Citi Bikes, WiFi Kiosks Boost Brooklyn Businesses, Study Says

NEW YORK, NY — Citi Bikes and free WiFi kiosks may help boost small businesses in neighborhoods where they're rolled out, a recent New York University study found. Shops and restaurants in areas with bike-share docks and LinkNYC internet stations saw small upticks in sales compared to nearby areas without them, the research shows.

Retail shops in seven Brooklyn neighborhoods saw a 3 percent sales boost within six months of a LinkNYC WiFi kiosk being installed, while nearby areas without them saw a roughly 0.7 percent increase, according to the NYU research.

Brooklyn restaurants with Citi Bike stations close by saw sales rise 0.2 to 0.5 percent over a three-year period, while those in neighborhoods without the bikes saw sales stagnate or slightly drop.

Those percentages might seem small, but they mean a lot in the context of local economies, said Stanslav Sobolevsky, an associate professor at NYU's Center for Urban Science and Progress who led the study.

"That's a substantial amount of money, not only in earnings for the businesses, but also in the taxes that they pay to the city," Sobolevsky said.

With a grant from the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, researchers used data from Mastercard Retail Location Insights, the credit card company's retail transactions database, to track sales in Brooklyn neighborhoods in the time since Citi Bike stations or LinkNYC kiosks were installed. The study only examined Brooklyn because Manhattan's dense business districts wouldn't have shown much change over time.

It's not certain the bikes and kiosks are directly causing sales to grow, the study warns, as other factors may have helped businesses simultaneously. But the research shows "data-driven evidence" that they help attract more people to small shops, the study says.

Launched in 2013, Citi Bike is the nation's largest bike-sharing program, with more than 700 bike stations in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. The LinkNYC kiosks, first introduced in 2015, offer free WiFi, maps, phone calls and other services thoughout the five boroughs. As of this summer there were more than 900 kiosks installed, with most in Manhattan and Brooklyn.

The kiosks offer directories of nearby shops, restaurants and attractions, so they have a fairly direct impact on local business, Sobolevsky said. The bikes' impact is more indirect, since they have a clear purpose independent on local shops, Sobolevsky said.

But other research has linked bike-sharing to commerce — a previous study in Minneapolis, Minnesota showed a link between bike activity and the number of restaurants within half a mile of bike stations.

"It might not look much, but on the other hand would we expect that a single Citi Bike station would change the game for nearby businesses entirely?" Sobolevsky said.

Citi Bikes and LinkNYC kiosks are often placed in areas with lots of traffic or new development, which are also good for business, Sobolevsky said. But researchers are confident the amenities make a difference given the stagnant sales growth in areas without them, as well as neighborhoods' sales patterns before they got bikes and kiosks, he said.

Businesses along the Fulton Street corridor in Brooklyn have benefitted from the increased foot traffic that's followed the arrival of Citi Bike stations and LinkNYC kiosks, said Phillip Kellogg, executive director of the Fulton Business Alliance in Fort Greene and Clinton Hill.

But as the study notes, Kellogg it's hard to draw a direct line from the amenities to the local shops' success. Other projects, such as renovations to pedestrian plazas, have played a role in making the area more shopper-friendly, he said.

"They’re very much a part of a bigger picture of many different things happening on Fulton Street," Kellogg said of the bikes and kiosks.

(Lead image: Citi Bikes are seen in Manhattan in 2014. Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)