Citi Bike had its best year ever with nearly 14 million trips

[Guest Nicole]

That’s a 40 percent increase since last year

Citi Bike crushed its own records for the third consecutive year, with 2016 being the program’s most successful year yet. Over the course of 2016, riders took nearly 14 million trips—four million more than in 2015, or a 40 percent increase.

According to a release from the mayor’s office, the largest bike-share program in North America now regularly serves more than 60,000 trips per day, putting it on par with Boro Taxis and the Staten Island Ferry.

“In 2016, we fulfilled our pledge to grow Citi Bike, a sustainable transit option, to a range of more diverse Manhattan and Brooklyn communities,” Mayor de Blasio said in a statement. This year, the program added 139 new stations and 2,000 bikes to the fleet.

And there’s more to come. Assuming all goes according to plan, Citi Bike should hit Astoria, Crown Heights, and Prospect Heights in 2017. (The future looks somewhat bleaker in Staten Island and the Bronx.)

Also in 2017: Motivate, the private company that operates the program, the DOT, and the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene plan to launch more community partnerships designed to “increase and diversify participation in bike share.” Such a program already exists in Bed-Stuy—and membership is up in the neighborhood by more than 50 percent.

http://ny.curbed.com/2016/12/29/14112944/citi-bike-2016-record-breaking-year