About Citi Bike

Citi Bike is New York City’s bike share system, and the largest in the nation. Citi Bike launched in May 2013 and has become an essential part of our transportation network. It's fun, efficient and affordable – not to mention healthy and good for the environment.

Citi Bike, like other bike share systems, consists of a fleet of specially designed, sturdy and durable bikes that are locked into a network of docking stations throughout the city. The bikes can be unlocked from one station and returned to any other station in the system, making them ideal for one-way trips. People use bike share to commute to work or school, run errands, get to appointments or social engagements, and more.

Citi Bike is available for use 24 hours/day, 7 days/week, 365 days/year, and riders have access to thousands of bikes at hundreds of stations across Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and Jersey City.

The History of Citi Bike

September 2011
NYC DOT announces the selection of a bike share operator for New York City, kicking off an unprecedented public input process.

May 2012
The system name, Citi Bike and sponsors are announced with Citibank as the title sponsor and MasterCard as the Preferred Payment Partner.

April 2013
5,000 Citi Bike founding memberships sell out in 30 hours, weeks before the program is scheduled to launch.

May 2013
Citi Bike launches with 6000 bikes at hundreds of stations throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn.

June 2013
Citi Bike graces the cover of The New Yorker magazine.

December 2013
Citi Bike helps power the New Year’s Eve ball drop in Times Square

August 2014
Total distance travelled on the system passes 20 million miles.

October 2014
New York City Bike Share, the operator of Citi Bike comes under new ownership, who pledge to provide increased private capital to improve the program. The program is boosted by an increased sponsorship commitment from Citi and an increase in the credit facility from the Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group to allow for the expansion of the program. A 6,000 bike expansion is announced, that will double the size of network from 6,000 to 12,000 bikes.

December 2014
Citi Bike hits the big screen, with bike share being used by Quvenzhané Wallis, who plays Annie in the opening scenes of the 2014 Sony Picture update of the classic musical.

August 2015
Citi Bike expansion begins, bringing 140 new stations to Bed-Stuy, Greenpoint, Long Island City, Williamsburg, and Upper East Side and Upper West Side.

December 2015
Citi Bike riders hit a new milestone, 10 million trips in one year. This breaks the one-year record for bike share ridership in all bike share programs in the Western Hemisphere, aside from Velib in Paris.

May 2016
Citi Bike gains its 100,000th Annual Member.

August 2016
Citi Bike expansion continues bringing another 140 stations in the Upper East Side & Upper West Side in Manhattan and Jersey City, and moving into new Brooklyn neighborhoods. We also grew from 8,000 to 10,000 bikes.

September 2017
Citi Bike adds another 142 stations in Harlem, East Harlem, Astoria, Crown Heights, and Prospect Heights. We also grew from 10,000 to 12,000 bikes.

October 2017
Citi Bike riders take their 50 Millionth trip all time.

May 2018
Citi Bike celebrates 5 years of bike share in NYC with over 143,000 members.

May 2019
Citi Bike becomes available to rent in the Lyft app.

September 2019
Citi Bike riders break a daily ridership record and exceed 100,000 trips in a single day.

July 2020
Citi Bike riders take their 100 Millionth trip all time.