Citi Bike, the most widely used bikeshare system in the U.S., just got bigger! As part of its Phase 3, Citi Bike just announced its expansion further into South Brooklyn’s Sunset Park, including Windsor Terrace and Greenwood Heights.
In the largest expansion year in Citi Bike’s history, and as part of a 93 docking station Brooklyn expansion, the new Citi Bike stations will cover the area from 15th street to 67th Street, and from the southwest corner of Prospect Park to Church Avenue.
NYC DOT
This announcement by Lyft and the New York City Department of Transportation builds on the two new Citi Bike stations that were installed in January adjacent to the Brooklyn Army Terminal/NYU Langone mass vaccination site. Citi Bike proudly highlights the fact that the new stations give New Yorkers new, socially distant ways to get to their vaccinations appointments.
The Department of Transportation Commissioner Henry Gutman proudly stated, “The expansion brings essential infrastructure to vital and diverse neighborhoods, giving residents easy access to a sustainable, safe, and low-cost transportation alternative.”
In addition to providing new ways to access resources, the nonprofit Transportation Alternatives’ 25x25 Challenge website points out that, “New York City’s streets and sidewalks make up our largest public space. But more than 75 percent of that space is devoted to driving and free storage for cars—even though a minority of New Yorkers own a car, fewer than one in four drive to work, and the vast majority of us walk, bike, and take transit to get where we need to go.”
According to Citi Bike’s press release, they “hit the milestone of 100 million all-time rides last year as well as a record-breaking 103,139 rides on September 12th. Last year alone, nearly 900,000 Citi Bike riders pedaled over 42.1 million miles. Citi Bike launched e-bikes in 2020 and has grown the fleet to thousands of ebikes, with thousands more to be added next month; ebikes now account for more than 40% of Citi Bike ridership.”
The pandemic has hurt so many in the city but here is one shining example of a way this crisis has turned lemons into lemonade. Bike on, New Yorkers.
