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Citi Bike Gets New Sugar Daddy, Expands


October 28, 2014 | Bucky Turco

NYC’s popular bike share program, which the people love and the tabloids hate, is expanding. On Tuesday, Citi Bike announced that it will add 6,000 bikes to its fleet and “over 375 new stations” by 2017, most of which are slated for Uptown, Brooklyn and Queens.

Jay Walder, the MTA chairman who suddenly resigned in 2011 to run Hong Kong’s MTR railway, was just named as the new CEO of Alta Bicycle Share, the firm in charge of running Citi Bike. It will be taken over by REQX Ventures, a real estate company that owns the Equinox gym franchise and also a developer of the Hudson Yards.

The cost of annual membership will also increase. Riders will soon have to pay $149 a year or about $54 more than the current price, although residents of public housing can still cop a $60 discounted subscription.

(Photo: Aymann Ismail/ANIMALNewYork)