[Random Citi Bike photo on St. Mark's Place]
Men's Health editor-in-chief Matt Bean used a handheld germ counter to swab a number of surfaces in New York City.
Per his research:
The device ranks how germy the surface of an item is, depending on the bacteria and biological material it finds. The lower the rating, the fewer germs it has. If something gets a rating of 50, it shouldn’t touch your food.
The title for the grossest public object in New York City goes to Citi Bikes. Turns out, the handlebars on these communal bikes are less hygienic than the hold bars on subway trains — 45 times germier to be exact.
Here are the results for the other objects Bean tested:
1. Citi Bike handlebar - 1,512
2. Starbucks door handle - 1,090
3. LinkNYC kiosk - 807
4. Taxi handle - 424
5. Grand Central door knob - 45
Meanwhile, Recode has a piece today titled "A bike-sharing war is coming to the U.S. as investors pour money into new entrants."
May not happen here just yet, though. Motivate, the company behind Citi Bike, has an exclusive contract with NYC through 2029.
H/T Gothamist!
9 comments:
forget the germs - I live near a citibike dock, a busy one - and on most days I can hear the annoying bell several times a minute - hour after hour - day and evening - does anybody else have this annoyance?
I'm not a hypochondriac, but I would never ride those shitibikes, which is now a confirmed description instead of a derogatory term for something I hate.
The sharing economy is going to start a pandemic soon. As if the walking dead staring into and swiping their phones isn't enough of a sign.
@ JQ LLC: Still love Citibikes - gloves, people, use gloves- but am happy you were comfortable enough to, uhm, share your comment.
The most hilaroius part of this study is that the three top germ carriers in NYC are also three of the top targets for criticism on EV Grieve: Citibike, Starbucks and Link NYC. In other words, we got it right! All three of these attract more germs (and the annoying people who carry them) than ever existed here before there was gentrification. Or is it Germification? These also happen to be three of the most defended entities by the anonymous corporate enablers and finger wagging trolls who show up every time a legitimate crriticism is leveled at one of their beloved corporate icons. So from now on lets call these germ-infested brands what they really are: E. ColiBucks, ShitiBikes and Stink NYC.
Why don't they just include a "sanitize" tab in the Citibike phone app?
Handlebars? I dare him to swab the seat!
(a regular citibiker)
the only thing that is shared is a credit card number
germs... bikesharing war... what the fucking fuck is wrong with you people. Get a bike, own it, use it. So simple no apps no sharing no docking no rebalancing needed ever. Even the crappiest jalopy bike is better than those Shiti contraptions. Which make you look like a massive clueless corporate suckling tool with no sense of shame (or style) whenever you ride them.
The untold story - people dropping like flies because there are all those germs all around. The un-untold part? The corpses are quickly whisked away, so it looks like NYCity is a safe place to live. However, the City Morgue is packed to capacity, and they are shipping some of the bodies to those huge refrigerated buildings in Queens.
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