Press Releases

IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press Release #19-071
Wednesday, November 20, 2019
Contact: 212-839-4850 NYC DOT)
press@lyft.com (Citi Bike)

NYC DOT and Lyft Announce New Citi Bike Equity Advisory Board to Ensure Inclusive and Equitable Bike Share Expansion to Additional NYC Neighborhoods

As Part of Lyft’s $100 Million Expansion Commitment, Citi Bike Service Area Will Double By 35 Square Miles; New Stations Recently Added to Network in Bushwick, Ridgewood, and at Broadway Junction

Diverse 20-Member Panel Includes City Agencies, Community Based Organizations, Public Health Advocates, Cycling Groups, and More

NEW YORK CITY - Today NYC DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg and Lyft announced the formation of the Citi Bike Equity Advisory Board, a 20-person panel that will help to create an even more accessible bike share network for New Yorkers by advising, evaluating, and promoting Citi Bike’s bike share equity efforts. These growing efforts include affordable membership options, on-the-ground programming, and diverse community partnerships and will be focused especially in the upcoming expansion areas in Upper Manhattan, the South Bronx, and central Brooklyn and Queens.

“Equity and accessibility are central to our vision for doubling Citi Bike’s footprint across New York City,” said NYC DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg. “We are thrilled that our partners at Lyft have brought together such a thoughtful and diverse group of leaders to serve on its pioneering Equity Advisory Board. This group will make sure that Citi Bike’s effective work through New York City communities remains front-and-center -- as we expand the bike-share network to the South Bronx, northern Manhattan, central Brooklyn, and beyond.”

“One year ago, Lyft announced a $100 million plan to double the Citi Bike footprint, and as Citi Bike grows to serve millions more New Yorkers, we have a unique opportunity to grow our vision for an even more equitable and accessible bike share network,” said Caroline Samponaro, Head of Micromobility Policy at Lyft, the operator of Citi Bike. “The brand-new Equity Advisory Board will strengthen Citi Bike’s ongoing community engagement work in New York and serve as a model for Lyft’s bike share equity efforts in cities nationwide.”

Since launching six and a half years ago, Citi Bike has been heavily engaged in community driven efforts to tackle issues of equity in bikeshare. Recognizing that much of Citi Bike’s upcoming expansion will take place in communities of color with a history of underinvestment, NYC DOT and Lyft are putting equity front and center and establishing a community of stakeholders who will not only identify and acknowledge inequities, but also work to overcome them. When the $100 million expansion is complete, Citi Bike stations will reach 70 percent of residents in NYCHA developments — up from 40 percent now — and the new Equity Advisory Board will ensure that Citi Bike’s programming in underserved communities grows in tandem.

Equity Advisory Board Details: Equity Advisory Board members represent diverse geographic areas in New York City, and are leaders across a variety of sectors including nonprofit, social services, health and human services, community development, education, cycling advocacy, and government. The board will meet at least once per quarter to discuss and consider policy and expansion proposals, challenges and concerns presented by NYC DOT and Lyft.

Through its advisory efforts, the board will identify, strengthen and promote opportunities to implement a more equitable and accessible bike share expansion that will address transportation and recreation inequities for New Yorkers of all races, ethnicities, incomes, and abilities so that more communities reap the financial, social and health benefits of the expansion. Furthermore, the board will assist in engaging diverse community stakeholders to ensure meaningful partnerships and positive outcomes for all New Yorkers, with a focus on communities who have been historically marginalized and/or ignored.

The Equity Advisory Board will provide advisory oversight to the ongoing roll-out of the Citi Bike expansion and recommend all expansion efforts be performed through an equity lens.

The members of the Board are:

