Bike Sharing

Nighttime Citi Bike Rides Are About to Get Brighter

Motivate, the company that runs Citi Bike, will install extra-bright "laserlights" on 250 bikes. The lights project the image of a bicycle onto the pavement about 20 feet in front a rider.

By David Meyer

12:39 PM EST on January 10, 2017

Blaze's "laserlight" projects the image of a bicycle about 20 feet ahead of the rider.

Motivate, the company that runs Citi Bike, will install extra-bright “laserlights” on 250 bikes. The lights project the image of a bicycle onto the pavement about 20 feet in front a rider, as you can see in the promo video below:

London is in the process of installing Laserlights on its entire bike-share fleet. A study commissioned after Transport for London began piloting the lights showed that 75 percent of cyclists felt safer biking with them, according to Motivate. A majority of bus drivers surveyed also found that the lights made cyclists easier to notice at night.

Contrary to the doomsday predications that heralded its launch in 2013, Citi Bike has a strong safety record. In a statement, Motivate said it hopes the new lights encourage ridership among women.

David Meyer

David was Streetsblog's do-it-all New York City beat reporter from 2015 to 2019. He returned as an editor in 2023 after a three-year stint at the New York Post and is now Managing Editor.

Bike Sharing