Lawmaker wants city to review safety of Citi Bike’s electric bikes

The Department of Transportation must examine the safety of Citi Bike’s electric-assist cycles — and the City Council may hold special hearings to do just that, a lawmaker said.

Lyft, which owns Citi Bike, pulled the Big Apple’s entire fleet of roughly 1,000 of the ‘e-bikes’ from service — about 8 percent of the service’s total New York fleet — early Sunday after a string of complaints about over-responsive brakes.

“Recent news reports that Lyft this past weekend had to remove thousands of its e-bikes in New York City and other states from service because of problems with the front breaks is just the latest troubling issue with the program and warrants an immediate review by the DOT,” Councilman Justin Brannan (D-Brooklyn) wrote Tuesday to Department of Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg.

“Make no mistake, e-bikes are a good public policy,” he added. “They make it easier to get around the city while cutting down on congestion and pollution. But the program can only succeed if the bikes are safe.

Brannan’s letter also raised the possibility of City Council hearings into Citibike’s monopoly on bike sharing in New York City.

The DOT said it would “closely monitor” the bike-share service.

“We expect Lyft to maintain a safe and fully operational fleet providing sufficient service,” said spokesman Scott Gastel. “We will monitor closely as they investigate the cause of this brake issue and work to address it.”

Citi Bike was bought by ride-hailing giant Lyft in July 2018, which promised to invest $100 million and triple the bike-sharing firm’s size in New York City.

The motorized, battery power bikes proved popular with riders, but questions about their safety are mounting.

“Our actions to put rider safety first are evidence that this public-private partnership is working well to serve New York City,” said CitiBike spokeswoman Julie Wood.

In addition to New York, Lyft also pulled the ‘e-bikes’ from its cycle-sharing services in San Francisco and Washington D.C. this weekend.

The company said it could not point to a specific instance of injury caused by the overactive bakes, but 53-year-old e-biker Bill Crumlic said he went flying when he tapped the brakes to avoid a pedestrian.

“The bike landed on me. And let me tell you, those f–kers are heavy,” Crumlic said. “I got banged up and bruised, but luckily had no broken bones.”

Source: Read Full Article