Citi Bike Bike Sharing by the Numbers

by Dan Bova | June 23, 2023

From horse-drawn carriages to yellow cabs, for as long as New York City has existed, there have been fun and easy ways to zip around town. But 10 years ago, the launch of another mode — a bike share program — in some ways blew the others away. Or, ahem, blue them away.

All hail the Citi Bike bicycle, that hefty two-wheeler that’s made commuting and cruising more convenient, and more enjoyable, for a decade.

The inaugural fleet of 6,000 bikes hit NYC’s streets in 2013: the same year a certain philanthropist-CEO served his final year as mayor and the younger sister of a big tennis family won her fifth tennis tournament title in Queens.

A lot has changed in the city over the years, but New Yorkers' fondness for their steel steeds has only grown stronger. Want proof? Check out these intriguing numbers.

41 million

The approximate number of miles collectively pedaled by Citi Bike users in 2022 alone. That’s the equivalent of riding around the globe 1,647 times! (Sure, you can’t technically ride a bike across the ocean, but you get the idea.)

30

The number of hours it took for the first 5,000 Citi Bike memberships to sell out when it first launched back in 2013. That’s pretty fast; it takes approximately the same amount of time to go by train from New York City to another outpost of the Citi Bike program: Miami.

177.4 million

The number of calories leg-pumping Citi Bike riders collectively burned in June 2022, one of the most popular biking months of the year. Generally, on one rigorous 30-minute trip, riders might torch around 300 calories; think of it as the equivalent of one street-stand hot dog smothered in mustard.

800

The approximate number of metric tons of carbon emissions offset by the Citi Bike program each month, on average. (Carbon emissions offsetting, in this case, means that you are doing a low or zero-emission activity that balances out other high-emission practices.) If 800 metric tons sounds like a lot, that’s because it is: According to the Environmental Protection Agency’s Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator, that’s enough to offset the energy used to power 370 homes for one year.

A man rides a Citi Bike bike through Brooklyn

27.2

The number of miles in length if you parked every Citi Bike bicycle in the fleet in a single line from wheel to wheel. Picture it: If you sat on the first bike and scooched down the line, seat by seat, you would technically be traveling more than the length of New York’s annual marathon.

175.26 million

Approximate number of Citi Bike trips taken since the first ride in 2013. That kind of usage keeps Citi Bike technicians busy. In April of 2023, they conducted 51,842 bicycle inspections to keep the fleet rolling.

2,300

That’s the number of times Citi Bike bicycles were docked and undocked daily during the summer of 2022, on average. Compare that to the four Staten Island Ferries, which collectively dock a total of 117 times per weekday.

138,694

Number of rides taken on September 14, 2022, the single busiest biking day in Citi Bike history. To get a handle on just how many rides that is, imagine if every single person at a sold-out basketball game at New York’s busiest sports and concert venue spilled out into midtown and decided to take a Citi Bike bicycle out for a ride — seven times in one day.

A woman relaxes on the grass next to a Citi Bike bike

Citi Bike New York City Eco-Friendly
Dan Bova

has worked at Jimmy Kimmel Live, Maxim, Spy magazine, and interviews inventors and innovators for Entrepreneur.com. He is the author of “Road & Track Crew Big & Fast Cars,” “Popular Mechanics Big Little Book of Awesome Stuff” and “Wendell the Werewolf.” 

The content reflects the view of the author of the article and does not necessarily reflect the views of Citi or its employees, and we do not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information presented in the article.