New York’s comptroller says Citi Bike service is lacking in low-income areas. Citi Bike disagrees

A report issued this week from New York City Comptroller Brad Lander found that Citi Bike faces “significant operational shortcomings” in the city, and determined that the problem is even worse in low-income neighborhoods and communities of color. But Lyft, which owns the bikeshare platform, said the report was unfair in its analysis and contained several inaccuracies.

Citi Bike, which allows consumers to rent bikes for short periods of time, has grown in popularity in recent years and has built out a massive network of manual and electric-powered bikes. But users across the city find they can’t return bikes because docking stations are full, while others aren’t able to rent bikes because the station nearest them hasn’t been replenished, Lander’s report said.

These issues are far worse in neighborhoods on the outer edges of the operating system, the report said. That means there are more empty stations and unusable bikes disproportionately affecting Black, Latino, and low-income residents, according to the findings. Riders in the Bronx, especially, are 89% more likely to encounter an unusable station than riders in the other boroughs in which Citi Bike operates, the report said.

“Citi Bike has grown to be a vital element of New York City’s transportation network, but Lyft’s failure to deliver reliable service across the system raises alarm bells,” Lander said in a statement released Wednesday.

The report claims that the city’s transportation department has failed to enforce the performance standards in Lyft’s contract, which “could have resulted in millions of dollars of fines against Lyft.” The analysis noted more than 11,000 instances in June and July of this year where stations were left completely empty or completely full for at least an hour.

“While the Comptroller had not shared the report with the agency before publication, we look forward to reviewing and exploring what is possible given the city’s fiscal challenges,” a NYC Department of Transportation spokesperson said in a statement.

Lyft rebutted many claims in the report. The company said in a response that in September and October, for example, the Bronx had the second highest access of all boroughs.

“Reliability is our highest priority, and we work hand-in-hand every day with our partners at DOT to ensure that Citi Bike can best meet the growing demands of all of our more than 1.5 million passionate riders. We look forward to reviewing the report and sitting down with Comptroller Lander to discuss his findings,” Lyft said in a response to the report.

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