Dana Rubinstein has the scoop at Capital New York.
While the deal is still said to be tentative, this is how it is expected to go down:
REQX Ventures, a company run by individuals affiliated with Equinox and Related Companies (the real estate company that owns Equinox) would buy at least 51-percent of [Alta Bicycle Share, Citi Bike's operator.]
And let's keep cutting-and-pasting:
It would ... help resurrect a system that has lost millions of dollars over the course of its short existence, thanks to bad software, Hurricane Sandy and the sheer scope of running the largest bike-share system in the country, one with more than 100,000 annual members and more than 14 million miles on its odometer.
In New York City, where bike-share users now pay $95 for an annual membership and $9.95 for a day pass, REQX would have the freedom to raise rates without city approval, though the contract might include some sort of percent-per-year cap on the size of those hikes.
Public housing residents and some credit union members would retain access to a discounted rate of $60 per year.
One more piece from the article: The Citi Bike operating costs "exceeded expectations by about $9 million through last September."
There are many more details here.
H/T Gothamist
These blue things are an eyesore. The city of New York would have been more effective promoting small business (bike shops/rentals) than trail and error.
ReplyDeletewhere are the idiots from posts pasts, saying the city was going to end up covering these costs...morons
ReplyDeleteTo Fashion By Meh:
ReplyDeletePlease return to taking and posting creepy photos of women from behind and making snarky comments about them.
Thank you.
The morons
Well, the city should cover the costs, because it's a valuable extension of our public transportation network, and because the costs are bupkus by the standards of, say, the MTA (or the Rockaway ferry). And I wouldn't be surprised if it does yet, because these real estate jerks won't be able to make it profitable or keep investing based on a real but non-measurable value to their bottom line. But I guess I can understand the de Blasio administration not wanting to take on new financial and operational obligations if they can help it. Shame, though.
ReplyDeleteWelcome to New York City, the city of individual expression where everyone rides the same bike and waits on ridiculously long lines for expensive bar food.
ReplyDeleteI'm really enjoying the photo of the CitiBike discarded along with the filthy mattress. I see so many of these bikes dumped around the city so it's no wonder they're bleeding money.
ReplyDeleteI used to enjoy sitting in a cafe and people watching but CitiBike has provided a whole new genre of public entertainment: slamming blue Mom bikes into broken corrals. SLAM! SLAM! SLAM! "What the FUCK!?" screams an OMG Girl outside Cafe Orlin. SLAM! SLAM! SLAM! "What the hell am I supposed to do with this thing now?"
ReplyDeleteThe sound of progress.
I would love to see a Part II picture on this tread, having the same type of picture from the “Locked bike, street sign meet untimely end” tread.
ReplyDeleteAnd thank you, THE NOTORIOUS L.I.B.E.R.A.T.I.O.N., always on point.
The reactionary posts about public transportation and such are really a drag on this blog. Which is too bad because instead of being a place to actually discuss and share, its too often a place for a few people to spew their angers.
ReplyDeleteThe Bike program was a great idea. But someone hired the wrong economist. Bankrupt in a year...what a waste. You want to run a company? Charge enough to guarantee at least a break even scenario. Now the price will go up 50-75% and everyone will balk, guaranteeing total failure. They should have charged 3X the price to start and then reduce it afterwards so people would climb on the bike wagon. How about giving away a free NYC hat with every annual membership?
ReplyDeleteYes the annual subscription is way to low. It should be $200 or $300 a year and the daily rental fee should be cut in half to $4.95.
ReplyDeleteWith this mix you will have
an increase of tourist using the bikes which will significantly increase revenues
Totally agree with10:20, you are spot-on. The probem isnt cycling or bike share, its the way the program was designed and rolled out. Many of the people who have been criticizing the program are actually cyclists ourselves and think cycling is one of the best ways to get around the city. But with the poor design and implementation of the program it deserves everything that is happening to it now.
ReplyDeleteFrom the heavy-handed Bloombergization of the corporate CitiBank sponsorship, the glitchy software and docking stations, the Selfie Generation attitude of annual members patting themselves on the back as if they invented cycling while paying only pennies a day to do so, to the abject failure of the system to generate enough money to sustain itself, this could have and should have been done much better.
And now they are hiring valets to help you dock the bikes? How cost-effective is that? Anyone see the valet on 7th and Ave A today? How very low tech, valet bike parking.
That being said, bike share is here to stay, at least until the next sponsor bails out, so it should be fixed before the city is forced to either pay for it or scrap it altogether.
The main problem is the pricing and the business model. The program lost $7 million more in the first year than expected. Unless Equinox can fix this problem, with expansion they are looking at close to a hundred million dollar problem over the next decade for a program they won't get as much PR bang out of as Citibank did, and they will be doing it for twice the price.
So let's see how many people ware willing to pay an additional 50% or more. Its so underpriced now they should be willing to pay $200-$300/year, which is still a bargain. It's obvious the deal is being held up in City Hall beacise Equinox wants to be able to raise prices as much as they need in order to cover costs, and the City is saying no to any rapid or unlimited price increases.
Equinox will bail out on the deal if they dont have pricing control, who wants to have a multi-million dollar loser on their hands with nothing to show for it? And then its back to square one. The bike valets will be the forst to go.
It was only a matter of time. Any long-winded people who thought Alta Bike Share was going away were just kidding themselves.
ReplyDeleteFashion by He, I am one of those people who think the city *should* take over the program. Most of the problems they're experiencing now are due to the private ownership model used. NYC is the only jurisdiction in the US where the program is not operated publicly. If I'm not mistaken, NY and London are the only two in the world. NY is sponsored by Citibank, and London by Barclay's Bank. The two leading centers of finance capitalism, and privatization.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget, the subways were once operated privately, too.
@7:26AM Kidding themselves? Didn't you even read the summary of article, or was it just too long for you? Since Equinox is buying "at least" 51%"= of the company Equinox will be the new owners, so Alta Bike Share is in fact going away, and pretty soon their name will be off the company too. Buh bye Alta, hopefully Equinox, which runs a real company, will have more luck fixing it.
ReplyDelete