Skip to Content
Streetsblog New York City home
Streetsblog New York City home
Log In
Bike Sharing

Citi Bike Membership Surges Past 20,000 — Smell the Desperation at the Post

1:16 PM EDT on May 29, 2013

That acrid scent wafting from the News Corp. Building is flop sweat pouring off Col Allan and the New York Post editors as they watch tens of thousands of New Yorkers start using the city's new bike-share system.

As of this morning, 20,000 people had purchased annual Citi Bike memberships, an increase of more than 4,000 since the system launched Monday morning. Membership is on pace to eclipse Washington DC's Capital Bikeshare (about 34,000 annual subscribers, currently the most of any American bike-share system) in a matter of days.

The membership and ridership numbers coming out of the Citi Bike system are going to make it harder for the tabloids to keep on running stories that frame cycling as niche transportation that "real New Yorkers" don't use. Not that the Post will stop trying.

Their interim strategy seems to be convincing readers that bike-share isn't worth signing up for. But even today's feature on opening week glitches has a whiff of desperation to it. One of the inconvenienced bike-share users who made the Post's final cut had to walk all of two blocks before finding an operable station:

Another rider said that the docking station near his Brooklyn Heights subway wasn’t operable — and there was no sign indicating as much.

So he schlepped himself two blocks to another station.

That's the great thing about having a dense network of bike-share stations. If you're foiled at one, there's probably another one two blocks away. What a schlep!

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog New York City

Maximum Rage: Delivery Workers Protest Low Wages, App ‘Lockouts’

Couriers with bikes and signs urge the city to step in as Uber Eats, GrubHub and DoorDash withhold work, they say.

March 28, 2024

The Toll of History: MTA Board Approves $15 Congestion Pricing Fee

New York City's congestion pricing tolls are one historic step closer to reality after Wednesday's 11-1 MTA board vote. Next step: all those pesky lawsuits.

March 28, 2024

Company That Fought McGuinness Safety Project Wants to Seize Bklyn Street for Private Backlot

Broadway Stages to Greenpoint residents: "Street safety for me, not for thee."

March 28, 2024

SEE IT: Hit-and-Run Driver With Fake Plate Seriously Injures Cyclist

The 5 p.m. crash occurred at Flushing and Waverly avenue near the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

March 28, 2024

Thursday’s Headlines: Shakira Shakira Edition

Pop superstar Shakira performed for a crowd of 40,000 packed into the Times Square pedestrian plazas. Plus congestion pricing news and more.

March 28, 2024
See all posts