Taxpayers may soon be picking up part of the tab for bike-share programs here and around the country.
Rep. Joe Crowley (D-Queens) announced Monday he plans to introduce a bill allowing workers to pay for their bike-share membership with pre-tax dollars, just as they do for subway, rail and bus passes.
The legislation could be a lifesaver for struggling Citi Bike, which is considering hiking its $95 annual fee to as much as $140 to keep up with expenses.
While officials offered no estimates as to how much bike riders might save under the new initiative, subway and bus commuters can cut their bills by 25 to 40 percent by taking advantage of the pre-tax deal.
Transit advocates argued the legislation could ultimately keep prices down by drawing more commuters into the bike-share system.
“If anything, the fees would go down,” said Transportation Alternatives executive director Paul Steely White. “If more people buy into the system, the healthier it is.”
There was no immediate estimate of how much the new program would cost taxpayers in lost revenues.
But Crowley insisted the hit would be minimal.
“I don’t think it would be a great deal of money,” he said.
He also said the benefits of “increased connectivity” to underserved communities would far outweigh the cost.
The bill, which Crowley said he intends to introduce by September, would amend IRS codes to include bike-share systems as a means of public transit eligible for pre-tax payments.
There are going to be over 37,000 publicly shared bicycles in 36 cities by the end of 2014, including 6,200 in New York City, according to the Earth Policy Institute.
Transit officials in Chattanooga, Tenn., which has about 300 publicly shared bicycles, say the legislation “sets the tone” that bike sharing has been accepted as a legitimate form of public transit.
New York’s troubled Citi Bike program is looking to raise millions of dollars to meet its expenses and expand, despite boasting a membership of about 100,000.
City transportation officials said they do not have any plans to rescue the program, but called Crowley’s bill a “win-win for thousands of Americans.”