New York City is about to get a lot more mobile, which is welcome news to many residents who don’t own bikes but might want to grab one on the go. The city’s bike-share program will kick off in May — a two-month delay due to Hurricane Sandy damaging equipment — with around 5,500 bikes available (and 10,000 eventually) for people to rent and ride around the metropolis.

Citigroup is sponsoring the so-called Citi Bikes (get it?) program, providing bicycles at almost 300 docking stations in Manhattan south of 59th Street and some parts of Brooklyn, reports the NYC Transportation Department (via Bloomberg News).

“DOT has worked around the clock to restore vital transportation links following the storm and that includes putting Citi Bike on the road to recovery,” Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan said in a statement.

The delay was a result of electrical components in the system that were damaged by Sandy’s flood surge in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, where a majority of the equipment had been stored.

The program works a lot like others — people can simply pay for a bike at a docking station on a touch screen for 24-hour access, seven days or annually. That will unlock the bike and you’re free to ride around where you will until returning it to any other docking station.

New York will be joining the more than  200 similar programs around the globe in cities like Boston, London, Barcelona, Paris and many more.

New York City’s Bike-Share to Begin in May After Sandy’s Damage [Bloomberg]

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