Andrea Bernstein

President Obama at an Auto Plant Earlier this year (photo: Barack Obama.com)

The layers of irony could scarcely be denser.  Buoyed in part by automobile hiring, employment in swing states looks far better than the nation as a whole, providing a possible path to victory for President Barack Obama, who bailed out the big three auto manufacturers with a clothespin on his nose.

In Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and Missouri, the auto industry has been adding jobs at rapid clip,  according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  So that even though things were really bad in those states, they're now less bad.  Which is good news for the President.

"We know that this thing is going to be super tight," said a senior Democratic official.  "But we are absolutely of the belief that the swing states jobs numbers will be determinative in the fall."

By now, the national narrative is well known.  May's employment numbers were meh, signalling a heap of trouble for the President.  "He is the underdog," opined NPR's Mara Liasson, who then ticked off things that could only make the electoral picture worse for the Democrats:  the Euro crisis, the Chinese economy, etcetera. That pretty much sums up the conventional wisdom.

Except.

In the swing states, things are markedly better than they were two years ago, and in many of them, the employment picture is a whole lot brighter than the nation as a whole.

Take Michigan and Ohio.   According to April data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, both of those key states have "statistically significant unemployment rate changes" over April of last year. (May data won't be out until the end of next week.)  Ohio's rate is down 1.4 percent from last year, Michigan's is down 2.2 percent.

And even though Michigan's unemployment rate, at 8.3. percent, is a tick over the national average, that doesn't much matter, according to Howard Wial, a Brookings Institution Fellow who focuses on regional economic development. "Look at the direction, not the level," Wial admonishes.  "That's as well established as any fact on jobs and the elections."

Ohio is also helped along by natural gas drilling, as is Pennsylvania.  In Iowa and New Hampshire, the unemployment rate sounds like the 1990's -- 5.1 percent in Iowa, 5.0 in New Hampshire.

Even in states like North Carolina, Nevada and Florida, unemployment is trending downwards, though it's still higher than the national average. Unemployment is also dropping in Arizona and Wisconsin.  In Virginia it's just 5.6 percent.

"There have been three industry sources of growth over the last year or so," Wial says.  "The auto industry, information technology, and energy."

All located disproportionately, in swing states.

The layers of irony could scarcely be denser.  Buoyed in part by automobile hiring, employment in swing states looks far better than the nation as a whole, providing a possible path to victory for President Barack Obama, who bailed out the big three auto manufacturers with a clothespin on his nose.

Five percent more Americans rode transit between January and March of this year, compared to the same period last year.  That's according to a report by the American Public Transportation Association, the transit lobby.  APTA says this is fifth consecutive quarter that transit ridership rose.

At least a dozen jurisdictions saw their highest ridership ever,  the report said, including New York, Boston,  Oakland,  San Diego, Charlotte, Tampa, Indianapolis, and Ann Arbor, MI; Fort Myers, FL;  Ithaca, NY and Olympia, WA.

In a statement, APTA President and CEO Micheal Melaniphy attributed the rise to high gas prices, along with "the use of real time technology" which "makes it easy for riders to know when the next bus or train will arrive. "

The Associated Press is reporting that NY Governor Andrew Cuomo's big plan to build a huge casino and convention center near Kennedy Airport has been scrapped after talks with the developer broke down.

The plan had caused lots of head-scratching among transit advocates, since the area is not now well-served by efficient public transportation to Manhattan -- presumably a destination of many prospective convention goers.

According to the AP Gov. Andrew Cuomo says his grand plan for the nation's largest convention center at Aqueduct race track has been scrapped.

He says the proposal unveiled as a centerpiece of his State of the State speech isn't going forward, but he hopes to have developers compete next year for a project that could include a casino.

Cuomo made the announcement in a late Friday afternoon appearance on WOR Radio.

He says he's talking to other developers after talks broke down with the Genting Organization, which was to provide the funding.

Cuomo said in January the $4 billion convention center would help boost the economy and allow a new use for the Javits Center in Manhattan.

Aqueduct is a possible site for a casino if an amendment to the constitution is passed.

