Mayor Bloomberg (Warzer Jaff)
Mayor Bloomberg rolled out a new argument today in defense of the city’s upcoming bike share program — it’s all about the free market.
“A couple of newspapers seem to like working against the free market,” he said on his weekly WOR radio show.
“It’s the free market, if you think about it. If people want to use ’em, they use ’em. If people don’t, they don’t.”
Asked if the 6,000 bikes hitting the streets on Monday would be yanked if they proved unpopular, the mayor returned to his capitalist stance.
“The market place will take them away, sure,” he said. “Nobody’s going to pay for them.”
Bloomberg claimed the “only real complaints, substantive complaints” the city has received are from outer borough residents clamoring for their own two-wheelers.
Apparently, he forgot about the lawsuits filed by two co-ops upset that docking stations were plunked down in front of their buildings.
The bike share is launching Monday in Manhattan below 60th Street and in limited parts of Brooklyn.
“We think this is going to be very popular,” concluded the mayor.