Bikeshare in trouble in New York
From the New York Post:
Citi Bike honchos need tens of millions of dollars to save the struggling bicycle-share program---but Mayor de Blasio said Friday that it won’t come from the wallets of New York City taxpayers.
“At this point, city budget money is not on the table,” he said. “We will collaborate with them to help them find ways to be more efficient and more effective.”
The program was launched last year with a promise from Mayor Michael Bloomberg that it would not require public funding.
But lawsuits, glitches and a lack of use have made Citi Bike’s first year a rough ride — and the program needs a small fortune to stay in business, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
Alta Bicycle Share, Citi Bike’s parent company, could generate revenue by raising the annual membership fee of $95, but a City Hall source said that can’t happen until it fixes its operations...
Labels: Cycling
posted by Rob Anderson @ 10:43 AM
3 comments
3 Comments:
Is SF's version run by the same company? And does it require public funding?
"rough ride" - they only sold 100,000 memberships. LOL
Yes, apparently Alta is involved with the bike share program here. The roll-out is being paid for with grants:
"Funding for the regional pilot project is through a combination of local, regional and federal
grants with major funding coming from a $4.3 million grant from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s Bay Area Climate Initiatives Program (BACI). Expansion of the San Francisco program past the 500-bike pilot level will be financed by title and station sponsors and additional grant opportunities."
I suspect that potential corporate sponsors of the program will wait until it's clearly a success, since they won't be eager to put their brand name on a failed or unpopular project.
Post a Comment
<< Home