According to May figures, Citi Bike has about 15,000 e-bikes in its fleet. In the first five months of the year, Citi Bike riders have taken more than 7 million trips on e-bikes.Citi Bike riders might not realize most docks don’t charge e-bikes. It’s a surprisingly labor-intensive operation: A crew of 170, on four shifts and 69 specially equipped cargo vans, ferries the batteries to a Long Island City warehouse and back. https://t.co/FJ3Xndf1pY
— Curbed (@Curbed) June 29, 2024
Citi Bike announced that it needs the DOT to provide it with sites for an immediate Lyft-funded infusion of docks and bikes because the system is under "added stress [in] its original service area, which serves a disproportionate number of the total rides."In other words, too many people are either showing up at docks that are empty or trying to return bikes to full racks. Even as it is breaking its own records, Citi Bike estimates that it lost 4 million rides in 2021 because customers are getting frustrated. The company cited the ridership increases as well as "unpredictable commuting patterns as a result of the pandemic."An unbalanced system results in riders finding empty or full docks during periods of peak demand," a problem that cannot be totally mitigated through rebalancing or Bike Angels, the company said.
[A]s the city has sought to accommodate the surge in both bike-share use and overall cycling by adding hundreds of miles of bike lanes, it has provoked a backlash from drivers and some elected officials who complain that parking and driving are now more difficult.
Citi Bike says it needs to add thousands of docks within its existing Manhattan service area to handle the ongoing bike boom, but so far, the Department of Transportation has not kept up with the Lyft-owned bike company’s requests — and millions of rides are not happening as a result.In a bombshell statement that dropped extremely quietly last week, Citi Bike announced that it needs the DOT to provide it with sites for an immediate Lyft-funded infusion of docks and bikes because the system is under "added stress [in] its original service area, which serves a disproportionate number of the total rides."
Also:
Citi Bike docks currently occupy just .5 percent of curb space. But sitting those docks has proven to be a perennial challenge to the DOT, which seeks community board input for every single location. As a result, many are sited on sidewalks rather than in curbside spots, which has the double-edged problem of discriminating against pedestrians while also doing nothing to discourage car ownership.
Tonight's virtual meeting, which starts at 6:30, will likely highlight where (and when) these new docks might appear.Citi Bike fam!
— Citi Bike (@CitiBikeNYC) November 2, 2021
We're partnering w/ @NYC_DOT to add 8k new docks and 4k bikes in 2022.
Through the "infill" process, we will be adding/extending more docks to reduce the # of empty stations and keep you moving! 🚲💙
Check out this priority-area heat map based on DOT data. pic.twitter.com/17IuTu4pgj
It's chained to the station itself, which often has valet staff. It moved around over the weeks and gradually lost some parts (but not been stripped entirely). The bike fascinates me: why hasn't Citi Bike reclaimed it? Who chained it in the first place?
