Citi Bike will begin rolling into Bushwick and Ridgewood next week with 85 new stations, the Lyft-operated bike share announced Wednesday.
The creep across the Brooklyn-Queens border is the first step in Citi Bike’s significant 35-square-mile expansion into all of Manhattan, the deeper outer boroughs and the southern Bronx. Citi Bike also plans to extend to upper Manhattan at 155th Street and into the Bronx.
“Fresh on the heels of nearly 10 record-breaking days this summer and more than 2.3 million Citi Bike rides in August alone, we are thrilled to bring Citi Bike to more New Yorkers this month,” said Caroline Samponaro, director of micromobility policy for Lyft, in a statement.
A spokesman for Citi Bike declined to share a list of new station locations with amNewYork, saying that a full list of sites was not ready. Updates on installation will come via Citi Bike’s social media channels.
The bike share plans to hit Ridgewood for the first time and stretch out to the Broadway Junction transit hub near the borders of Bedford-Stuyvesant and Brownsville.
“As Citi Bike begins the exciting process of doubling its service area, we are thrilled to bring new stations to Bushwick and Ridgewood this year,” said Polly Trottenberg, the Department of Transportation commissioner. “Citi Bike is regularly shattering ridership records, as more New Yorkers and visitors alike discover what is, hands down, one of the most fun, healthiest and sustainable ways to get around the city.”
Within the next five years, Citi Bike will ultimately double its service area and more than triple its number of bikes during its latest expansion into neighborhoods such as Corona and Jackson Heights, in Queens; Kensington and Crown Heights, in Brooklyn; and Mott Haven and Port Morris, in the Bronx.
The push came after years of calls from advocates and elected officials for a five-borough bike share system and criticism that the bike share was too slow to expand deeper into the city.
The latest growth was born out of an agreement the city reached that allowed Lyft to acquire Citi Bike’s previous operators, Motivate, in exchange for Lyft’s $100 million investment in improving and expanding the service. The bike share still operates without city subsidy.