Now let it be told, New York City residents can find out street parking regulations by clicking on the New York DOT online parking sign map.

If you go to the map and click on the parking sign, you can see, in plain text form, what the rules are for that block.

The map also shows DOT's street condition assessments -- most are "good" -- as well as surfacing information.

On my browser, the map had an annoying habit of blowing up any time I requested information, but so far as I could tell, the info seems to be accurate.

And of course, it doesn't tell you where you'll find a spot. For that, try roadify.com.

Reviews?

East River ferry (photo by synergii1 via Flickr)

New York's East River ferry service boats will more than double in size on weekends, to accommodate 399 passengers as opposed to the current 149.   The bigger boats will operate on summer weekends.

The boats will operate every 45 minutes from 9:35 am until 9:30 am on the weekends, making stops in Governor's Island.

On weekdays, the vessels will operate from 6:45 AM until 8:45 PM. in both directions. During morning and evening peak hours, there will be three boats running every twenty minutes. During weekday off-peak hours, there will be two boats running on a thirty-minute schedule.

According to the city, "Ferry service was launched on June 13, 2011, as part of a 3-year pilot program to provide year-round ferry service between East 34th Street and Pier 11 in Manhattan, Long Island City in Queens, Greenpoint, North Williamsburg, South Williamsburg, and DUMBO in Brooklyn, and seasonally to Governor’s Island."

"The service costs riders $4 for a one-way ticket, $12 for an unlimited all-day pass, and $140 for an unlimited monthly pass. Ferries accommodate bikes on board for an additional dollar. Ticketing machines are available at all commuter locations along with staffed ticket agents at some stops."

New York will begin offering up to $2000 to witnesses of assaults on NY MTA employees.

Some 48 employees have been assaulted on the job this year, compared to 40 in the same period last year.

Assaults on transit workers have become a key issue for the Transport Workers Union, still negotiating a new contract with the MTA. The old contract expired January 15th.   World of the new program, called "Transit Watch," came via press release from New York's Governor, Andrew Cuomo.

This is the second move in less than a month to combat assaults on transit workers.  The first was a ban on drinking on certain Long Island Railroad trains.

"This is a big win for transit workers, who face physical assaults, verbal abuse and threats every day on the job, and who have long felt that transit assaults are given a low priority," said TWU Local 100 President John Samuelsen in the press release.

According to the release, "Transit Watch is funded by the MTA. Witnesses with information about assaults on MTA New York City Transit personnel can call the NYPD’s Crimestoppers program at 800-577-TIPS (800-577-8477), which assigns callers an anonymous ID number so they do not have to give their names. Rewards of up to $2,000 are paid for information leading to the arrest and indictment of the perpetrator."

Staten Island's "Select Bus Service" won't have off-board payment (photo by Kate Hinds)

Staten Island will be the third borough in New York City to get so-called "Select Bus Service."  The service, the S79,  will connect the Staten Island Mall and the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn.  The MTA expects the service to reduce travel times by 20%.

Some 8,900 passengers travel that route daily, according to the MTA, compared to 52,000 along First and Second Avenues in Manhattan and 45,000 along the route of the Bx 12 in the Bronx, New York's first SBS, which has been running since 2008.

SBS is a BRT-like service, though without some of the features that characterize BRT systems around the globe, like physically-segregated lanes and subway-like stations.

However it does incorporate designated lanes, signal priority, and fewer stops.  The Staten Island buses will not have off-board payment, a feature that has irked some Manhattanites unaccustomed to paying before they get on the bus.

Along the busier routes, paying off-board is a big time-saver, the city DOT has said.  But in Staten Island, the route is so lightly traveled -- or "highly dispersed," as the MTA calls it, that the authority has concluded it wouldn't make much of a difference.  Walker Hook, the CEO of the Innstitute for Transportation Development Policy, which sets up and provides technical advice for  BRT systems worldwide, called that assumption "reasonable."

The S79 will only run as a select bus, with local passengers being served by the S78 and S59.

The service will start in September.

