Bike Share Proposal for the City of Poughkeepsie 2018-2019

Poughkeepsie Bike Share Project

With air quality being a prominent issue in Poughkeepsie, we had the idea that a bike share could significantly make a difference in Poughkeepsie. We worked with the community to bring bike shares to Poughkeepsie’s streets. We worked with neighbouring organizations to collect data on this project. We have met with members of the City and County staff, SPOKE, Scenic Hudson, Marist, the City of New Rochelle, P3Global, and the Cary Institute. We created a proposal for a bike share in the City of Poughkeepsie and presented it to the Common Council.

What is a bike share?

A bike share is a system in which stations of bicycles are posted around an area, for example, a city, and the bikes at the bike stations are available for individuals to use. Depending on the bike share, the customer can pay for the bike using an app so they can take a bike from the bike station. Once the person no longer has a use for the bike, they will find a nearby bike station to return the bike. Bike sharing is not limited to bikes alone, there are also scooter shares. Anything that could get people from place to place could be used in a share.

*Visiting a bike share in New Rochelle, NY*

*Cary Institute’s Dr. Gary Lovett teaches us about how air quality is measured*

Why put a bike share in the City of Poughkeepsie?

A bike share is good for human health, environmental health, and a great transportation alternative. A bike share can not only help people exercise more, but also help reduce car usage, in turn reducing air pollution emitted from cars. The pollution released from cars is capable of harming all ecosystems on Earth and human health. When you get out of your car and onto a bike, you release no gas emissions and you get a chance to check out the environment surrounding you. Having a bike share in Poughkeepsie can also be a convenient mode of transportation for many. Due to the fact that Poughkeepsie Middle School and High School are walking school districts, having bikes nearby for students to use as transportation could be helpful. Because Poughkeepsie is a low-income city, numerous people might not be able to afford to buy a bicycle. A bike share would be very cost efficient.

What are the first steps?

Before the implementation of a bike share, we propose added biking infrastructure. To build a relationship that promotes safety between cyclists and drivers, we suggest sharrows, bike lanes, and signs on the streets. With proper bike infrastructure put in place, we propose cycling education to educate people about the sharrows, bike lanes, and signs. After that, the City can look into what type of bike share they want, seek out locations, and funding. We make recommendations for each of these steps in our proposal.