[Photo by Derek Berg]
Here's the official word from Citi Bike:
Beginning on March 1 2016, annual memberships will increase from $149 to $155 to keep up with the costs of administering a growing and improving system at the level of quality riders have come to expect from Citi Bike. Annual members will also have the option to pay in monthly installments of $14.95, with an annual commitment.
NYCHA residents will continue to receive discounted $60 annual memberships and, for the first time, will have the option of paying for their membership in $5 monthly installments.
They also note that the Citi Bike network is 40 percent larger today than it was at this time in 2015 ... with 100-plus more stations on the way in 2016.
17 comments:
CitiBike haters will claim this as some sort of victory.
CitiBike lovers will live with the secret shame of knowing they are paying top dollar for an inferior, flawed service.
CitiBike lovers will consider this as a victory for them since this greenwashing elite alternative mode of transportation machine is becoming more and more exclusive for them.
One or two years of membership and you've got the cost of new bike. Convenience only goes so far at these prices.
As a person who owns both his own bicycle and also has a citibike membership, the idea of not having to carry multiple locks when I'm running numerous short errands is awesome. But I know - I'm just greenwashing blah blah blah elite yadda yadda yadda living in secret shame, so I'll shut up now.
shitibike tolerators will continue to appreciate that a year of this costs less than a monthly metro card, and while there's a lot that is annoying about shitibike, these tolerators can still enjoy the convenience of not having to own a bike.
I honestly don't understand the utter contempt: I had a bike for many years but rarely rode it, because too often i had to go out after work for a business event or some such and couldn't bike home. Or if it's raining or something. then your bike is stuck somewhere. My bike weighed 8,0000pounds and was awkward and heavy to lug up 4 flights of stairs (there was not a viable option to park it elsewhere, and locked on the street wasn't working out). and took up valuable real estate in my tiny apartment.
and for the complainers who say citibikers "don't know how to ride a bike" that is a blanket statement and not true. And plenty of fools on their own bikes are pretty bad bikers themselves.
Someone has to pay for all the CitiBike shuffling and minimal use on snow days.
I have a personal bike and a Citibike membership and say what you will but I have no problem paying $165 a year for the convenience of Citibike.
That is still too low a price to actually found this money losing program. It should be at least $250 per year, maybe more. The low price is what has prevented CitiBike from being a truly world class system. Due to all the financial problems CitiBike had to delay the roll outs uptown and to the boroughs by several years. Not months, years! Forget the outer boroughs, people still can't use these bikes uptown, They had to find a new operator since the old one went bankrupt, further delaying the expansion. The price to join is nothing compared to using mass transit or a taxi on a regular basis. One taxi ride is a month's worth of CitBike rides.
For those who argue CitiBike is mostly used by commuters for the last mile, why should that service be so cheap? If it gets you to and from work faster then that's worth more than 12 bucks a month, especially if it prevents you from being docked pay or losing your job.
The program is still being mismanaged without enough investment to make it work as promised. There are hundreds of stolen bikes they have never recovered or replaced, leading to even more bike shortages. An extra 6 bucks a year is a joke and won't really help improve the system. I just hope they don't spend it all in one place.
As useful as they are, them is some fiercely ugly bikes. For some reason the Santander Cycle bikes and docking stations in London don't look as intrusive as our Citibike bikes and stations. I probably can just chalk that up to the grass looking greener on the other side.
am I the only one who thinks these bikes should come with complimentary seat sanitary wipes?
They take up parking spaces.
we BOTH have CitiBike memberships---have had them since the inception---we live in stuyvesant town and seven days a week from 8:00AM-5:00PM we are able to locate a bike about 10% of the time---even though there are nine stations on our favorite list (about 237 possibilities)---think that says it all :(
Giovanni,
"the low price is what has prevented CitiBike from being a truly world class system."
No, that it is self-sufficient and not seen as a part of the public transportation system (like it is in every other city where similar services are provided) is the reason that it isn't "world class."
In cities like DC, bike-sharing services are included in the diversified public transport system and have a better return on investment than buses (but not the subway).
i don't mind paying more for citibike. i love not having to deal with MTA or maintain my own bike.
"Citibike lovers will continue"- Ahh what do I care? I got my own ride(s).
I believe it was Bloomberg who was the one who said this was a self-sufficient program that would be world class, yet neither of those claims are true. It's time to either raise the price or stop telling people how great this understaffed and underfunded program is.
Post a Comment