Which would you say is a worse commute: New York to Honolulu, or L.A. to San Juan, Puerto Rico? About 25 people fly each of those super commute routes every week.

There are about 43,000 people who commute by plane, census data show. Here's a map of the plane routes to the top 12 air-commuting U.S. cities. Hover your mouse over the colored lines to see how many people fly a given route to work each week.

See our earlier radio report on super-commuters to get to know the people who make these treks.

In case you were wondering:

The top five super commutes (all modes) in the U.S. (2009 data):

1) Tucson to Phoenix, AZ 3.6% of workforce (54,400 total)
2) Houston to Dallas, TX 3.3% (44,300 total)
3) Dallas-Fort Worth to Houston, TX 2.7% (51,900 total)
4) Austin to Dallas, TX 2.4% (32,400 total)
5) San Diego to Los Angeles, CA 2.2% (78,300 total)

(Data via Rudin Center for Transportation Policy & Management)

Listen to this week's Marketplace Money story here:

President Obama at Daimler Trucks in Mt. Holly, North Carolina (photo: John Adkisson/Getty Images News)

More from the White House encouraging domestic oil drilling. Earlier this week the White House sent out a report showing 70% of U.S. oilfields are inactive. Now, a press release touting a lease sale to expand oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. Does President Obama see a vulnerability on domestic oil production?

"Today the Obama Administration provided final details for the Central Gulf of Mexico lease sale announced by President Obama in January 2012, as part of his administration’s ongoing focus on expanding safe and responsible production of our domestic energy sources. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Director Tommy P. Beaudreau today announced the Final Notice of Sale for a June 20, 2012 lease sale that will make available all unleased areas in the Central Gulf of Mexico Planning Area, offshore Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, including 7,276 blocks on about 38.6 million acres.

"The sale will take place at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans. BOEM estimates the sale could result in the production of over 1 billion barrels of oil and more than 4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

“As part of the Obama administration’s all of the above energy strategy, we continue to make millions of acres of federal waters and public lands available for safe and responsible domestic energy exploration and development,” said Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar. “Holding this lease sale is one of the many administrative steps  we are taking, at the President’s direction, to increase U.S. production, reduce dependence on foreign oil, and incentivize early production on leases that industry holds.”

“The Gulf of Mexico is the crown jewel of the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf, and home to a number of world-class producing basins – including many in deepwater areas that are becoming increasingly accessible with new technology,” said Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Director Tommy P. Beaudreau.  “There have been a number of significant discoveries in the past two years alone, and this sale will continue making significant and promising areas available while encouraging diligent development and providing the taxpayer a fair return.”

The blocks are located from three to about 230 miles offshore, in water depths ranging from nine to more than 11,115 feet (three to 3,400 meters) in the Central Gulf of Mexico, a region that BOEM estimates contains close to 31 billion barrels of oil and 134 trillion cubic feet of natural gas that are currently undiscovered and technically recoverable.  The Final Notice of Sale package describes all terms and conditions for Central Gulf Lease Sale 216-222.  These include a range of incentives that encourage prompt development and ensure a fair return to taxpayers, as described in a recent report by the Department of the Interior on the status of Oil and Gas Lease Utilization. These measures include escalating rental rates and tiered durational terms with relatively short base periods followed by additional time under the same lease if the operator drills a well during the initial period.

BOEM has also increased the minimum bid in deepwater to $100 per acre, up from only $37.50, to ensure that taxpayers receive fair market value for offshore resources and to provide leaseholders with additional impetus to invest in leases that they are more likely to develop. Analysis of the last 15 years of lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico showed that deepwater leases that received high bids of less than $100 per acre, adjusted for energy prices at time of each sale, experienced virtually no exploration and development drilling.

The terms of sale also reflect a series of conditions to ensure an appropriate balance of orderly resource development with protection of the human, marine and coastal environments. These include stipulations to protect biologically sensitive resources, mitigate potential adverse effects on protected species, and avoid potential conflicts associated with oil and gas development in the region. BOEM completed a supplemental environmental impact statement relating to this sale, which considers the latest available information for the Central Gulf of Mexico Planning Area following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.  Today, BOEM is also issuing a Record of Decision following that analysis.

