Citi Bike Rolling Out More Electric Bikes, With An Extra Cost

NEW YORK — Thousands more Citi Bikes will soon come with an electric boost — and an extra cost. The citywide bike-sharing service said it is rolling out 4,000 pedal-assist e-bikes starting Thursday that will cost an additional $2 to rent.

The surcharge nearly doubles the current $3 cost of a single 30-minute Citi Bike ride if the user wants a less strenuous trip. The price update is meant to help meet demand for the speedy bikes and boost the capacity to keep batteries charged, Citi Bike says.

"We believe that these bikes will open up a whole new set of options, enabling more New Yorkers to choose Citi Bike as a quick and reliable way to get around town," said Caroline Samponaro, the head of bike, scooter and pedestrian policy at Lyft, which owns Citi Bike's parent company, Motivate. "Trips that might have been too far or too steep are now quick, easy electric bike rides."

Roughly 200 pedal-assist bikes — which give a motorized boost when the rider pedals — were added to Citi Bike's fleet last August as part of a pilot program. They have proven popular with an average of about 15 daily trips, triple the regular bikes' daily average of five trips, Citi Bike says.

That rate has even held steady in the winter, while the classic bikes saw a 60 percent drop in daily trips per bike from Oct. 1 through mid-February, Samponaro wrote in a blog post.

Citi Bike members won't have to pay the $2 surcharge until April 27 — and it won't be charged if the rider parks at certain stations along the L subway corridor during reduced service hours on the line, Citi Bike says. That could help commuters affected by the line's repair project that isn't quite a shutdown.

Those with reduced-fare memberships, such as public housing residents or people eligible for food stamps, will only have to pay 50 cents extra once the charge kicks in, according to Citi Bike.

The expansion of Citi Bike's electric fleet comes less than a year after the city officially legalized pedal-assist bikes. Throttle-powered e-bikes, like those commonly used by delivery workers, remain illegal.

"We believe electric bikes have the potential to make our bikeshare communities more inclusive, for older people and people who are less fit," Samponaro wrote. "We also believe in sensible regulations around electric bikes that make them available to everyone who needs them, including working cyclists in New York City."

Citi Bike announced plans in November to more than triple the size of its fleet to over 40,000 bikes and double its geographic reach thanks to a $100 million investment from Lyft, which acquired Motivate last year.