Early data on Citi Bike revealed at a panel at Baruch College
Early data on Citi Bike revealed at a panel at Baruch College on September 17 spoke of its initial success and plans to expand, as well as the limited demographics it reaches, reports City Limits‘ Oliver Morrison.
Citi Bike boasted 80,000 members in its first three months alone, trending far greater than its target of 60,000 for the first year. It has performed better than other cities with established bike share programs when it comes to rides per bike as “the program records about six rides per bicycle per day.”
Justin Ginsburg, project director of NYC Bikeshare, “which owns and runs Citi Bike and is itself owned by Alta Bicycle Share, which runs similar programs in Boston, London, Washington DC and others” credits the early success to the relatively high density of bike locations when compared to other cities with similar programs.
However, New York’s bike program is primarily reaching one demographic, Morrison writes. “Riders are mostly white, male, and live in households with six-figure incomes,” according to Ginsburg, who added, “This is great if you’re a marketing person.” But neighborhood incomes are not the sole factor when it comes to determining where to expand.
“If it was just a purely dollars and cents decision, we would be going to the Upper West Side next,” said Ginsburg.
As it stands now, bike stations are found below 60th Street in Manhattan and select neighborhoods in West Brooklyn.
With that data in mind, Charles Komanoff, the moderator of the panel, said the program needs to expand more than just geographically. “Now that it’s been proven successful, they need to commit themselves to reaching out to communities that aren’t as affluent,” said Komanoff.
The next neighborhoods in line for Citi Bikes are those in Brooklyn “contiguous” with those where the program is already present, said Ginsburg.
Compared to the monthly cost of the subway, Citibike represents a great value for low-income residents, said Ginsburg: the annual fee of $95 breaks out to less than $10 a month, compared to more than $100 a month for the subway.
But Komanoff said inequities still need to be addressed. “At the end of the day, $95 for people at the margin is money that they don’t have to begin with,” said Komanoff.
You can find data on the Citi Bike program by going to their website: http://citibikenyc.com/system-data
Via City Limits