Bike Share Success!

NYCHA Resident Recognized by the Better Bike Share Partnership

NYCHA’s top Citi Bike rider from Bedford-Stuyvesant is Walt Whitman Houses resident Shaquana Boykin, who clocked in at 577 rides in 2017. That brings her total number of rides since joining Citi Bike in 2015 to 1,716—almost 223 hours of biking.

On December 7, member organizations of the NYC Better Bike Share Partnership honored top Citi Bike riders from Bedford-Stuyvesant, East Harlem, and Two Bridges. The partnership includes NYCHA, Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation, Citi Bike, NYC Department of Transportation, NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Interfaith Medical Center, Woodhull Medical Center, Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership, and El Barrio Bikes.

Ms. Boykin won top rider for the second year in a row. She uses Citi Bike to travel between home, college, and her job as Program Manager of the Healthy Communities Initiative of the Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership. 

“I was surprised and honored to win top rider again. We’re keeping the mission of the Better Bike Share going without much effort, meeting people in their own communities,” she explains. “Citi Bike meets me in my community, where I am at. I don’t have to worry about using a lot of money for traveling and easy access to a bike helps me balance my busy schedule.” 

Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation received a grant from the Better Bike Share Partnership, funded by The JPB Foundation, to make bike share more accessible. The NYC Better Bike Share Partnership originally focused on Bedford-Stuyvesant but recently expanded to include East Harlem and the Two Bridges neighborhood on the Lower East Side. Additional funding was provided by the New York State Health Foundation and the New York State Creating Healthy Schools and Communities initiative.

“This partnership has been working for three years and we’ve evolved in our conversations about what equity is and what we want bike share to do, which is benefit people of color and low-income residents so that they have access to jobs, economical building, better health, and really getting around their neighborhoods,” said Tracey Capers, Executive Vice President of Programs/Organizational Development at Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation. 

NYCHA collaborates with the Partnership as part of its work to connect residents to preventive health resources and advance resident leadership in health.

NYCHA residents 16 years and older can join Citi Bike for just $5 a month and get unlimited rides all year. To learn more, visit: www.citibikenyc.com/pricing/nycha.