  1. Gigi Agius, Board Member, WE Bike NYC
  2. Alan van Capelle, CEO, Educational Alliance
  3. Tracey Capers, Executive Vice President of Programs, Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation
  4. Gaspar Caro, Partnership Director, LESEN
  5. Dr. Cappy Collins, Director, Cyclopedia Bicycling Program and Cada Paso
  6. Cecilia Clark, President and CEO, Brooklyn Community Foundation
  7. Aviva Goldstein, Senior Director for Strategic Partnerships & Institutional Philanthropy, The Fund for Public Health in NYC
  8. Asenhat Gomez, Deputy Director of Programming, El Puente, Bushwick
  9. Dominque Jones, Executive Director, Boys & Girls Club of Harlem
  10. Tanya Kaufman Gomez, Senior Policy Analyst, Strategic Operations and Performance Management, NYC DOHMH
  11. Liz Lauros, Deputy Commissioner, Strategic Partnerships, NYC HRA
  12. Barbara Montresor, Senior Vice President Marketing and Communications, Healthfirst
  13. Damaris Reyes, Executive Director, GOLES
  14. Scott Short, CEO, RiseBoro
  15. Lissa M. Southerland, Associate Executive Director of Operations, Union Settlement
  16. Yvonne Stennett, Executive Director, Community League of the Heights
  17. Bishop Mitchell G. Taylor, Co-Founder and CEO, Urban Upbound
  18. Eileen Torres, Executive Director, BronxWorks
  19. Kim Truong, Community Coordinator for Public Housing and Health, NYCHA
  20. Marcel Van Ooyen, President and CEO, Grow NYC

Ongoing Partnerships and Programming: Citi Bike was a founding member of the NYC Better Bike Share Partnership, led by the Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation, which has developed inclusive programs such as Prescribe a Bike, a program where physicians at Woodhull and Interfaith Hospitals in Bedford-Stuyvesant can “prescribe” Citi Bike memberships to patients with chronic conditions such as hypertension and diabetes, and Bike Share for Youth, which provides bike safety classes and free memberships to low-income youth, ensuring that they have a convenient transportation option to access job and educational opportunities. Since launching, more than 300 young New Yorkers have taken part in this program. Through Restoration’s leadership, the NYC Better Bike Share Partnership also helped shape the framework for the Citi Bike Community Grant program and provided key thought-leadership to the new Citi Bike Equity Advisory Board.

Through its on-the-ground partnerships, Citi Bike meets New Yorkers in their communities to demonstrate how bike share can fit into their lives as an affordable, healthy, convenient transportation option. In summer 2019, Citi Bike’s NYCHA Ambassadors attended 122 events, including 17 NYCHA Family Days.

Citi Bike also provides local non-profit groups with Citi Bike access to infuse the benefits of bike share into their programming. As one example, Urban Upbound, a group that equips public housing residents with tools and resources needed to achieve economic mobility, gifts Citi Bike memberships as a reward to clients for reaching certain milestones, such as securing a job interview, employment, or opening a bank account.

In summer 2019, Citi Bike also partnered with NYC DOT to launch a handcycle-pilot for New Yorkers with mobility-related disabilities.

Reduced Fare Bike Share: As part of its agreement with NYC DOT, Lyft has also continued to expand Citi Bike's transportation equity efforts, including the Reduced Fare Bike Share program, presented by Healthfirst. Since 2017, 9,000 New Yorkers who live in NYCHA developments or receive SNAP benefits have taken advantage of a discounted Citi Bike membership for only $5 a month, and there has been a 58% increase in active Reduced Fare Bike Share members since July 2018. These members are actively using the system, riding at about twice the rate of annual members.

Through an innovative new partnership with New York’s three public library systems, gift certificates for a free month of Reduced Fare Bike Share are now available at public library branches in the Citi Bike service area.

Community Grant Program: This summer, Citi Bike and Healthfirst announced a $300,000 Community Grant Program for local non-profits to grow bike share ridership further in lower-income neighborhoods. These funds are a portion of the sponsorship funds committed to Citi Bike by Healthfirst over the past year. Initial recipients of the community grants are the Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation, GrowNYC, Urban Upbound, Union Settlement, GOLES, Red Hook Initiative, and El Puente Bushwick. Citi Bike and Healthfirst will be partnering with and supporting additional non-profit organizations to grow a culture of bike share in the new expansion areas as well.

“I appreciate the opportunity to serve on the Citi Bike Equity Advisory Board and to work to ensure accessibility and equity,” said Barbara Montresor, Senior Vice President for Marketing and Communications for Healthfirst. “As the presenting sponsor of the Reduced Fare Bike Share, Healthfirst is uniquely committed to this effort because it aligns with our mission of serving all communities in New York and particularly the underserved. Providing mobility that is affordable opens opportunities for individuals and families and we are proud to be associated with it.”

“The Health Department is excited to continue to work with partners in the public and private sectors to promote good health and reduce health inequities. The Citi Bike Equity Advisory Board is well-positioned to ensure that work is responsive to community needs and that health impacts are considered as part of decision making,” said Tanya Kaufman Gomez, Senior Policy Analyst, Strategic Operations and Performance Management at NYC DOHMH.

