NYC cyclists feel housing costs through bike hack

A Brooklyn-based artist and software developer has created a 3D-printed attachment for a CitiBike that physically illustrates New York City’s housing affordability crisis by adjusting pedal resistance based on neighborhood rent burdens. The device, named Ground Truth, uses GPS and a custom dataset to assign each city block an “affordability score.” Riders encounter lighter resistance in areas where tenants allocate a smaller portion of their income to rent, while the mechanism increases braking pressure in high-cost zones, such as parts of the Bronx, where renters spend a disproportionate share of their earnings on housing costs.

The project originated from Justin Blinder’s observations while delivering food on his bike during the pandemic. He noticed how discussions about housing affordability often remained detached from the daily realities faced by residents. “We’re sort of confronted with that via top-down maps, and it really doesn’t touch upon the lived experience,” Blinder told Business Insider. By transforming data into a physical sensation, the device aims to create a more immediate connection to the crisis.

Blinder’s work highlights a persistent issue: while New York City’s housing affordability problem is well-documented, it is frequently discussed in statistical terms rather than through personal narratives. Research from the NYU Furman Center shows that over half of renter households in 2024 spent more than 30% of their income on rent, a level considered rent-burdened. Among low-income households with “extremely low” incomes, nearly 90% faced severe or moderate rent burdens, with roughly 70% dedicating more than half of their income to rent and utilities.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani has made housing affordability a key focus of his campaign, including a rent freeze approved in June. However, the policy remains under legal challenge. Blinder’s device, funded by a $10,000 grant from the artistic philanthropy group Idle Hands, offers an alternative perspective by making the financial strain of high rents a tangible, physical experience for riders.

The device’s design is straightforward yet impactful. A GPS module retrieves real-time data from Blinder’s dataset, which evaluates affordability by analyzing median rent shares and the percentage of households spending over half their income on housing. The system then adjusts resistance accordingly, converting an abstract metric into a direct sensory feedback loop.