For this sale, BOEM has also adopted a stipulation to notify bidders that the terms stated in a February 20, 2012 agreement between Mexico and the United States regarding the exploration and development of oil and natural gas reservoirs along the United States’ and Mexico’s maritime boundary may apply to some of the blocks offered in this sale, should the agreement enter into force.

The Final Notice of Sale information package is available at: http://www.boem.gov/sale-216-222/. Copies can also be requested from the Gulf of Mexico Region’s Public Information Office at 1201 Elmwood Park Boulevard, New Orleans, LA 70123, or at 800-200-GULF (4853).

The Final Notice of Sale and the Notice of Availability of a Record of Decision on a Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for Lease Sale 216/222 are available today in the Federal Register at: http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/public-inspection/index.html.

 

As part of their fourth-quarter revenue,  airlines collected $792 million in baggage fees and $567 million in reservation change fees from October to December 2011.  That's down slightly from the third quarter, though it's still a big number.

Overall, airline profits in the fourth quarter of 2011 are down from the fourth quarter of 2010, with a 1.5 percent profit margin compared to 3.2 percent a year earlier, the federal Bureau of Transportation Statistics reported today.

The BTS notes that  "other fees, such as revenue from seating assignments and on-board sales of food, beverages, pillows, blankets, and entertainment are reported in a different category with other items and cannot be identified separately."

Bike Racks Being installed on Fifth Avenue in front of Gorilla Coffee (photo by Andrea Bernstein)

UPDATED Gorilla Coffee in Brooklyn has become an iconic Fifth Avenue institution: the kind of place where you might go with your Mac to get caffeinated and write your app.

To these accoutrements of hipsterdom, add another: the bike rack.

NYC DOT workers were out Thursday morning installing four round bike racks where a car parking spot once was, in front of self-described Park Slope "micro-roastery" Gorilla Coffee. (The auto parking spot will be replaced by one across the street, currently a 'No Standing' zone.)

In an email, Craig Hammerman, manager of Community Board 6, said the spots were approved by the board.

Of the Fifth Avenue spot, he wrote:  "The bike racks, planter pots and flexible delineators will be installed first, and the white markings on the road surface will be installed shortly thereafter."  Hammerman said the DOT would be restoring the car spot across the street, " by May 31st the latest. When completed, there will be no net loss of vehicular parking to the area, and additional bicycle parking capacity."

Darleen Scherer, one of Gorilla Coffee's owners, tells us that the bike parking was suggested by a customer, who'd heard of a similar move  in Cobble Hill.    "People mostly walk here, or arrive by bike," Scherer said.  "They'd lock up their bikes to a gate, which was really frustrating."

A DOT staffer said there's another such rack at Smith & Sackett, and one on Ninth Avenue in Manhattan.  The spots have to be requested, and sponsors have to pledge to keep the spots clean, since the bike racks will block street cleaning machines.  Here's what the one at Smith & Sackett looked like Friday.

Bike Parking at Smith & Sackett (photo: Andrea Bernstein)

Scherer said the spot had formerly been mostly taken by cars, not delivery vehicles.  Her own delivery vehicles park on the corner, in front of a hydrant. Gorilla parking, you might say.

The National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board, representing the nation's capital and 22 counties in Maryland and Virginia has voted to approve a complete streets policy.

Though it does not contain the force of law, the vote pushes local governments to:

"create or adapt transportation facilities that safely and appropriately accommodate motorized and non-motorized users, including pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists, freight vehicles, emergency vehicles, and transit riders of all ages and abilities."

Only one member of the 35-member board voted against the recommendation.

Lewis Miller, a board spokesman, says some initial opposition fell away after board members, who are appointed by the local governments, realized the proposal was a best practices recommendation, not a mandate.

Oil Drill Rig, Montana

Some 26 million acres of offshore areas currently under lease for oil and gas development are inactive, according to a report issued Tuesday by the Department of the Interior. A DOI press release touts the finding, and pushes oil companies to, um...drill, baby, drill.

