Open plans for your cycling summer

Sum­mer has arrived! Soon enough, you’ll be see­ing blue.

A brand-new fleet of nearly 10 thou­sand bicy­cles will pop­u­late New York’s streets in the com­ing months, and they will all need rid­ers. We’ve already posted the DOT’s inter­ac­tive map of 420 planned bike share sta­tions across Man­hat­tan, Brook­lyn, and Queens. Now it’s time to take another step closer to your future as a renter-rider.

The most recent project of Open­Plans, a non-profit focused on open gov­ern­ment and bet­ter trans­porta­tion, gives New York­ers a sneak peak at our improved future lifest­lyes as bicy­clists. Using this map, you can plan your daily com­mute to work, a jaunt to the High Line, or a weekly cycle to the EBT-friendly green­mar­ket near­est you.

So far, the map works like this: you pick the start and end points, and drag the flags to change your route. Cibi​.me cur­rently pro­vides a rec­om­mended pickup and drop-off site for your rented three-speeder, as well as the num­ber of bicy­cles avail­able at the start point and how many park­ing spaces you’ll find at the end of your jour­ney. You can also change your route to deter­mine quick­est, safest, or flat­test journey.

Accord­ing to a recent post by Open­Plans’ Frank Heb­bert, cibi​.me will let you know if bikes are avail­able before rec­om­mend­ing a route to you once the bike­share pro­gram is in full operation.

In the mean time, you can share com­ments or sug­ges­tions for cibi​.me @OpenPlans.

Here’s to the future: an open-sourced, collaboratively-planned, bicycle-positive New York.