Ride A Citi Bike To The Polls For Free On Election Day

NEW YORK — New York City's bike-sharing service has its own get-out-the-vote operation. Citi Bike will offer free trips on Election Day in an effort to help voters get to the polls more easily, officials announced Monday.

New Yorkers will be able to unlock a free day pass for unlimited 30-minute rides through the Citi Bike smartphone app on Nov. 6 by using the code "BIKETOVOTE." The offer aims to make sure transportation isn't a barrier for anyone who wants to cast a ballot in the upcoming state and federal elections.

"Too many Americans don’t vote because they lack reliable and affordable transportation options," said Julie Wood, a spokeswoman for Motivate, the company that operates Citi Bike. "As voters make their plans for November 6th, we encourage the millions living in New York and all of the cities served by our bike share networks to take advantage of free rides and use bike share to get to and from the polls."

A lack of transportation to a polling place was a reason 29 percent of young voters didn't cast ballots in the 2016 election, according to a study published by the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement.

Getting to the polls proved an even bigger obstacle among young people of color and those without college experience — 38 percent and 35 percent of those voters, respectively, cited a lack of transportation as a reason they didn't vote, the study found.

"Democracies thrive when voting is easy and convenient, two words we always use to describe Citi Bike," city Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg said in a statement.

In addition to the Citi Bike deal, Motivate's bike-share services in Chicago, Boston, Washington, Minneapolis, Portland, Oregon, Columbus, Ohio and the San Francisco Bay Area will also offer free rides on Election Day, the company said.

Lyft, the ride-sharing company that owns Motivate, is offering free and discounted trips, as is Uber, its primary competitor.

But it could be tough to find a Citi Bike to ride to the polls. Thousands of bikes were missing from the streets as of late September as the service dealt with a repair backlog, Streetsblog reported. Only about 7,000 bikes were available as of late Monday morning, far fewer than the 12,000 Citi Bike says it has in its fleet, according to Bike Share Map, which tracks bike systems around the world.

(Lead image: Photo by Kathleen Culliton/Patch)