Eyes on the Street: Dockless Citi Bike Prototypes Spotted in Brooklyn

Citi Bike operator Motivate confirmed that the black bikes belong to the company.

Black bicycles with the distinctive Citi Bike frame, fenders, and handlebars have been spotted around Brooklyn this month, and we can confirm that they are prototypes for potential dockless bike-share service operated by Motivate.

Last night, Paul Goebel shared photos of a test bike locked to a rack in Carroll Gardens. In one of his photos you can make out the QR code above the rear wheel lock that users would scan to unlock the bike. The bike also has a larger basket than current Citi Bikes, enclosed on three sides:

Possible dockless citi bike sighting in Carroll gardens pic.twitter.com/Imz2d7cSzU

— Paul Goebel (@paul__goebel) January 22, 2018

Near Motivate’s Sunset Park headquarters, Alan Gerber spied a few varieties of Motivate test bikes, including one GenZe-brand electric bike. (Motivate recently announced the addition of 250 GenZe e-bikes to its Ford GoBike San Francisco operation.)

Found what sure look like some @CitiBikeNYC ebike and dockless test mules in Sunset Park #bikeNYC pic.twitter.com/m0UoaGJNwz

— Alan (@akgerber) January 15, 2018

A Motivate spokesperson confirmed to Streetsblog that the black bikes and GenZe e-bikes belong to the company.

Bike-share experts usually cite the durability of Motivate’s bicycles as one of its competitive advantages, but the company has some catching up to do on dockless technology, with other bike-share operators having run such systems for a few years now. Adding the flexibility of dockless operations is probably essential for Motivate to keep up in the increasingly competitive bike-share sector.

Last month DOT put out a request for expressions of interest for companies looking to run dockless bike-share in areas not currently served by Citi Bike. The Motivate spokesperson said the company is considering responding to the city’s request.

Ferdinand Cesarano

E-bikes of the kind that we’re talking about are plenty faster than regular bikes, sometimes more than twice as fast. And pedal bikes with electric-assist motors are also significantly faster than regular bikes.

If people were content to ride these things at normal bike speeds, then I suppose that their operation of them in bike lanes would be less of an issue. But speaking as someone who is regularly dusted by these vehicles on bridges and in on-street bike lanes, I can attest that the current state of affairs is unacceptable. In practice, these vehicles go way too fast to be mixing with bicycles in bike lanes.
Elizabeth F

Thanks, you made my day!
David Veloz

I wonder if it’s not something else, because I rode a half dozen bikes the past couple day and the only ones that shifted reliably were the NuVincsis, and they didn’t feel any more sluggish than the others. But that’s pretty anecdotal.

ALSO ON STREETSBLOG

Shared bikes in Shanghai. Photo: Mark Gorton

DOT Asks Dockless Bike-Share Companies to Show How They Can Expand Access to Bike-Share in NYC

By David Meyer | Dec 15, 2017

NYC DOT is officially asking "dockless" bike-share companies to explain how their services could work in areas not currently served by Citi Bike, including in the Bronx and Staten Island, Mayor de Blasio announced this morning.

The bike-share coverage NYC could have if City Hall wasn't so squeamish about replacing on-street parking spaces. Image: Department of City Planning

NYC Has a Bike-Share System That Works. Why Aren’t We Expanding It?

By David Meyer | Apr 25, 2018

Instead of extending the usefulness of Citi Bike to more of the city, a two-tiered system could emerge in which neighborhoods outside the current Citi Bike service area get frozen out.

5 Highlights From Last Night’s Bike-Share vs. Parking Meeting

By David Meyer | Oct 21, 2016

Last night’s Brooklyn Community Board 6 bike-share forum lacked the fireworks of previous meetings — no physical threats this time. While the tone was civil, the demands from the anti-bike-share crowd weren’t exactly reasonable. So far, Citi Bike has proven incredibly popular in CB 6, with some stations getting as much as seven rides per dock each day. That’s […]