook, and Williamsburg.
