Lela Rose
I’ve been biking in New York for 11 years now. It’s not always easy to walk everywhere so I decided I needed a bike. I bought a trike so that I could take my son and dog with me. The one I bought was such a piece of junk! I ran into George Bliss from The HUB and we started up this great relationship. He ended up building all my trikes that I’ve used for years to carry my groceries, do all my market runs, carry my dogs and take my kids to school. I could move all kinds of things with my trike, even furniture! George has this great vision of how bikes enhance life in the city. He is definitely ahead of his time.
I ride bikes everywhere. All my bikes are three-speed and they have kickstands and baskets. I have a Brooklyn Bowery bike that I decorated with colorful paracord. I like to decorate all my bikes. My bikes are like cars and are the key to living in New York City. No more sitting around in traffic in a cab. You just go when you want to go.
Citi-Bikes? I think it’s great. I’ve seen a lot more riders out on the streets. I think it introduces people to how you should ride a bike in New York City. I’ve been talking about it for years, 11 years to be specific. People say they don’t want to own a bike. “I’d have to carry it upstairs. I live in a walk-up.” Or, “It might be stolen.” Bike-share takes all that worry away. Yes, there have been glitches, but ridership is way up. Anything that promotes more riders, more bikes on our city streets, is good. And I’m for it because it means safer streets. I’m not criticizing Citi-Bikes name on the bikes. It’s okay. They paid a lot of money for it. In Paris, bike-share worked and there were a lot more people on bikes. And after a while people started buying their own bikes.
Lela Rose, fashion designer