The report comes as President Barack Obama pushes his so-called "all-of-the-above" energy strategy, which includes development of alternative fuels but also more vigorous oil drilling.

Here's an excerpt from the release.

According to the report, more than 70 percent of the tens of millions of offshore acres currently under lease are inactive, neither producing nor currently subject to approved or pending exploration or development plans. Out of nearly 36 million acres leased offshore, only about 10 million acres are active – leaving nearly 72 percent of the offshore leased area idle.

In the lower 48 states, an additional 20.8 million acres, or 56 percent of onshore leased acres, remain idle. Furthermore, there are approximately 7,000 approved permits for drilling on federal and Indian lands that have not yet been drilled by companies.

“These lands and waters belong to the American people, and they expect those energy supplies to be developed in a timely and responsible manner and with a fair return to taxpayers,” said Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. “We will continue to encourage companies to diligently bring production online quickly and safely on public lands already under lease.”

Andrea Bernstein, director of the public radio Transportation Nation project and senior correspondent for WNYC, explains NYC's bike share program, due to launch later this summer.

Congress member Bill Shuster (House photo)

Congress member Bill Shuster (R-PA), Chair of the House Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, & Hazardous Materials, predicts President Barack Obama will sign a transportation bill -- with a provision to build the Keystone Pipeline included -- in September or October.

"Americans support the Keystone Pipeline, 80:20" Shuster told a gathering organized by the New York University Rudin Center for Transportation Policy and Management.  (A march Gallup poll actually put that support at 57:29, still a big majority.)

The pipeline has been vehemently opposed by environmentalists, who say construction of the pipeline would mean "game over" for the environment.  And President Obama has said in the past that he would oppose any transportation bill that included funding for the pipeline.

But Shuster predicted presidential politics would force the President's hand come the fall -- though he acknowledged that for most Americans, transportation wasn't even in their top five issues.

Shuster also pointed the finger at "Leadership and Ways and Means," who he said pushed the idea of removing transit from the transportation bill, an effort that died after "every Republican in an urban or suburban district screamed bloody murder."

Shuster also said he thought Congess would achieve a so-called "grand bargain" avoiding steep across-the-board cuts in spending, either late this year if President Obama is re-elected, or after January if Mitt Romney wins the presidency.

Shuster also took a big swipe at California's high speed rail program, calling it "extortion," and said the only place America should build "high-er speed rail" was in the Northeast Corridor, where, he said, one in five Americans live.

(Photo Andrea Bernstein)

It's been a long time since the private sector completely took in hand the funding of a public transportation network, and New York's Citibank is certainly rolling the dice by getting behind one as new as New York's bike share.

But there's some anecdotal evidence the bet to associate itself with a hip, new environmentally friendly, healthy form of transport may pay off.

(You can listen to an audio version of this story here.)

On the streets of New York last week, lots of people were already familiar with Citibank's sponsorship --  "I'm very familiar with it," said Jason Banks, who works in advertising. "Isn't it Citibank?" said Erin Goldsmith, who works for a social media company.

Lisa Lipshaw, from London, worked with the company that set up London's Barclay Cycle Hire.  "They did really well out of the sponsorship," she said.

At the kick-off press conference, Mayor Michael Bloomberg did his part.   At least four or five times, he said "Citibank" when he meant "citibike," before he corrected himself.

"The person who I have the pleasure of introducing next hopes everyone confuses Citibike with Citibank," Bloomberg said, teeing up the remarks of Citibank CEO Vikram Pandit.

Pandit himself was pretty bullish on citibike. "We think this is a very innovative program that makes people's lives easier, and that's what we do, that's what we do as a bank."

Not everyone was thrilled.   Web designer Antonio Ortiz is uncomfortable with big banks' roll in the recent financial collapse "It's like some kind of subversive way of 'Hey we're buying PR, we're being good and we care about the environment and the people of the community.' Like if it was Patagonia, I'm sure I'd feel a different way."

But still.  There are exactly zero New York bikes on the street, and already the name is catching on.

