Thursday’s Headlines: About that Citi Bike Report Edition

The big story yesterday was Comptroller Brad Lander’s “report” on the alleged failure of Lyft in its management of Citi Bike.

The problem with the report was that it was based entirely on two months — June and July 2023 — when Lyft admitted it had problems, especially in The Bronx because of theft. From those two months, Lander concludes more or less that Lyft is no longer providing “reliable and equitable service.”

He reached this conclusion despite also admitting that “Citi Bike enables millions of trips each month [and] riders took 30 million trips on Citi Bike in 2022 — five times as many as when the system first launched in 2013.” He even said that “preserving” (note, not restoring, but preserving) Citi Bike as “a high-quality transportation service” is essential.

That’s like that old Yogi Berra line about a popular restaurant: “Nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded.”

Several outlets covered it (NY Times, Gothamist), but we’re going to do a second-day take soon because it’s not as clear as Lander suggests.

In other news:

• One of the best stories in the entire media was The City’s piece about the mayor’s Asian Affairs Liaison Winnie Greco. And, of course, there’s a placard abuse angle!

• The day’s carnage (that we know of):
  • A cyclist was barely clinging to life after being struck by a dump truck driver near the entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge bike path. (Streetsblog)
  • A Queens woman was critically injured by a hit-and-run driver. (QNS)
• Hat tip to the West Side Rag for following our story on Gale Brewer’s opposition to e-bike registration — and crediting us!
• Days after our initial coverage of the city’s plan to unleash unlimited electric cabs on the streets and after a judge slapped a TRO on it, two Council members finally weighed in on it. (NYDN)
• The feds conducted a huge raid on a storage unit to seize counterfeit goods in a bust likely related to the vending on Canal Street. (NYDN)
• Finally, Amtrak is back. (NYDN)
• The Council passed that bill requiring the DOT to redraw its truck routes. (Crain’s)
• Finally, some car owners here are worried that speed cameras are a slippery slop to Big Brother. Well, check out what Uganda is doing! (Human Rights Watch)