From the NY Post:Mayor Bloomberg admitted Thursday that the Citi Bike program isn’t profitable, nearly six months after the bicycle-share program launched around town.
“I don’t think so yet,” Bloomberg said when asked if the Citi Bike program is making money.
The mayor argued that, like most start-up businesses, the Citi Bike operation is going through growing pains in its early stages of development.
“There’s a lot of teething at the beginning,” he said about the initial operating expenses. “You’ve got to get everything out there.”
With Citi Bike customers having taken more than 2 million rides since its launch, Bloomberg is confident that the system can turn a profit in time.
“It is, I think, better than anybody had anticipated in terms of usage,” Bloomberg said during a press conference at the Department of Transportation.
“It’s a way to commute, it’s a mass-transit system that requires no federal, state or city monies whatsoever.”
Mass transit systems involve large vehicles that move a lot of people at a time. Not vend-a-bikes. And I guess Mike thinks we've forgotten that the City put $1.55M in taxpayer money into CitiBike.
22 comments:
I suspect that winter will improve their profit margin.
1.55 million, of which 600K has been spent according to your link. Drop in the bucket next to the value of the real estate that has been handed over to the system. That said, why don't you like bike share crappy?
$600K had been spent as of June. More has surely been spent by now. The point is, whenever one of the bike advocates or Bloomberg says that not a dime of taxpayer money has been spent on the program, they're lying. Plus the land handed over to a business.
Just wait until the snow plows smash into these bike racks come the next snow storm. Who will be charged with the repairs?
Everything to cut down on carbon emission so we can shoehorn more people.
The sidewalks of NY are cluttered with cafes, trees, and bicycles.
It is mass transit; it's a system of local transportation of people by public conveyance. The land "handed over" for the stations remains the property of the City and is managed in cooperation with DOT.
Plus the MTA doesn't make a profit either, yet that continues to recieve a considerable amount more of taxpayer money, not to mention the lost potential revenue for the real estate every bus stop & train station occupies.
Look at the map of shittybike stations
citibikenyc.com/stations!
So they're only in Manhattan below 60th street, Brooklyn Heights, Greenpoint and other "yuppified" areas of Brooklyn.
Wow! Talk about discrimination! No bikes for Upper Manhattan, Queens, The Bronx and Staten Island!
I hate these bikers! They almost run me over when I go to work on the upper east side! I feel like pulling the back of their shirts while they are riding just to make them fall off of their stupid bikes! OK I get it, you want to save the environment but you should not run over pedestrians while you are doing it! Most don't even stop at the red lights!
I've had them barrel straight down the middle of the sidewalk toward me. It's actually a blessing that we don't have it in Queens.
This is also used as a marketing tool for real estate. "We have a CitiBike location at the corner. You won't have to huddle with the unwashed masses on subways!"
If I started a business that didn't turn a profit after six months (With no assurance of profit in the immediate future) I'd fold up the tents and close down... What tickles me is that most of the people who actually USE citibike are the of the left wing types who supported Occupy Wall Street and boycotting entities like citibank,but conveniently forget about citibanks involvement in the biking program. Phonies.
It may not be profitable, but where else can you have millions of tards ride around providing mobile advertising for your corporation and pay for the privilege of doing so?
"What tickles me is that most of the people who actually USE citibike are the of the left wing types..."
I ride to work everyday on my bike and I'm a conservative. There goes your theory !
If you ride to work from Queens, then you aren't using CitiBike. Theory remains intact.
"I ride to work everyday on my bike and I'm a conservative. There goes your theory !"
What I said was MOST of the people who use Citibike are left wing"
It'll only be a couple of more months before NYC transits this mass-of-a-shrimp mayor out.
$600 thousand sounds like one of the federal grant drop in the bucket program give aways that you always see in the news. Wanna bet? If not then NYC council should allocate some local taxpayer funding to help them out! New Yorkers should go back to carrying canes and give some of these bikers a lift when they try to run you down!
“It’s a way to commute, it’s a mass-transit system that requires no federal, state or city monies whatsoever.”
Yes, because you whored it out to a private sponsorship advertising campaign.
Mr. Bloomberg; put an egg on your shoe and beat it back to Boston! We don't need anymore of your help.
It costs plenty of taxpayer dollars to maintain those bike lanes! I suggest that they all go back to walking and save us the grief. Walkin ain't crowded and it's cheap!
I call it ass transit. It's bad enough dealing with motor vehicles. A lot of these ass holes riding bikes pay NO ATTENTION to traffic rules.
After NYC's head asshole leaves his mayoral slot, these bike lanes will be removed.
I give them 2 more years. Then US TAXPAYERS will get the removal bill.
Bend over folks. BYOV (bring your own Vaseline).
'Ass transit' guy. Funny. Til the last line reminded me why it's always a mistake to read this blog over lunch.
So you think Bill de Blasio is going to remove the bike lanes? Not in a million years. They'll probably never come out, and they certainly won't under our next mayor. His base would howl.
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