Most docked bikeshare systems experienced an increase in ridership last year, led by expansion in Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C., according to new data from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS).
Pittsburgh’s POGOH, formerly Healthy Ride, experienced the sharpest increase in ridership last year, growing 201 percent thanks to an expansion. It was far and away the largest spurt, far outdistancing MetroBike LA, which was up 37 percent, followed closely by Capital Bike Share in Washington, D.C, up 36 percent. Capital Bike Share added more e-bikes to the system in the spring and BTS cited a “greater presence of workers” in D.C. area buildings.
Not all bikeshares saw growth; ridership declined on four systems:
With the exception of Bay Wheels, growth in years prior to 2023 more than offset the declines in these four systems experienced in 2020, when the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic significantly reduced ridership on almost all systems, according to the BTS. Ridership on Bay Wheels was 4 percentage points below the 2019 level in 2023.
As of June 30, 2023, 56 docked bikeshare systems open to the public operated 8,796 docking stations in the U.S., according to the BTS. The average system operates 154 docking stations. The largest system (Citi Bike serving New York City; Jersey City, N.J.; and, Hoboken, N.J.) operates nearly 2,000 stations and 6 systems have 10 or fewer stations.
The number of docked bikeshare systems nearly doubled, from 66 to 109, between 2015 and 2019, then declined to 64 in 2020 as many docked bikeshare systems closed permanently following a temporary suspension of operations due to the pandemic.
Washington, D.C.’s Capital Bike Share is the oldest system, started in 2010, while Cogo in Columbus, Ohio, is the youngest, having started in 2018.
BTS compiles bike share and e-scooter data for both docked and dockless in the U.S. In January 2023, BTS expanded its docked bikeshare data to include data for years prior to 2019, with records beginning at the launch of most docked bikeshare systems.