It is no secret that biking is my preferred method of transportation; it’s good exercise, you don’t have to look for parking, and especially in urban areas it is, at most times, much easier and faster to get around. I bought “Bridgitte” as soon as I started ChicpeaJC and have been using it almost daily ever since. That being said, there were some days were I did not have anything planned, and I would go sit somewhere at a coffee shop and then out of nowhere get a call about a potential story. I would think to myself, I wish I had a bike to get around!!!

Then comes Citi Bike JC to the rescue. When the Mayor announced a few months ago that there would be a new bike share program, I was ecstatic! I’ve used Citi Bike many times when I worked in Manhattan and thought it was so convenient. You pick up a bike at your closest location, go where you need to go, park it and you don’t have to worry about locking it or it getting stolen!

I got in touch with Chanel the general manager for Citi Bike JC to get the scoop on the new program and also test out the bikes before they launch September 21st! It was so fun, and don’t tell “Bridgitte” but I sort of preferred riding the Citi Bike! It’s extremely comfortable.

What are your names?

Chanel: My name is Chanel Zeisel.

Claudia: My name is Claudia Herrera.

What do you guys do?

Chanel: I’m the general manager for Citi Bike JC aka the Jersey City Bike Share.

Claudia: I’m the operations lead for the bike share.

Can you tell me the background on Citi Bike, how did it get to Jersey City and what are the future plans?

Chanel: Sure. The mayor’s office got in touch with us to set up an independent sister system to New York. It’s a pretty neat deal – if you’re a Citi Bike member in Jersey City, you can use your pass to ride in New York and Jersey City.

Claudia: We’re launching next Monday, September 21 with 35 stations across Jersey City, you can check out on our website www.citibikejc.com for planned sites. Our plan between now and the end of 2015 is to see as many annual members join as possible so we can earn the money to expand the system next year to more neighborhoods.

Does that mean I can take a Citi Bike into the PATH and go into Manhattan?

Chanel: [Laughs] Nope! They’re distinct systems, financially and operationally speaking, so we’d like to keep the Jersey City bikes in Jersey, so that applies to the ferry and the PATH train and even the George Washington Bridge.

People want to ride over the GW?

Chanel:  It’s a top five question believe it or not.

So how does a membership work?

An annual membership is $149 per year for an unlimited number of trips. Right now we have a launch special and it’s only $124 for a year. I don’t think people realize how cheap bike share really is. If you think about it, that breaks down to about $10 a month to ride whenever, wherever to work, the market, to see friends – in JC and NYC. And, you don’t have to worry about flats or fixing your bike or anything – if it’s not working you just dock it and grab a different one.

Claudia: Yeah, how many rail rides do you get for $10?

4? 5 maybe?

Chanel: Exactly. You can get 5 rail rides for $10 or unlimited bike share for $10 for an entire month so it’s kind of a no-brainer. We do also have short-term options to try out the system – a 24 hour pass is $9.95, and a 7 day pass is $25.

So what are the time spans for the members?

There’s a time limit of 30 minutes at a time for 24 hour or 7 day passes.  Annual members get 45 minutes.  People ask why we have time limits; I think the answer is that the system is not designed to be for recreational bike tours, we’re not looking to replace business for bike shops that want to rent bikes for people who want to tour around or do longer trips.

Claudia: It’s designed to be a point to point system.

It’s to commute.

Chanel: And to run errands, meet up with friends, etc. It is a transportation system after all. And that’s what’s so cool to me – how often do you get a completely new mode of transportation? You have the rail, you have the bus system, you have a ferry system, and now you have a bike share system which is something that is meant to complement and enhance the existing transportation network.

How long have you guys been working in bike share?

Chanel: Claudia is a veteran bike-sharer. I came on over the summer.

Claudia: I’m an old-timer. I started in with Divvy, which is the bike share system in Chicago, since pre-launch over two years ago and I just moved over here so now I’m in Jersey City.

Oh! You live in Jersey City?

Claudia: I do now!

How do you like it so far?

Claudia: I like it a lot so far. It’s a lot smaller than Chicago in a good way.

Can you tell me where the stations are gonna be?

Chanel: Totally! Our planned station locations are posted on www.citibikejc.com.

We really want to provide coverage to all of Jersey City and we are off to a pretty good start with stations from Washington to Columbia to Lincoln to Liberty State Park and a whole bunch in between. What was really cool about the Mayor’s approach to picking station locations was that most of the time when you see bike share, the system will launch in a relatively small geographic area with a higher density of stations and then slowly expand the borders. This is what you’re seeing in NYC now. In Jersey City we’re trying a new approach that’s about starting with broader strokes to connect the entire city, about making it.

Claudia: Accessible to everyone.

Chanel: Yeah!

Are there any plans to expand to more locations?

That’s absolutely the goal for next year, especially where there are larger distances between the stations.  But, the only way we can expand is if we get enough money this fall with new members.

Can people who are interested in getting a station in their area submit an application to you?

Chanel: We’re working on a mechanism to collect feedback to use to expand and optimize station locations. Plus after launch, once people have had a chance to use the system, we’ll have real-time data on how the system is being used as well. Data is actually one of the hallmarks of the Citi Bike system. Not only do we have an awesome app you can download that tells you which stations have bikes in real-time, you can actually go on our website and get the live JSON feed and build an app on top of it which is what a lot of folks have explored independently. We’re hoping that people will really make it their system by adopting the hardware and the software sides.

