{"id":357929,"date":"2026-09-27T01:58:23","date_gmt":"2026-09-27T01:58:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/357929\/"},"modified":"2026-09-27T01:58:23","modified_gmt":"2026-09-27T01:58:23","slug":"citi-bike-user-reveals-outrageous-hidden-tax-slapped-onto-every-e-bike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/357929\/","title":{"rendered":"Citi Bike user reveals outrageous \u2018hidden tax\u2019 slapped onto every e-bike\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

Speed demons are in for a real slow-down.<\/p>\n

Citi Bike users are already getting charged an arm and a leg<\/a> \u2014 but a mandatory slow-down is now driving up the price.<\/p>\n

Last October, then-Mayor Eric Adams, announced a new 15 miles-per-hour cap<\/a> for all e-bike riders. The move hit every street across the five boroughs, as well as on pathways inside of parks operated by the city.<\/p>\n

Since then, riders across the Big Apple are starting to notice higher prices<\/a> \u2014 and longer commutes. Citi Bike \u2014 which is owned by Lyft \u2014 charges its members 27 cents per minute for an e-bike ride.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"ACiti Bike riders are noticing the e-bike speed limit is now capped at 15 mph Getty Images<\/p>\n

This means, the slower you ride, the higher the cost.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u200aIf they\u2019re getting slower, they\u2019re getting more expensive,\u201d Andrew Kam, a frequent Citi Bike user told Gothamist<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s inconvenient to go slower, so they\u2019re charging more and it\u2019s a lesser service.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kam put the newer cap to test, revealing that his 6-mile e-bike ride \u2014 from Chambers Street to 125th Street \u2014 cost him $1.08 more with the decreased speed.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the math.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When the limit was 18 mph, Kam said his trip would take roughly 20 minutes and cost a minimum of $5.40 \u2014 not factoring in any stops. However, the lower 15 mph speed limit means his trip now takes about 24 minutes at least \u2014 setting him back $6.48.<\/p>\n

So where is all that money going \u2014 not the little guys.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"ACiti Bike made roughly $24.7 million profit in 2025 Getty Images<\/p>\n

Records show the lower speed limit directly correlated to higher profits. Gothamist revealed Citi Bike made $24.7 million profit in 2025. Plus, ridership also reached historic highs<\/a> \u2014 up from a $6.8 million profit in 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u200aI don\u2019t think a lot of people even realize that it happens because unless you were riding a Citi Bike every day, you wouldn\u2019t realize that the speed decreased,\u201d Kam told Gothamist. \u201cIt was just a hidden tax on all Citi Bike users.\u201d<\/p>\n

It may not have started that way, though.<\/p>\n

First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro said at the time of the speed cap that the Citi Bike e-bikes were \u201can emergency threat to life<\/a> and property.\u201d Mastro put pressure on Adams shortly after a 3-year-old girl in Williamsburg was hit by an e-bike rider.<\/p>\n

While the incident did not happen on a Citi Bike, Adams still made the change and even oversaw a portion of the protected bike lane on Bedford Avenue \u2014 where the child was struck \u2014 be removed.<\/p>\n

The move, however, is not sitting well with New York City bikers and comes as some councilmembers and advocates alike are currently aiming to rein in Citi Bike costs, where a $3 cap would be set on e-bike rides for members.<\/p>\n

Until then, speed demons will be forced to become a slowpoke.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Speed demons are in for a real slow-down. Citi Bike users are already getting charged an arm and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":357930,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[10483,26675,1776,57,9,24,55,54,56,58],"class_list":["post-357929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-bikes","tag-citi-bike","tag-lyft","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-ny","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357929","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=357929"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357929\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/357930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=357929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=357929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=357929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}