Citi Bike Stations Open During Winter, But Many Covered In Snow

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The few brave souls who tried to use Citi Bike amid the frigid temperatures Tuesday probably would up spinning their wheels.

Citi Bike said it is open for business through blizzard season – relying on a lot of manpower to shovel its more than 300 stations in Manhattan and Brooklyn. But the problem is the shoveling does not appear to be happening, some residents have said.

The manager of a building near the Gramercy Park Citi Bike station said he is responsible for clearing the sidewalk in front of his building. He wondered why Citi Bike had not cleared its own real estate.

"Is the company responsible for clearing the bikes?" the manager said. "I guess they didn't come by yet. As you can see, they're pretty frozen there."

Citi Bike said it has cleared 75 percent of its stations, and is working to clean the rest.

But the majority of stations CBS2 visited on Tuesday were covered in snow and frozen over.

Citi Bike will celebrate its two-year anniversary in May.

The bike-share program has had its share of issues since it launched, from controversy over the loss of parking spots to the cost for daily and hourly riders.

But Citi Bike users have also ridden tens of millions of miles, and the private investor group that bought Citi Bike last fall said they will double its size in the next three years.