Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press Release #13-67

Seth Solomonow/Nicholas Mosquera (DOT) (212) 839-4850

After First 200 Days of Citi Bike, NYC DOT Releases New Data Showing that Significant Numbers of New Yorkers are Biking, Complementing Transit System

113,000 daily bike trips on private and Citi Bikes within the bike share service area alone this summer, 342,000 estimated daily biking trips citywide

Busiest stations clustered near transit hubs, evidence that New Yorkers combine bike share with other transportation modes

New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan today announced that according to new data collected since the launch of Citi Bike, New Yorkers make an estimated 113,000 trips on personal and bike share bicycles combined daily in the bike share service area alone, the most definitive estimate ever reported on actual bike ridership in New York City. These 113,000 trips are more than the combined daily ridership on Manhattan’s two busiest bus routes and equivalent to 29 percent of the number of yellow taxi trips originating in the service area in parts of Brooklyn and Manhattan below 60th Street. The numbers are also consistent with previous counts by DOT and also with estimates from other previous citywide surveys, which found that New Yorkers made 311,000 private bike trips daily citywide before Citi Bike, for an estimate of 342,000 daily bike trips citywide. NYC DOT also released survey results from Citi Bike users, showing that New Yorkers are using bike share in tandem with public transit and many have switched from driving to bike share since the system was launched in May 2013. In the system’s first 200 days, Citi Bike users took 5.8 million trips for more than 11 million miles, including more than 19,000 trips yesterday, when the temperature was at or below freezing the entire day. The system currently has 95,000 annual members and another 350,000 have purchased daily and weekly memberships. The busiest stations are clustered around high-traffic transit hubs like Grand Central Terminal, Pennsylvania Station and Union Square, as well as at individual stations at West and Chambers streets; at the Astor Place subway station; and at Petrosino Square, adjacent to the Spring Street No. 6 station.

“Our bike share program has been a big hit among New Yorkers and visitors alike,” said Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. “Citi Bike has help expand our transit network and provided a new and safe option for commuting in our City.”

“After just 200 days, Citi Bikes are already an indelible piece of New York’s streetscape, yet they’re only one part of the city’s surging number of riders,” said Commissioner Sadik-Khan. “Citi Bike has opened a new kind of travel option, helping extend the reach of transit and opening more parts of the city for millions of riders.”

The new data is based upon ridership counts at 10 locations within the Citi Bike service area conducted in August 2013. According to actual counts of cyclists, Citi Bikes comprised 29 percent of bike trips within the bike share service area. With actual Citi Bike ridership averaging about 33,000 trips daily at the time according to actual daily data counts of bikes as they are checked out by users, there were an estimated 80,000 daily private bike trips taken within this area, for a total of 113,000 daily bike trips within the bike share service area.

A DOT intercept survey of more than 1,000 bike share users found that New Yorkers commonly use Citi Bike in tandem with other transportation modes, including the subway (57 percent) and walking (65 percent) and that 21 percent use Citi Bike instead of taking a taxi, livery car or their own car. The survey found that bike share leads 46 percent to go places they would otherwise not go without bike share.

1. Bike trips in NYC

Within bike share service area

  • 113,000 daily trips within the bike share service area (based on field counts, August 2013)
  • 33,000 use Citi Bike
  • 80,000 use private bikes

Citywide:

  • 311,000 daily trips by bike, citywide (based on 2011 survey by the Dept. of Health and Mental Hygiene)
  • 54,000 daily trips to/from work, citywide (2009-2011 American Community Survey)
  • These figures indicate that commuting trips are about 17% of all bike trips, mirroring overall travel patterns
  • With addition of Citi Bike trips, total of 342,000 daily trips by bike

2. How bike share is being used

(Based on 1,038 intercept surveys conducted at bike share stations, August 2013. Percentages are for those answering each question.)
Citi Bike riders take bike share for a mix of work trips and other daily trip-making, reflecting the types of trips made in the Citi Bike service area

  • 54% of Citi Bike trips are for work purposes (includes commuting)
  • 33% for errands, personal business, shopping
  • 14% for sightseeing
  • 12% for exercise
  • 8% other

Most bike share trips are used to go places that users frequently visit

  • 69% come to the area daily or several times a week
  • 14% come at least once a week
  • 5% at least once a month
  • 12% less than once a month

But Citi Bike also used to go to new destinations

  • 46% say bike share leads them to go places they would otherwise not go (without bike share)
  • Bike share trips are often combined with other forms of transportation

  • 52% say they combine bike share trips with other modes “most of the time” (31%) or “some of the time” (21%)
  • 48% say they do not usually combine bike share with other modes (33% “rarely or never” do so and 15% do so only “occasionally”)

Bike share trips are most often combined with walking and taking the subway:
(multiple responses allowed)

  • 65% combine bike share trips with walking, for at least some trips
  • 57% with subway
  • 10% with bus
  • 7% with taxi/livery

Without Citi Bike, users would generally have taken the subway or walked, while one-quarter would use a taxi/livery or their own car: (multiple responses allowed)

  • 65% would have used subway for current trip if bike share did not exist
  • 63% would have walked
  • 18% would have taken the bus
  • 21% would have used a taxi, livery or their own car
  • 9% would have used their own bike

Asked what they find most valuable about the program, Citi Bike users cite convenience, ready availability, flexibility in travel, saves time, saves money, provides exercise, fun and getting outdoors to see the city.

  • 44% cite Citi Bike’s convenience, ready availability and flexibility
  • 15% cite faster, more efficient and time-saving
  • 11% cite exercise
  • 11% cite saving money
  • 9% cite fun, seeing the city, getting outdoors, making them happy and relaxed

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