2014年12月CET4考试阅读理解真题(网友版)
Bike store owners put their spin on new bike
New Yorkers, albeit many of them grudgingly, aregradually getting used to more pedaling passengers on those blazingblue Citi Bikes.
But what about local bike shops? Is Citi Bike rolling up riders attheir expense?
At Gotham Bikes in Tribeca, a manager who gave his name as “Ben W.”said the shop has seen an increase in its overall sales due to thebike-share program.
“It’s getting more people on the road, more people learning aboutthe sport and getting involved,” he said.
An employee at Danny’s Cycles in Gramercy said Citi Bike is a goodoption for people to ease into biking in a city famed for itsvehicular congestion and aggressive drivers.
“They can try out a bike without committing to buying one,” JamesRyan said. “It makes a more comfortable biking environment in thecity because there are a lot more bikes, too.”
Business at Danny’s Cycles has increased as well since the adventof bike-share.
“A lot of people come in for bike gear, and we’ve sold a lot ofhelmets,” he noted.
Rentals are not a big part of the business at either Gotham Bikesor Danny’s Cycles. But for Frank’s Bike Shop, a small business thathas been at its current Lower East Side location on Grand St. since1976, the bike-share program has been bad news. Owner Frank Arroyosaid that his rental business has decreased by 90 percent since theCiti Bikes were rolled out last month.
Arroyo’s main rental customers are European tourists, a demographicthat has since been drawn away by Citi Bikes. Initially, abike-share station was sited a few doors away from Frank’s BikeShop on the corner of Grand and Henry Sts. But a petition onmoveon.org to relocate the bike station gatheredmore than 1,000 signatures. The Citi Bike dock was eventuallyremoved — but only temporarily, according to the Citi Bike Twitteraccount, for utility construction in the street.
“I was grateful, and it was quite an honor to see how many peopleresponded on my behalf,” Arroyo said of the petition effort. “Itwas really nice to see that people care. But they have flooded theplace with them,” he said of the Department of Transportation,which installs the bike racks.