NEW YORK, USA — A new public bike-sharing service is making commute easier for thousands of people in New York City, where nightmarish traffic jams are commonplace, even outside of rush hours.

Citi Bike, which began 16 months ago, allows approximately 100,000 members and more than 6,000 casual users access to its sturdy, blue-coloured bicycles at a cost. For a membership fee of US$95 a year, members are allowed unlimited access, for 45-minute periods, to one of Citi Bike’s 6,000 bicycles that are located at 332 specially-designed stations across New York, whereas the casual users can access bikes, for 30-minute periods,  for a weekly fee of US$25 or US$9.95 per day.

The service is part of a growing phenomenon in the United States, dubbed the sharing economy, that is causing a shift from individual ownership to collaborative consumption.

“No longer do you have to own your own bikes,” Dani Simons, Citi Bike’s director of marketing and external affairs, told a group of international journalists on a Sharing Economy Press Tour to the US. “More than 350,000 New Yorkers ride bikes everyday and Citi Bike is playing a huge role in getting more people to commute via bikes.”

Arlene Martin- Wilkins