Yeah, ‘cause I see sometimes in the city there’s these trucks that pick up all these excess bikes to bring them to all these empty stations.

Chanel: Totally, so that’s called rebalancing. So what’s interesting about Jersey City is that you think that you have a fairly linear pattern of usage because you have a backbone train line—the PATH. So a really basic usage pattern would be someone comes from their home station and they ride to the closest PATH train. When they come back in the evening they pick up a bike from the PATH station and go back home. This would be a self-balancing system. Where it gets tricky is things like weekend usage, where there isn’t an immediately predictable usage pattern. We’ll definitely spend the fall dialing in our rebalancing efforts to make the system experience the best it can be so we hope people will understand and be patient because we will get it right sooner rather than later.

That’s exciting. I think people are really excited about it too.

Claudia: I’m really excited!

So you guys clearly love to bike, what started it?

Chanel: Oh boy. I actually failed bike ed class in third grade – my school district had a great program where instructors came and taught you how to ride in traffic. The Hudson TMA actually offers free biking classes for adults, by the way – I would totally have taken one if I knew they existed when I got back on a bike! Anyway I was the only person in my entire third grade class who didn’t get to go on the road because I couldn’t stop without putting two feet down, they called it the “Fred Flintstone stop”. It’s kind of crazy but I didn’t start riding again until two years ago when Citi Bike launched in NY and I started seeing people riding it to work and that turned into “I can do that!” to “Well, I really like this and I want to keep doing it,” and I just kept riding more and more until I got a bike job! [laughs]

You were in real estate before right?

Yeah, I was in real estate development.

How was that going from suits and ties to bike shorts and helmets?

It was amazing. It’s been an amazing journey overall because I think when you’re doing something that you’re personally passionate about—I feel like my personal and my professional lives have synced up. So I get to be me all the time.

What about you Claudia?

Claudia: Well I just kind of always liked to tinker with stuff so I started messing around with my bikes after high school and then I kept buying more bikes and fixing them up and then eventually I ended up working in bike share and I’ve been doing that ever since and it just made sense.

What do you guys love about biking?

Chanel: It’s liberating.

I feel like people who bike are really into it, it’s cult-like.

Claudia: Maybe, but it is the best cult.

Bikers are really into it, they’re like vegans.

Chanel: Some people take it more seriously than others, but that feeling of joy you get when you’re on a bike is a feeling of freedom available to everybody. That’s one of the reasons why it doesn’t matter if you’re someone who bikes a 120-miles or someone who does a 12 minute ride to get to work – you’re still having a bike day!

You’re exercising, you’re not harming the environment.

Chanel: There’s a health benefit, there’s an environmental benefit, there’s a financial benefit – it’s a win-win-win.

What about people who don’t really bike?

Chanel: You mean, don’t bike yet? It’s funny you ask because we recently shot the first short video with the mayor to launch the City’s bike safety campaign series called “Roll with Us JC” and the City Council President, Rolando Lavarro came up to me and said, “I haven’t been on a bike since elementary school,” and I thought of the story I just told you and I was like, “Okay, well let’s get on the bike together.” He got back on a bike and it literally took three seconds and he was in a suit too! We got some good video of him riding too.

Claudia: Yes, and Citi Bike is a really easy re-introduction for a lot of people who haven’t done it in a long time because it’s turnkey.

You don’t have to buy it.

Chanel: You pick up a bike, you dock it at your destination, you don’t have to carry a lock, you’re not responsible for maintenance. It’s super easy.

Top three safety tips?

So I think number one is wear a helmet.

So the Citi Bikes don’t come with helmets obviously.

Chanel: Well helmets are not legally required for individuals over 16 in New Jersey. But everyone should wear one. We give a discount coupon for annual members to buy their own helmets – I find that helmets are a pretty personal thing and people can really express themselves and make it a part of their fashion vocabulary.  I have two helmets – a white one and a black one to match what I’m wearing. There are some pretty cool designs out there too – bike companies are really getting the message that commuters want style and function. Bottom line is just be safe please.

And the other two safety tips?

Claudia: Civility.

Chanel: Meaning, be nice. Be polite. Be considerate of others and considerate of their perspectives – 15 mph on a bike seems just right when you’re the one riding but it’s super slow to a car and super scary fast to a pedestrian if you zoom by.

Claudia: Number three would be—be aware. People start riding and think, “I got the hang of this biking thing, someone just texted me, let me just pull it out.” There’s no difference between texting and driving and texting and biking, they’re both unsafe. If something is that urgent, just pull over.

What about drivers?

Chanel: My hope is that a lot of those drivers will become riders because Jersey City is a small enough town that you could really use a Citi Bike to get to where you need to go.

What are your favorite Jersey City hangout spots?

Claudia: We go to White Star a lot.

Chanel: I didn’t know what spaghetti squash was until I went there. It’s really good. Can you get me the recipe?

Anything else you’d like people to know about Citi Bike JC?

Chanel: We also have a corporate membership program. Your employer can subsidize 50% or 100% of your annual membership, you just have to ask. Companies only pay for the employees as they sign up. If you’re an employer this is a great benefit for your employees and if you’re an employee, tell your boss, “I want Citi Bike!”

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