Citi Bike: Biking towards equity in NYC
Since its debut in 2013, Citi Bike has been facing an obstacle in becoming a truly accessible and equitable transportation option for all New Yorkers. Social activists attacked Citi Bike for its failure to serve low-income communities of color and outer-borough populations.
To become a more equitable transportation system, Citi Bike announced its expansion plan and installed more than 100 new stations across northern Manhattan and the South Bronx starting the week of May 4th, 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic has given the expansion renewed urgency.
Now, it has been half year after the expansion, and how are New Yorkers doing with the new Citi Bike stations? Here is the hypothesis — after the Citi Bike Expansion in May, the usage(rides) of Citi Bike in low-income neighborhoods must have risen. By looking into the maps, let’s see if this is true.
Data used for the maps:
Citi Bike trip history data of April and September 2020. (https://www.citibikenyc.com/system-data)
Median income by zipcode in NYC from American Community Survey Data. (https://www.census.gov/en.html)
Zipcode boundaries in NYC. (https://data.cityofnewyork.us/Business/Zip-Code-Boundaries/i8iw-xf4u/data?no_mobile=true)
First, let’s look at how many Citi Bike stations were added and where.
http://localhost:8888/view/output/station_apr.htmlIn April 2020, before the expansion, there were 887 Citi Bike stations across NYC.
http://localhost:8888/view/output/station_sep.htmlIn September 2020, after the expansion, there are 1087 Citi Bike stations across NYC; 200 stations were added. By looking at the location through a map, stations were added in northern Manhattan and the South Bronx as planned.
As we can see from the map above, the neighborhoods that Citi Bike added stations have relatively low median income in NYC. So we can assume that the expansion plan increased the accessibility of Citi Bike service in low-income communities.
Now, let’s see if the number of rides in low-income neighborhoods rose as well.
The following maps show the number of rides started from each Citi Bike station. The size of the circle is based on the number of rides.
http://localhost:8888/view/output/citibike_apr.html
http://localhost:8888/view/output/citibike_sep.htmlAs we can see from these two maps, the number of Citi Bike rides dramatically rose after the expansion. Considering that April and September both have pleasant weather for bike riding, the expansion itself may have been the cause for the increase.
An interesting fact is that there was an increase in lower Manhattan as well, even though there was no station added. We can assume that after the expansion, not only New Yorkers use Citi Bike more to start their trip from the low-income neighborhood, but also use Citi Bike to go back to their place since they know there are stations to dock nearby.
From looking into the Citi Bike trip history data of before and after the expansion, I was able to conclude that after the Citi Bike Expansion in May, the usage(rides) of Citi Bike in low-income neighborhoods rose.
Citi Bike is also partnering with Healthfirst to expand access to bike share through $5 monthly memberships for NYCHA residents (public housing program)and SNAP recipients (The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) that do not require an annual commitment.
To become a public transportation system for all New Yorkers, Citi Bike’s Expansion Plan must be continued. Looking forward to Citi Bike’s journey towards equity.
