Statement of Senator Michael Gianaris on the Expansion of CitiBike

New York City reached an agreement with Lyft to dramatically expand Citi Bike, the nation’s largest bike share program. As part of the agreement that approves its acquisition of Motivate, Citi Bike’s parent company, Lyft will invest $100 million to improve and strengthen the system – which includes doubling Citi Bike’s service area and tripling the number of bikes in the next five years, making it one of the largest bike share systems in the world. Lyft will continue to expand Citi Bike’s transportation equity efforts, including expanded investment in the $5 monthly bike share memberships available to all SNAP recipients and NYCHA residents.

“CitiBike is a valuable resource and I was proud to play a role in securing its expansion into Astoria and Long Island City,” said Senator Michael Gianaris. “I look forward to CitiBike’s continued growth into more western Queens neighborhoods and beyond.”

Highlights of the agreement include:

• Citi Bike will more than triple in size to nearly 40,000 bicycles, and expand by 35 square miles over five years, more than doubling the size of the current service area.
• The geographic boundaries of the expansion will be established in the coming months. Expansion will be accompanied by extensive community and elected official outreach to the selected areas.
• Lyft will immediately invest to restore the existing system to its required fleet level of 12,000 bikes within 90 days of the acquisition (i.e. the end of February).
• The expanded Citi Bike fleet will include both regular and pedal-assist bicycles, which have proven popular and are a component of DOT’s L train tunnel shutdown mitigation plan.
• Lyft will add 12 new valet stations and increase bike and dock availability in the busiest areas to improve system performance.
• The Reduced Fare Bike Share program, presented by Healthfirst, which provides discounted memberships of $5 per month for all NYCHA residents and SNAP recipients will be expanded and enshrined in Lyft’s agreement with the City. The improvement and expansion of Citi Bike will continue to be privately funded with no government subsidy.
• Lyft’s new micro-mobility division in New York City will support over 1,000 full-time living wage jobs.
• The City retains its rights to pilot and implement dockless bike share services outside of the expanded Citi Bike service area, including the ongoing three-borough dockless pilot.
• In addition to the $100 million in capital expenditures over five years, Lyft will also pay associated operating expenses that will be used to improve and expand the system. Lyft will retain the exclusive right to operate bike share within the Citi Bike service area.