Maybe the struggling Citi Bike program will be salvaged after all. But it will likely depend on the de Blasio administration’s willingness to let whoever wants to bail it out to set their own prices.
Right now, the city, Alta Bicycle Share (the bike program’s operator) and REQX Ventures are in the midst of negotiating a deal that would let REQX buy 51 percent of the company.
That would give REQX, which is affiliated with Equinox gyms, control over the bike-share markets in New York, Chicago, Toronto, Columbus, Chattanooga, Boston, Washington, the Bay Area and Melbourne, Australia.
The main answer is clear: The price for renting a bike needs to go up. The question is whether the city will let the company set its own prices. Word is the de Blasio administration might insist on a yearly percentage cap on the amount prices can be raised.
That’s not all. Public-housing residents and some credit-union members would continue to pay just $60 per month for membership, as opposed to $95 for everyone else.
Now, if REQX believes it can make a go of the program under the terms the city sets, it can sign a contract. All we’re concerned about is preventing taxpayers from getting stuck with the tab.
When this program was rammed through, then-Mayor Mike Bloomberg promised it wouldn’t cost taxpayers a nickel. So we’re on watch to make sure there’s no Âswitcheroo.
And the best way to maintain a viable bike program that doesn’t depend on taxpayer subsidies is to let those providing the service set their prices, not the pols.