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Electric Citi Bikes are coming back to NYC this winter

The return of the electric Citi Bike is nigh! Several thousand pedal-assist electric bikes were yanked from service last April after “dozens” of people were injured due to harder-than-expected brakes. But now the brakes are fixed, and hundreds of e-bikes will begin appearing at docking stations across the city starting this winter. The news follows a similar announcement that e-bikes are coming back to San Francisco, after a couple battery fires put those bikes out of service, too.

New York City’s Citi Bike and San Francisco’s Bay Wheels are both operated by Motivate, a national bike-share company owned by Lyft. Citi Bike says it has redesigned the bikes’ brake setup, and is now working with a different battery supplier.

“We expect to initially launch several hundred e-bikes this winter and will gradually ramp up to a larger fleet,” Citi Bike said in a blog post. “We’re sorry for the delay and appreciate your patience.”

Citi Bike is also getting rid of the flat $2 fee its applied to all e-bike rentals earlier this year, and will instead charge riders only for the length of time they have the bike. “We heard your feedback,” Citi Bike said. “Members told us they did not want to pay a flat charge every time they chose an e-bike.”

The new pricing for e-bike rentals is a $0.10 per minute charge for annual members, and a $0.15 per minute charge for non-members. Members’ charges will also be capped at $2 for rides 45 minutes or less beginning and / or ending outside Manhattan. Citi Bike is also removing the two-minute wait period between rides.

I hope you liked this post and as always have a chilled day from the Viking.