Citi Bike Launches Astoria Expansion

ASTORIA, QUEENS — Citi Bike launched its Astoria expansion on Friday, as the first of 52 new docking stations planned for the neighborhood went live.

The expansion will make the bike-share network available north of Ditmars Boulevard and east of Steinway Street and more than double the number of stations from Citi Bike's previous expansion in the neighborhood, according to a spokesperson for Lyft, which owns Citi Bike.

“With more and more New Yorkers choosing cycling as a sustainable and healthy form of transportation during the COVID-19 crisis, we are thrilled to ring in 2021 with this expansion of Citi Bike in Astoria and Steinway," NYC Department of Transportation Queens Borough Commissioner Nicole Garcia said.

A draft plan for the expansion was unveiled in the fall, after the Department of Transportation hosted virtual meetings and town halls and set up an online portal to solicit suggestions for new stations in Astoria.

"Many of these new stations are in parts of the neighborhood further away from the subway, and our bikes combined with upcoming in-app transit information will make it even easier for riders to get to the N, W, R and M trains," said Laura Fox, general manager for Citi Bike at Lyft. "We're proud to provide a sustainable, affordable mode of transportation to New Yorkers, and look forward to our continued partnership with NYCDOT and Mayor De Blasio as we grow this great system.”

The Astoria expansion is part of Lyft's $100 million investment to double the area served by Citi Bike and bring the bike-share network into The Bronx and further into Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn.

Citi Bike has more than 18,000 bikes at more than 1,100 stations in New York City.