Last week's snow storm continues to slow down many parts of life in New York City: trash pickup, taking the bus, navigating the sidewalk on foot or in a wheelchair—all of these have been impacted by the giant, rapidly dirtying piles of snow lingering on our doorsteps.
Citi Bike is no different. The system shut down for 22 hours after we got nearly a foot of snow, and riders are calling out the less-than-ideal conditions: snow-packed docks that take 20 minutes to accept their bikes after completing a ride, the dearth of bikes or empty docks, or both.
That's life, I suppose. Except that at the same time Citi Bike's service got a lot worse, Lyft, which operates Citi Bike and is responsible for clearing its docks of snow, just made it more expensive.
Late last month, as New Yorkers were still digging out of the storm, Lyft increased the e-bike fees from 24 to 25 cents per minute for annual members. They also jacked up the annual fee from $219.99 to $239. For non-members, the e-bike fee went from 36 cents to 38 cents per minute, and that's on top of the already eye-watering $4.99 unlocking fee that non-members pay to take out a bike.
Shouldn't there be some kind of amnesty here? If the City can repeatedly suspend alternate side parking (and the parking ticket revenue that it generates) and spare drivers from having to move their cars, why can't Lyft, the $24 billion company, cut cyclists a break while they struggle to park the bikes in the docks that are covered in the snow and ice that the company can't clear fast enough?