To be blunt, that sounds exactly like pearl clutching. It's like the countless stories I've heard or read people tell of "almost" getting creamed by a bicycle, as reasons for hating bike lanes or bicycle share. But none that I've heard about, either first or second hand, have actually been seriously hurt. I've been in my share of scrapes or near scrapes with other bikes, but I haven't been seriously hurt, nor, apparently, have you. I'm not saying that bad things never happen, or people never get hurt, but the perception of risk is not at all commensurate with the actual risk.

And, those scrapes have involved all kinds of bikes and riders, not just Citi Bikes. Citi Bikers are easy to single out, but when I stop and think about it, few have involved Citi Bikes. There are bad riders of all types (including me, TBH, from time to time; we all make mistakes). In fact, statistically Citi Bikes get into significantly fewer crashes than bikes are general, so they are actually much safer.

If ebikes make bike share a more viable form of transportation for more people, then I want them to be available. I have seen no evidence or statistics that show that ebikes are more dangerous than other bikes. If that evidence exists, I'm willing to revise my view. But as it's stands, I see them as a big gain, for a small risk. BTW, the L train shut down was a good reason to push for ebikes, but they were at no point going to be limited to riding over the bridges. If more ebikes mean that more people will ride, and ride over bridges, and ride longer distances, then good, by all means, bringing 'em on.

If the ride share of bikes is to grow, then some percentage of riders will be noobs. New riders have to come from somewhere; everyone, including you and me, was a noob once. So, if you want cycling to grow, and I do, then you have to put up with some noobs, and their noob mistakes. As cycling has grown, cycling has gotten safer, so the cost of noobs on the street ask minor compared to the gains. So I say, bring 'em on. Yeah, there will times when I get annoyed, but in the big picture, lots of noobs means cycling is getting better.