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You might as well just buy your own bike — or hop on the subway.
A leisurely four-hour spin on the city’s planned bike-share program could cost riders nearly $100 — giving cyclists unexpected sticker shock when the city revealed the pricing scheme yesterday.
In the time it takes to run errands and return the bike, riders said, they’re better off buying a monthly MetroCard.
“That’s outrageously expensive,” said Tommy Hill, 22, a history senior at Columbia University.
“I bought a bike for $50 on Craigslist in Brooklyn.”
Mayor Bloomberg yesterday revealed the pricing and the final, blue design of the bikes yesterday — and said Citibank will plunk down $41 million to sponsor the program for five years.
When riders sign up for the program, they choose what kind of access to the bikes they want: $9.95 per day, $25 for seven days at a time, or $95 for a year.
To unlock a bike from one of the 600 planned stands around the city, riders will swipe a special card that is connected to a credit or debit account.
Once they get the bike, the meter starts ticking.
The first 30 minutes are free, but after that, riders start getting hit with a slew of additional charges.
For example, an extra $37 is tacked on after two hours, and $85 after four hours.
Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan called bike sharing “the best deal in town, short of the Staten Island ferry.”
But riders begged to differ.
“Absolutely too expensive. I’d use my legs and the subway,” said Jennifer, a Columbia University evolutionary-biology senior.
City officials insist the system was intended for quick jaunts and acts as a form of mass transit.
“Bike share is priced to encourage people to return bikes quickly so that others can use them,” explained DOT spokesman Seth Solomonow.
“If you plan to ride more than an hour, bike rental” — a totally separate service run by private companies — “is probably what you’re looking for.”
Even the bikes’ heavy, clunky design is meant to discourage speeding and long trips, officials said.
The bikes — now officially dubbed “Citi Bikes” — will be painted in Citibank’s bright-blue hue and feature its logo.
That sponsorship allows the city to operate the program at no expense to taxpayers.
If the program turns a profit, the city would split the revenue with the program’s manager, Alta Bicycle Share, Bloomberg said.
“If it isn’t successful, the public will have lost nothing,” said Bloomberg.
The city will begin installing the bikes and the 600 solar-powered loading stations in July at yet-to-be-announced spots in Brooklyn and Manhattan.