New York City cyclists are in for a two-wheeled surprise.
Mayor Eric Adams, Department of Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez, and Lyft announced plans today to expand the popular Citi Bike program into new neighborhoods across Queens, Brooklyn, and the Bronx.
Beginning in fall 2025, Citi Bike will expand west of Flushing Meadows Corona Park in northeast Queens, further to Norwood and Riverdale in the Bronx, and Brownsville, East New York, Kensington, and Bay Ridge in Brooklyn. The expansion will add over 250 new stations, bringing 2,900 new bikes into service, with around half being electric bikes. City officials project that the expansion program will serve over 900,000 additional New Yorkers.
By the end of the expansion, 64% of New Yorkers will live within a five-minute walking distance of a Citi Bike station.
The expansion will also add more docks to Citi Bike’s busiest areas, including Midtown and Downtown Manhattan, Harlem, East Harlem, Downtown Brooklyn, Williamsburg, Greenpoint, and Park Slope.
Local Queens officials welcomed the Citi Bike expansion into parts of the world’s borough.
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards said in a statement that the expansion into Forest Hills is a “welcomed addition” for residents wanting to bike around the borough.
“Citi Bike has been successful in reducing auto congestion in the neighborhoods where it has already been introduced, and I am certain it will have the same impact in Forest Hills. I strongly support this latest effort to make Queens more bike-friendly,” Richards said.
Assembly Member Jenifer Rajkumar, who presides over the neighborhoods of Glendale, Ozone Park, Richmond Hill, Ridgewood, and Woodhaven, said the expansion is critical to ensuring that New Yorkers in transit deserts have equal access to the Citi Bikes. Rajkumar added that once the expansion is complete, it will bring New Yorkers “unprecedented access to this efficient, sustainable transportation solution.”
The expansion program builds on the city’s push to make Citi Bike memberships more affordable, set pricing controls, and enhance safety measures.
Additionally, the program reflects the city’s efforts to bring micro-mobility to the outer boroughs. In combination, the Citi Bike and e-scooter share program currently operating in the East Bronx and eastern Queens is projected to provide over 75% of the city’s residential population with access to a shared micro-mobility program.
Once the expansion is completed, the Citi Bike system will grow to over 36,000 bikes and 2,400 stations, nearly seven times larger than the 6,000 bikes and 332 stations at the time of its launch in May 2013. The micro-mobility company will soon pilot kioskless stations featuring updated, more durable docking equipment that will allow more flexibility for station locations.
Over the past 10 years, Citi Bike has grown to be the largest bike share program outside of China. As the program has expanded, it has made history as the city’s fastest-growing transportation network, with over 246 million all-time riders.
