{"id":139204,"date":"2026-02-19T21:02:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T21:02:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/139204\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T21:02:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T21:02:10","slug":"nyc-pols-blast-citibikes-slow-poke-snow-removal-we-deserve-better","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/139204\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC pols blast CitiBike\u2019s slow-poke snow removal: \u2018We deserve better\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Local pols are demanding CitiBike clean up its act<\/a> \u2014 after parent company Lyft took nearly three weeks to shovel all of its Big Apple bike stations out of mountains of snow.<\/p>\n

The cleanup chaos came just weeks after the service hiked prices for the fifth straight year \u2013 demanding 41% higher membership rates and at least 240% more from casual cyclists.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time you turn around as a CitiBike member, the cost has gone up yet again, and we do not see the improvements in service,\u201d City Council Member Lincoln Restler (D-Brooklyn) told The Post.<\/p>\n

Georgett Roberts\/NY Post<\/p>\n

Restler \u2014 who has floated legislation to cap CitiBike fares to match those of subway rides \u2014 is now urging the city Department of Transportation to create a mandatory snow-cleaning deadline for future winter storms.<\/p>\n

\u201cNew York City has far and away the most expensive bike share program in the world, and yet, Lyft does far too little to clean up the garbage around CitiBikes and remove the snow and ice that builds up after a storm,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHomeowners and small businesses are responsible to clear the sidewalk in front of their storefront or home in a matter of hours: Lyft should be cleaning up the areas around CitiBike docks in days, not weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cyclists were fuming in the aftermath of Winter Storm Fern, which dumped over a foot of snow on the city, telling The Post it was far too difficult <\/a>to access a bike, with ice and flakes covering docking stations.<\/p>\n

In a Feb. 5 blog post<\/a> \u2014 more than 10 days after the snowfall\u2013 CitiBike reported that its stations were \u201cplowed over after we\u2019ve cleared them\u201d and even started instructing its workers to use pickaxes and sledgehammers to free the bikes.<\/p>\n

Snow was declared removed from all stations at the \u201cend of last week,\u201d a spokesperson said. <\/p>\n

Robert Miller for NY Post<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth during and after the snowstorm, Lyft worked closely with NYC DOT to provide snow removal across the service area. We continue to look for ways to better serve our riders,\u201d the rep said.<\/p>\n

But Council Member Shanana Hanif, who represents Brooklyn, posted a picture of a snowed-in CitiBike in Kensington to X just on Tuesday,<\/a> urging the bike-sharing service to revisit the icy mess.<\/p>\n

\u201cHey @CitiBikeNYC: how much longer are my constituents supposed to wait for this nasty snow buildup to be cleared? And beyond the snow, this Kensington station by Denny\u2019s is consistently filthy. What\u2019s the plan?\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

CitiBike NYC<\/p>\n

A representative for Lyft defended the lengthy snow removal process across its more than 2,200 bike docking stations following \u201cone of the most challenging winter storms the city has seen in years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWorking closely with our city partners, Citi Bike shut down the system on January 25th and subsequently coordinated a comprehensive snow management plan,\u201d Patrick Knoth, general manager of CitiBike, said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince the system resumed operations on January 26th, snow removal teams augmented by additional crews have been working around the clock.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gabriella Bass<\/p>\n

Under a contract with the city, Lyft is responsible for maintaining and cleaning the stations \u2013 and the \u201cDOT has strict performance standards regarding the maintenance and cleanliness of Citi Bike stations, bicycles, and the surrounding area,\u201d according to the city\u2019s bike-share program website.<\/p>\n

Each station is cleaned at least twice per month, and litter is \u201cremoved frequently. DOT monitors each station to maintain those strict performance standards.\u201d<\/p>\n

The DOT did not comment on the weeks-long cleanup and whether Lyft met the agency\u2019s \u201cstrict\u201d standards. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been in constant communication with Lyft to monitor their response efforts and reinforce the need to maintain an appropriate level of service for New Yorkers,\u201d a DOT rep said. \u201cWe look forward to continued conversations with Lyft on how it can provide the best possible service during major snow storms.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Restler demanded the agency do more to hold the bike share service accountable.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all pay a premium as CitiBike members to use this essential service, and the team at Lyft should do more to maintain it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do not see the cleanliness or the snow removal that the riders should expect in order to just be able to use the bikes,\u201d he added. \u201cWe deserve better.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Local pols are demanding CitiBike clean up its act \u2014 after parent company Lyft took nearly three weeks…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":139205,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[41423,5459,68,1776,57,9,197,56,63,65,64,8555,58],"class_list":["post-139204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-citibike","tag-department-of-transportation","tag-exclusive","tag-lyft","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city-life","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-snow","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139204"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139204\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/139205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}