A frequent Roosevelt Island question asked is:

Last weekend, I asked this group of Citibike riders visiting Roosevelt Island
where they got their Citibikes. They said from one of the many bike docking stations near their home in Long Island City and they asked why there was no docking station on Roosevelt Island, which they added, would be a perfect location. Last month, I asked Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) Public Information Officer Alonza Robertson:

Any info on Roosevelt Island getting Citibike stations?

Mr Robertson replied;

RIOC staff is holding off pursuing any bike share companies until all the Helix road construction, both lanes ..

are completed. A group of Cornell Tech students are working on a pilot project to bring dockless bike sharing to Roosevelt Island and beyond. The Wall Street Journal explains dockless bike sharing. The Cornell Tech students developing a Roosevelt Island dockless bike sharing program are and report:

We have built our minimum variable product, which includes an emailing unlocking system and two bikes. The tasks we are working on right now is to build a Bluetooth distance sensor that will guide users to park the bikes at specific areas so that the bikes won’t affect others. For our next step, we will do more user research and refine our product. We plan to buy more bikes and launch our product….. The product will be first open to Cornell Tech students, and then open to the public.

In term of our mission, we hope our product could benefit people on the island and other daily commuters and make short trips more convenient and affordable. Moreover, we wish, through our product, Cornell Tech and Cornell Tech students can better fit into the Roosevelt Island community.

This is how the dockless bike sharing would work on Roosevelt Island and Long Island City. The Roosevelt Island dockless bike sharing pilot project began as a student project for the Cornell Tech Remaking The City Class. Here is December 2017 presentation by the student team Roosevelt Island Dockless Bike Sharing Program Proposal From Cornell Tech Students to a group of Roosevelt Island residents and Cornell Tech faculty. Currently, the closest Citibike docking stations to Roosevelt Island are in Long Island City and Astoria.
Image From Citibike More on Roosevelt Island bike sharing efforts, which have been going on since 2010
Former RIOC President Leslie Torres & Nonno’s Pizza Owner Alphonse At 2010 Bike Sharing Demo at this prior post. Stay tuned for upcoming Roosevelt Island bike sharing news.

Roosevelt Islander