Lyft, which operates Citi Bike, will implement age verification within three months to prevent underage riders, following a request from First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro.
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Citi Bike users will soon have to verify their age to use the service, amNewYork has learned.
Lyft, the ride-hailing company that owns and operates the city’s bike rental service, agreed Friday to implement age verification for users within the next three months following a request from First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro on Aug. 12, who sought to curb underage use of e-bikes in the fleet.
“Safety is our top priority, which extends to ensuring that Citi Bike riders meet our minimum age of 16 years,” Michael Brous, president of Lyft’s Urban Solutions division, said in a letter to Mastro on Aug. 15. “In the spirit of continued partnership, we are willing to comply with your instruction to implement an age verification step for Citi Bike riders.”
Lyft is now exploring options that all riders will need to use to verify their age, though the company has yet to decide the method it will implement.
In a statement to amNewYork, Citi Bike General Manager Patrick Knoth said the company will work with the Mastro’s office to implement an age verification option that “minimizes friction for riders while helping prevent underage riders from accessing the program.”
Brous told Mastro in the Aug. 15 letter that integrating age verification into the service will be “complex” and require multiple steps, including vendor evaluation, selection, negotiation, engineering scoping and execution, and “taking any steps necessary to continue protecting user privacy.”
He said those steps are now underway and that the company expects “the implementation process will take three months.”
“We are pleased Lyft is responding to our public safety concern that it enforce its own rules limiting Citi Bike drivers to those age 16 and above,” Mastro said on Saturday. “Mayor Adams will always protect New Yorkers’ safety, especially the safety of our children, and this is also a quality of life issue, ensuring safer, more responsible e-bike use on our city’s bike lanes. We appreciate Lyft’s swift response.”
While the scope of Citi Bike’s planned age verification is still being determined, Mastro initially suggested requiring users to provide proof of a driver’s license or learner’s permit when creating an account to prevent underage riders from creating an account.
His request stemmed from an op-ed by Bradley Tusk, a venture capitalist and political strategist with Tusk Philanthropies, that highlighted underage use.
“This may not be the biggest issue facing New York, but as a parent, I know how much I worry and I know how important this is,” Tusk said in a statement Saturday. “Today’s announcement will save lives. It will save families from heartbreak. It will save teenagers from their own bad judgment. It’s a good day for New York.”
The change also follows Lyft’s recent agreement to reduce Citi Bike e-bike speeds to 15 mph. That decision came after an emergency mandate from Mastro in June, which threatened the possibility of “removing, replacing, reinstalling, or locking” the bikes and adjacent equipment if safety concerns were not addressed.
According to the latest NYPD traffic statistics, e-bike collisions citywide are up 30.1 % year to date, with 480 crashes compared to 369 during the same period last year.
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