New York City has made live its draft maps of bike share stations.  The stations dot all of Manhattan south of Central Park,  Long Island City,  Downtown Brooklyn, Williamsburg, Bedford-Stuyvesant,  Fort Greene,  and Clinton Hill. (See here, for why they won't be in other neighborhoods.)

The full maps are here and explanation of costs here.

The bike share docking stations will extend the reach of the transit system to the far East and West sides of Manhattan, as well as  northern Williamsburg and Greenpoint, which are currently underserved by the subway system.

In those neighborhoods, riders will be able to take a bike share to the 7 train in Long Island City or the L in Williamsburg.   Now, those riders have to take an impossibly long walk, or take the G to either of those trains.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said on his weekly radio show that bike share is designed to  expand the transit system -- not for recreation. "So you rent a bike, go to work, leave the bike when you get to work, pick it up when you get out of work, leave it when you get home," the Mayor said.

Neighborhoods that currently have no transit connections could be accessed through bike share.  The growing population center of  Williamsburg will be connected now to  and Downtown Brooklyn, as well as Bedford-Stuyvesant.

Still unconnected: Park Slope, Cobble Hill, Windsor Terrace, Carroll Gardens, Crown Heights, and Prospect Heights as well as the Upper West & Upper East sides.  Those neighborhoods will have to wait until 2013.

"I'm extremely proud to release this plan for the Citi Bike network . New Yorkers created this plan during the past six months, contributing time and expertise in workshops, on-line and in dozens of meetings to discuss and plan the City's newest transportation system," said New York City Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan.

Meanwhile, a new poll shows New Yorkers approve of bike share by a more than two to one margin.  Support has slipped slightly since the program was first announced last October.

The DOT says the "draft maps are the product of hundreds of meetings with community boards, elected officials, members of the public and stakeholders in each district, as well as from some 70,000 station location suggestions and comments on DOT’s bike share Web site," adding that the maps have been presented to local council members and "DOT is currently in the process of reviewing the maps with local community boards in the service area."

For the most part, community board leaders say they've been delighted with the siting process.

The locations are on "wide or underused sidewalks," as well as road space that is current "No Standing" or "No Parking."

Citibike will launch in July, and will cost $95 a year or $9.95 a day to join.  Annual members can ride any bike they want for up to 45 minutes a ride, then usage fees kick in, starting at $2.50 for up to 75 minutes and $9.00 for up to 115 minutes.

Daily members get 30 minutes of free riding, with an hour costing $4 and 90 minutes costing $13.

The DOT cautions:  "Citi Bike is transportation, not recreation. It is designed for short trips and encourages users to return bikes quickly so that others can use them...Think of Citi Bike as a taxi cab: Get one, get there, then dock it. See attached maps for indications of the kind of rides Citi Bike can be used for."

New York's transportation department has had safety bragging rights -- reducing traffic fatalities to their lowest level ever.

But Chicago wants to go one better.  In a sweeping action agenda (.pdf), Chicago's DOT Chief, Gabe Klein, is promising to eliminate all traffic fatalities within a decade, and to reduce bike and pedestrian injuries by 50%.

Klein says this can be done through improved design, more vigorous enforcement, and safety education.  Among the proposals are a 20 mph speed limit in residential neighborhoods and more clearly marked crosswalks.

The document also promised to increase the number of under 5-mile trips taken by bike to 5% of all trips, and to "make Chicago the best big city in America for cycling and walking."

That's a distinction NYC DOT Chief Janette Sadik-Khan and Mayor Michael Bloomberg have tried to claim for New York, which has added hundreds of miles of bikeways in the last five years, and tripled the number of cyclists.

The Chicago document also promises more transit options including BRT, better on-time performance by the CTA, and more real time transit information.

CORRECTED POST There's been not a little controversy about the cost of New York's bike share since the program was unveiled this week -- much huffing and puffing about how an afternoon's ride would cost you a C-note. The city Department of Transportation notes that bike share is not intended for four-hour rides, any more than a taxi ride should last four hours. If you need a car for four hours, you can rent one. If you need a bike for four hours, you can rent one too -- just not a bike share.

