Citi Bikes It Is: Citi to Sponsor New York Bike-Share

Photo: Ben Fried

Banking giant Citi will be the primary sponsor of New York’s bike-share system, set to launch this summer with 600 stations and 10,000 bikes in Manhattan and Brooklyn.

Mayor Bloomberg and NYC DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan made the announcement a short while ago at City Hall, where bikes and a logo-adorned station are temporarily on display.

We’ll have more on this morning’s event later today. For now, enjoy the photos — and congratulations to reader Mike, who called it.

Photo: Ben Fried

Photo: Ben Fried
  • Anonymous

    Regardless of what one thinks of Citibank, it seems a very good name for NYC bike-share and the bikes look good.

  • defdnyc

  • The usefulness of this system for swarming protest tactics will make the irony of a Citi sponsorship delicious.

  • Anxiously Awaiting Bike Share

    Any details out yet on the duration of the deal or the price tag?

  • @73a27bc20bf5ce1dee9a6e325a0eecec:disqus 5 years, $41 million from Citi. $6.7 million from MasterCard.

  • At first I thought this was a simple case of greenwash http://understory.ran.org/2012/05/01/dirty-money-u-s-banks-at-the-bottom-of-the-class/ (Citi is no. 3 in “Filthy Five” from Rainforest Action Network) but then I recalled that Bloomberg Philanthropies has funded anti-coal activities http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/mayor-bloomberg-gives-50-million-to-fight-coal-fired-power-plants/2011/07/20/gIQAEKKURI_story.html, but without knowing more it looks rather strange, don’t ya think?

  • Anonymous

     ARG!!. from the FAQs  http://citibikenyc.com/faq
    “By August 2012, we expect to have 7,000 bikes and 420 stations
    available, with the rest of the system implemented in the spring of
    2013, expanding to include parts of the Upper West and East Sides, and
    Park Slope, Prospect Heights and Crown Heights in Brooklyn.”

    Can’t wait until the Spring of 2013.

  • Anxiously Awaiting Bike Share

    So for those with good eyes, there appears to be a station map in the background of the nyc.gov bike share page http://a841-tfpweb.nyc.gov/bikeshare/

  • Anonymous

    Seems like an invitation to start calling them Sh—yBikes.

    I hate the “pay for itself,” “public-private partnership” (=milking taxpayers while pretending you’re giving, giving, giving) approach. Not criticizing DOT here–what real option did they have?–just lamenting the shortsighted, self-destructive mentality of the political overclass that demands that we do things this way.

  • J

    @dporpentine:disqus I’m ambivalent about this. With a view from Montreal, city ownership comes with it’s own slew of problems. It also does a complete end-run around the question “Why is the city paying for this?”, which made implementation not a fight at all.

    Also, check out Gothamist’s incredibly misleading article about bikeshare.http://gothamist.com/2012/05/07/citibike_nycs_bike_share_will_cost.php

  • bill b

    Is it true that all the docking stations will be front of TBbank, CapitalOne, Bank of America and Wells Fargo. Also is it true that Citibank account holders may get a discount on  the membership/rental fee. 

  • KeNYC2030

    Coulda been worse.  It coulda been “Bike of America”

  • Charles_Siegel

    Maybe they will change the name to New York Citi – if citibank pays enough to buy the brand. 

  • Rhubarbpie

    Is every bike going to have an ad for Citi on it? If so, this makes the program far less interesting — who wants to be a pedaling advertiser for any bank, much less Citi?

  • cyc

    Ever look at London’s bike share?  DOT has been showing the London bike around for months but no one noticed “bank” til today?  

  • Rhubarbpie

    I hadn’t actually looked at the London system, but I see that Barclay’s is all over it. Oh well. 

  • Andrew

    Looks nice, except for the wacky pricing. It’s great for everyday users, but it seems like a missed opportunity to promote cycling among non-cyclists such as myself. I was hoping to try it out, but not at that price.

  • Joe R.

    @dporpentine:disqus Sh—y bikes sounds right to me. I might consider a $10 daily fee, or even an annual membership, if they were Quest velomobiles, but not those things. Come to think of it, why not velomobiles? Besides being fast, some of them are totally enclosed for all weather protection.

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