The city considered doing a test run for the bike-share program that gets rolling later this month, but ultimately decided to speed ahead without one, according to documents obtained by The Post.
The pilot project was supposed to run for two months either last summer or fall, utilizing 30 docking stations.
“The contractor will be prohibited from commencing further equipment implementation of the system, bicycles and stations until completion of the street test to NYCDOT’s sole satisfaction,” the city’s Transportation Department stated when it first solicited potential bike vendors.
The street test would have worked out potential kinks in what will become the third-largest bike-sharing system in the world — behind only Hangzhou, China, and Paris. Those kinks now will run up full-force against New York’s mean streets.
But Seth Solomonow, a spokesman for the transportation agency, said a test was always considered optional.
“As you know, most large RFPs [requests for proposals] have smaller components that do not end up in the final contract,” he said, signaling that the city is confident there won’t be major problems when thousands more bikes hit the streets.
The city’s bike vendor, Alta, also operates bike-sharing programs in Boston and Washington, where Solomonow said no tests were conducted before the official launches.
The Post had to file a Freedom of Information request to obtain details of the city’s biking deals involving Alta and Citibank, which is paying $41 million over five years for advertising and sponsorship rights.
Among the items in the documents not previously made public:
* Alta can raise prices any time without city permission if its expenses increase.
The price of getting on a bike here is already the highest of the three cities where Alta operates — $95 for an annual membership allowing unlimited rides of 45 minutes each.
Solomonow said the higher charge is necessary because “unlike other cities, this is an entirely unsubsidized system.”
* Don’t return your bike and your wallet’s going to get whacked.
When bike-share was first announced, officials said bikes that get lost or stolen would incur a fee of $1,000.
But the documents show Alta can charge as much as $1,200.
* A sharp city official got Alta to agree to pay for the revenue lost when bike-docking stations take up parking-meter space.