“All New Yorkers, regardless of income status, deserve the opportunity to utilize accessible and affordable transportation options such as Citi Bike,” said HRA Deputy Commissioner of Strategic Partnerships Liz Lauros. “We’re incredibly proud of our initial progress in connecting New Yorkers who receive SNAP benefits with discounted Citi Bike memberships, and look forward to working with the Equity Advisory Board to ensure that the expansion of Citi Bike’s network is inclusive of all New Yorkers.”

"I am excited to be a part of the Equity Advisory Board and am looking forward to working with Citi Bike, NYC DOT, and the organizations represented on this board. WE Bike NYC is a community of women, female identifying, and gender non conforming people committed to breaking down barriers to cycling, and I am eager to bring their perspectives to the panel. WE will continue to partner with Citi Bike to provide bike share friendly programming, and WE can't wait to expand this programming as the Citi Bike network expands," said Gigi Agius of WE Bike NYC.

"No one should be denied access to an affordable transportation option simply because of their zip code. Citi Bike offers an environmentally friendly, reliable, and healthy alternative for New Yorkers to get around the city and it should be available to residents regardless of where they live. I'm honored to be included in this diverse group and look forward to creating a more inclusive and equitable Citi Bike for all New Yorkers to enjoy,” said Alan van Capelle, CEO of the Educational Alliance.

"Lyft and Citi Bike's newfound Equity Advisory Board reflects an important investment of private resources to improve New York City's mobility access," said Lower East Side Employment Network's Partnership Director Gaspar Caro. "LESEN's member agencies are grateful for the opportunity to collaboratively contribute Lower East Side insights to this conversation, which is a timely one as many communities in great need of thoughtfully improved mobility options will soon be in the expanded Citi Bike network."

“Providing access to opportunities that allow young people to experience and navigate the city in positive and new ways is core to the work we do at Boys & Girls Club of Harlem, which is why I am honored to serve on this advisory board and look forward to working with its members and Lyft in this inclusive approach to expansion,” said Dominique R. Jones, Executive Director, Boys & Girls Club of Harlem.

“I am thrilled to be representing Union Settlement on the Citi Bike Equity Advisory Board. This is a wonderful program for our Union Settlements participants and the East Harlem Community, and Union Settlement is excited to have the Lyft NS Citi Bike program as part of the amazing menu of programs and services we bring to the East Harlem community everyday. We are excited to participate, and bring our lense and insight to the board and the communities we serve,” said Lissa M. Southerland, the Chief Operating Officer of Union Settlement.

"Restoration was an early adopter of bikeshare at the outset when communities wondered what bikeshare was and wondered if it was necessary in their backyard," said Tracey Capers, Executive Vice President and Chief Program Officer of the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation. "Our work in Bed Stuy, NYC and nationwide has focused on building a culture of bike share that puts the community at the center so that communities can reap full benefits and ownership, from jobs to health to leadership."

About Citi Bike:
Citi Bike, now operated by Lyft, is New York City's bike share network. With more than 14,000 bikes, 800 stations, and 90 million rides to date, Citi Bike is the largest bike share network in North America. Over the coming years, Citi Bike will greatly expand into new neighborhoods as Citi Bike doubles its service area by 35 square miles and triples the number of bikes in the fleet to 40,000. Annual memberships are $169 for 365 days of unlimited 45-minute rides, and New Yorkers who live in NYCHA developments or receive SNAP benefits can access Citi Bike for only $5 a month through Reduced Fare Bike Share, presented by Healthfirst. Citi Bike is also now available in the Lyft app, where customers can find real-time station information and unlock bikes. Learn more at https://www.citibikenyc.com/.

The planned expansion through 2023 will incorporate the following neighborhoods into the system:

  • The Bronx: Mott Haven, Melrose, Port Morris, Highbridge, Claremont, Morrisania, Longwood, Concourse, and Mt. Eden
  • Brooklyn: Bed-Stuy, Brownsville, Crown Heights, Prospect Lefferts Gardens, East Flatbush, Sunset Park, South Slope, Windsor Terrace, Prospect Park South and Kensington
  • Manhattan: Harlem, Hamilton Heights, Sugar Hill, Washington Heights and Inwood (when completed, all of Manhattan will have Citi Bike)
  • Queens: Sunnyside, Maspeth, Elmhurst, Jackson Heights, and Corona

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