A Brooklyn lawmaker is demanding that Lyft install an age verification program to prevent riders under the age of 16 from renting a Citi Bike or even setting up an account.
“We should be using these tools to prevent riders younger than 16 from making a Citi Bike account and getting immediate access to one of the 20,000 e-bikes in the fleet,” Councilman Justin Brannan said in a July 24 letter to Lyft CEO David Risher. “We must protect our youngest riders on the road.”
Brannan, during an interview, said he was spurred to contact Lyft after hearing from parents complaining about seeing youngsters under 16 on e-bikes.
“I hear from parents who are worried about their kids. This is a potential disaster just waiting to happen –and it’s entirely preventable,” he also said in the letter.
The councilman said he will push legislation to require action if Lyft doesn’t voluntarily do so “before a 14 year old makes a Citi Bike account and is seriously injured or killed while riding an ebike.”
Currently, the Citi Bike rental agreement says that individuals must be 16 years of age
or older to ride.
But there is no method in place to verify the age of riders. Anyone with a cell phone, email address and payment method can create a new Citi Bike account in seconds, Brannan noted.
“Riders simply self-attest their age by manually inputting their date of birth. There’s nothing holding back a 14-year old — or someone even younger — from renting a 15 miles-per-hour bike with just a few taps on their phone,” the councilman said.
Brannan also claimed the lack of verification deviates from Lyft’s rigorous screening program for its car rideshare platform and even bike share programs elsewhere.
“This is preventable,” he said. “To ensure rider safety in cars, Lyft has the tools to verify the ages of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of drivers on their rideshare platform.”
Meanwhile in other markets where Lyft runs the bikeshare network such as Mexico City, riders must use their phone to scan a form of identification to verify their age when making a new account, Brannan noted.
Lime, which operates a scooter network in Queens and the Bronx, also requires new riders 18 years or older to scan a form of identification to verify their age, and start with “beginner mode” — slower speeds and a nighttime curfew.
Brann cited statistics showing a surge in reported e-bike accidents.
In 2023, 76% of cycling fatalities in New York City were on ebikes, or 23 fatalities total. The ebike fatality rate quintupled from 2019 to 2023.
Last year, a minor on a Citi Bike ebike slammed into another rider, sending them to the hospital and destroying their bike. According to media accounts, no police report was filed because the rider was under 18.
In another case, a 16-year-old sued Citi Bike after crashing and breaking her jaw while riding an ebike in Brooklyn.
“I believe that Lyft must take immediate action and close a dangerous loophole to keep riders – especially teenagers – safe. It has become common practice for teenagers in New York City to rent e-bikes and ride them at top speed without wearing helmets and without understanding how to safely ride them,” Brannan told the Lyft CEO in the letter.
“I was a teenager once. You were too. Maybe you were different from me, but I had very bad
judgment at that age. I thought I was invincible. A lot of things have changed since I was a kid
but teenagers doing dangerous things is not one of them.”
Brannan also requested that Lyft share crash and safety data for traditional bikes and ebikes, broken down by age, gender, and other demographic groups.
He said Lyft can help prevent tragedies with a “quick fix” to its Citi Bike using tools it already has.
A Lyft spokesperson confirmed it received Brannan’s letter and is reviewing it.
A Citi spokesperson had no comment.
But the company has had meetings with Lyft, as recently as last month, to discuss e-bikes and safety issues.
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