Also responding to the critics: Matt Seaton takes a comparative look in the Guardian Wednesday.

Their point is: this is transportation, not recreation.

But still, New York's rates are among the highest in the world , as far we can tell. The annual fee is $95 -- a bit above most other annual rates, which range from $70 to $80.

The usage fees for annual members, in the chart above, are also high, although NYC annual members get 45 minutes of free riding, unlike riders in Washington, DC, London, Boston, Chicago, Denver, and Minneapolis, who only get 30 minutes of free riding.

And the usage fees for daily members are the highest of all - $4 for the first hour, $13 for the first 90 minutes, compared to a $2.00 and $6.00 fee for most other cities.

Here's a look other annual fees (& daily membership fees) around the world:
New York: $95 ($9.95)
Boston $85 ($5) CLOSES IN WINTER
Denver $80 ($8) CLOSES IN WINTER
Montreal $80 ($7) CLOSES IN WINTER
Washington, DC $75 ($7) -- there's also an $84 annual fee that can be paid out monthly.
Chicago $75 ($7) TO BE LAUNCHED LATE SUMMER
London $72 ($1.60)
Minneapolis $65 ($6) CLOSES IN WINTER
Paris $50 ($2.20) -- this level of annual gives you 45 minutes free riding
Mexico City $23 (daily rate N.A.)

The New York bike share annual membership is still cheaper than a monthly MetroCard, as the NYC DOT likes to point out. And with it, you can ride anywhere, anytime, as many rides as you want -- for free, so long as those rides don't exceed 45 minutes. That grace period exceeds the grace period in most other cities. With the exception of Paris, Montreal and Mexico City, charges in all the above cities start at minute 31. (In Paris you can chose between a deluxe membership, which costs about $50, or a regular which costs about $36, and gives you just 30 minute free riding)

NY officials say 97 percent of rides in DC are under the 30 minute free ride there. But if you keep the bike past the grace period, the charges escalate rapidly. The $2.50 cost for the initial usage fee in New York is the highest we could find.

As for next increment: it's $9.00.

NYC DOT spokesman Seth Solomonow says that's still misleading -- because in New York, you can ride for an hour an a quarter for $2.50, and for an hour and three quarters for $9.00.

"These rates are not so easy to compare to each other," Solomonow said. "Some trips are cheaper or more expensive, depending on the specific city, type of membership and length of trip. Some rides are cheaper or more expensive depending on whether they lasted 59:59 or 60:00."

Many, many of you have commented below about whether New York's bike share should ever be used for 90 minutes (mostly, you say no.)

For most one-way rides that people will make after the initial roll-out in Manhattan below 59th Street and parts of Brooklyn and Long Island City,  it shouldn't be a problem to stay under 45 minutes for a one-way trip. You should be able to get most places around that district in under 45 minutes.

New York's transportation commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan says the pricing arrangement is a necessary way to keep trips short and bikes in circulation. Here's how she explained it in an email:

"The system is the first unsubsidized bike share system and it is designed to incentivize people to return bikes promptly so there will always a be a bike available for any user who wants one. There is no other system of this size and structure that compares, and instead of costing tens of millions of dollars to implement as budgets are being cut, the system will actually provide a new transportation option and revenue for the city."

"As we have seen in other cities, users primarily use the bike share bikes no longer than the free period. The system works when people return their bikes promptly and incur no additional charges at all. It breaks down if users go looking for a bike but find only empty docking stations because all the bikes are checked out on long rides."

However, when the system expands to Park Slope, Crown Heights,  and the Upper West Side, one can easily imagine a one-way commute of an hour and a quarter. Alta officials have said one-way commutes are frequent in Washington, DC. When it's raining in the morning but nice in the afternoon, a user might want to ride home from, say, Lincoln Center to Crown Heights.

No word yet on whether the system's pricing could be adjusted -- though in Washington, officials have created low-income payment plans and other discount schemes.
[CORRECTED POST: Our initial post inadvertently compared New York's usage rates for daily and short-term members to the usage rates for annual members in other cities. The chart above has the correct rates. We regret the error.]