Save Citi Bike

There was an article in The Wall Street Journal last week about Citi Bike, New York City's bike-share program and the financial woes it's facing after it's first full-year after launching. Citi Bike, Needing Millions of Dollars, Looks for Help implies that without raising more revenues from tourists and short-term riders, the program may face being shut-down due to the tens of millions of dollars it lost last year. Interestingly enough the company isn't seeking public money yet to help cover the short-fall. With almost a hundred thousand annual subscribers to the program, it would be interesting to see how much of usage has come from shifting away from other forms of public transportation, namely buses, cabs, and subway. The article points out that most other public transportation systems are publicly subsidized and operate with losses every year - it would also be interesting to see what the average loss per rider is typically and how Citi Bike compares.

In either case, it is great to see that almost a hundred thousand New Yorkers jumped on-board for annual memberships in the first year alone. Let's hope that people in New York and in cities all over the US see it for all the benefits it brings to the city and find a way to make it a permanent fixture across America. Not only do bike-share programs reduce stress on existing mass transit systems, they also reduce traffic and pollution and increase general health and well-being of the community. It's too bad these benefits are much more difficult to put a dollar value against ... losing tens of millions of dollars last year could actually be saving New York just as much money over the long-term!