A new report states Citi Bike is neglecting low-income neighborhoods while giving preference to the most privileged parts of New York City.
The report — which advocacy group New York Communities for Change released Wednesday morning — used publicly available data to show that more than 76 percent of New Yorkers do not have Citi Bike access. That number is 84 percent for people of color, and 75 percent of neighborhoods in extreme poverty.
The report also says 2.5 million people live further than half a mile from the subway, but 3.8 percent of them have access to bike stations.
The areas where Citi Bikes can be found is 21.5 percent more white than the rest of the city, with a higher median household income.
Manhattan Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez said in a statement that the city should make expanding the bike-sharing program to neighborhoods where other means of transportation are scarce a bigger priority.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Citi Bike said a central part of its mission is ensuring "diverse communities" have access to the bikes. "From Bed-Stuy to Harlem, there are thousands of public housing residents and low-income New Yorkers who have joined Citi Bike for only $5 a month," the spokesperson said.
Citi Bike said its next expansion will double its coverage area by 35 square miles, and the spokesperson said reduced fare service is available to all New Yorkers with food stamps or who live in New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) units.