Study: Protected bike lanes increase Citi Bike rides by nearly 400 rides a month

A new study from NYU's Tandon School of Engineering shows that bike lanes have a significant impact on cycling activity, particularly when it comes to the city's bike share system, Citi Bike.

According to an article on Bioengineer.org, "Initial comparisons appeared to show that both protected and painted bike lanes correlated with increased ridership, with protected bike lanes associated with an 18% rise in trips near stations and painted lanes alongside sharrows delivering around a 14% increase."

The study analyzed roughly 72 million Citi Bike trip records from between 2013 and 2024 to understand whether bike infrastructure actually had an impact. "After rigorous statistical refinement, only protected bike lanes emerged as having a statistically significant causal effect on Citi Bike ridership. The research team quantified this impact as an average increase of approximately 379 rides per station per month following the installation of protected lanes." The study's lead author noted that "protected bike lanes are truly what can move the needle on ridership."

The study also revealed that "positive ridership impacts were statistically significant predominantly in neighborhoods with the lowest proportions of Black residents. Conversely, in communities with higher percentages of Black populations, the study did not detect a clear causal effect on Citi Bike ridership." This pointed to bike infrastructure as insufficient for overcoming barriers to bike share use such as affordability and inequitable policing practices. 

According to the study, protected bike lanes increased cycling the most among residents aged 60 to 79. "This dimension of the research spotlights the potential for targeted infrastructure design to enhance mobility and health outcomes for aging urban populations."