You are reading

Citi Bike Reduces E-Bike Roll Out This Summer, Production Slowed Down by COVID-19

Citi Bike (Queens Post/ Michael Dorgan)

Aug. 12, 2020 By Allie Griffin

Citi Bike has significantly cut the number of electric bikes it had promised to add to city streets this summer.

The company pledged to add “thousands” of e-bikes to its fleet over the summer back in February, but has switched course and will only be adding “hundreds,” according to a report in Gothamist.

A spokesperson for Lyft, which owns Citi Bike, told the outlet that the coronavirus pandemic slowed the supply chain and limited the labor force in factories producing the e-bikes.

There are about 300 e-bikes currently in Citi Bike’s fleet. The pedal-assist bikes can reach up to 18 miles per hour and proved to be very popular when approximately 1,000 of them were rolled out in 2018 under previous ownership.

Citi Bike, however, pulled those e-bikes after a few months because people had problems with the brakes that led to falls.

Lyft released an updated model of about 150 e-bikes in February and planned to gradually add more e-bikes until there were thousands this summer.

“Pedal-assist bikes have proven incredibly popular, and we are working hard to keep up with demand both on a daily basis as well as by increasing our fleet,” a Lyft spokesperson told the Queens Post. “We are on track to add hundreds more throughout the rest of the summer and more on top of that this year.”

email the author: news@queenspost.com
No comments yet

Leave a Comment
Reply to this Comment

All comments are subject to moderation before being posted.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Recent News

Superstorm Sandy-damaged home in Neponsit will finally be demolished after city finds it structurally unstable

Nearly 13 years after Superstorm Sandy crashed into the Rockaways, damaging or destroying nearly 1,000 homes and businesses along the 11-mile peninsula, a Neponsit house will be demolished by the city.

Council Member Joann Ariola has been working with the city’s Department of Buildings (DOB) and the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) to deal with the blighted property at 148-16 Rockaway Beach Blvd. and received an important update on the project late last month.

Pheffer Amato reminds constituent families of free meals, distraction-free learning policies for new school year

As students head back to school, Assemblymember Stacey Pheffer Amato is reminding families in her district of two major changes: every child will be eligible for free school meals, and mobile phones and smart devices will no longer be allowed during the school day.

The implementation of universal free meals for all schools, including nonpublic and charter schools, has been a focus for Pheffer Amato for years. During the 2025 New York State budget, she worked on the issue to ensure the state would give every school district, including New York City, the resources to make universal free meals a reality. Now, free breakfast and lunch will be provided to all school-aged children at all schools participating in the national school lunch and breakfast program, guaranteeing that every child will be eligible for health and nutritious meals.

Queens Together launches ‘Unofficial US Open Dining Guide’ encouraging fans to sample restaurants along the 7 line

Aug. 20, 2025 By Shane O’Brien

The US Open returns to Flushing Meadows Corona Park this Sunday, with more than 1 million attendees anticipated to take mass transit to the iconic annual tennis event. With hundreds of thousands of fans set to take the 7 out to the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, there is a world of delicious local eateries lying beneath the elevated train tracks should any fan wish to stop en-route to the US Open.

Can Queens’ food scene thrive with both trucks and restaurants?

Aug. 19, 2025 By Jessica Militello

In Jackson Heights at 4 p.m. on a Thursday afternoon, Roosevelt Avenue is buzzing with energy as commuters file in and out of subway cars and onto the street and cars and trucks grapple to get down the busy road. The street is filled with rows of shops and restaurants, along with food carts, street vendors and food trucks along the avenue. The almost-but-not-quite the weekend lag leaves hungry commuters faced with another choice to make throughout their day and the array of food truck options in busy areas like Jackson Heights offers customers convenience and delicious food without breaking the bank, two features that can feel vital, particularly with rising costs of living and pressure from inflation.