Citi Bike is doubling its service area and more than tripling the size of its fleet over the next five years, city officials announced Thursday. The "vast majority" of the new bikes—roughly 30,000 of them—will be pedal-assist e-bikes, a Lyft employee told Gothamist.

The major expansion comes four months after Lyft purchased Motivate, the company that owns and operates Citi Bike. As part of that deal, the ride-hail giant agreed to put up $100 million to "improve and strengthen" the system. It's unclear where exactly that current service area will be extended, but officials promise a 35 square miles increase across the five boroughs over the next five years.

“New York City is one of the world’s great biking cities—and it’s about to get even better,” Mayor Bill de Blasio, who will not be attending today's press conference, said in a statement. "This expansion means tens of thousands more New Yorkers are going to have a fast and inexpensive way to get around their city."

Interestingly, de Blasio is skipping this good-news press conference, presumably because he doesn't want to talk about how he is OK with Citi's pedal-assist e-bikes but not immigrant deliverymen's throttle e-bikes — Dana Rubinstein (@danarubinstein) November 29, 2018

Caroline Samponaro, head of bike, scooter and pedestrian policy at Lyft (and formerly Deputy Director of Transportation Alternatives), told Gothamist that the expansion was a "timely way to get people onto bikes and out of cars." She noted the success of the electric bikes, which are about twice as popular as the regular models. "It opens up bike riding to a larger group of New Yorkers and that’s also exciting from an equity perspective," Samponaro said.

A spokesperson for Lyft noted that part of the $100 million investment would go toward more resources and staff for swapping out the batteries on the e-bikes, which more often than not seem to be dead. The company also plans to introduce new pedal-assist models in the coming years.

Earlier this year, the city committed to adding 2,500 docking points and 1,000 pedal-assist bikes on either side of the Williamsburg Bridge to create "a new, temporary 'shuttle' service" ahead of the L train shutdown. But New Yorkers have criticized the slow pace of expansion, and City Council Member Rafael Espinal has called on the DOT to ensure Citi Bikes are added to Bushwick and other neighborhoods along the L corridor before the shutdown.

"Filling that gap and getting ahead of the service shut down are top of mind for everyone at Lyft," Samponaro said. She added that the city will begin engaging community boards immediately, and that "New Yorkers should expect to see improvements in the system and expansion kicking off in 2019."

Not everyone is excited about the new expansion, however. A spokesperson for Uber, which operates the dockless bike-share company Jump, voiced disappointment that Citi Bike will continue to retain its exclusive right to the expanded service area. “After five years of operating in wealthier NYC communities, Citi Bike is now asking for another five years to expand and is still not committing to serve all New Yorkers," spokesperson Alix Anfang told the Wall Street Journal.

“The city should work with all parties to ensure access to everyone who wants to ride a bike to get around their communities—not one company which has long left outer borough New Yorkers stranded.”