Citi Bike honchos need tens of millions of dollars to save the struggling bicycle-share program — but Mayor de Blasio said Friday that it won’t come from the wallets of New York City taxpayers.
“At this point, city budget money is not on the table,” he said. “We will collaborate with them to help them find ways to be more efficient and more effective.”
The program was launched last year with a promise from Mayor Michael Bloomberg that it would not require public funding.
But lawsuits, glitches and a lack of use have made Citi Bike’s first year a rough ride — and the program needs a small fortune to stay in business, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
Alta Bicycle Share, Citi Bike’s parent company, could generate revenue by raising the annual membership fee of $95, but a City Hall source said that can’t happen until it fixes its operations.
Department of Transportation officials said that rather than raise rates, the program needs to capitalize on all the publicity it got in its first year to win new sponsors as well as private financing.
“If you’re sitting on the story of the year in New York City, you have a lot of opportunities,” a DOT official said.
Brooklyn City Councilman Brad Lander left the door open to public funding.
“Every other form of transportation receives some public subsidy,” Lander said, noting all other cities with bike-share programs subsidize the service.
He said he spoke to DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg about using taxpayer money and she “seemed open to it.”
Asked about this claim, a DOT spokesman referred to the mayor’s earlier statement.
Alta Bicycle Share said it was seeking outside investors.
Manhattan City Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez, who heads the Transportation Committee, said marketing could expand Citi Bike.
“City dollars should be a last resort only if we are unable to gather interest from new private partnerships,” he said.
He plans to introduce legislation next week that will require Alta to release its financial data.
Trottenberg said she’s confident Citi Bike would resolve its problems and even expand. It has a six-year contract with the city.
“We all know Citi Bike has been tremendously popular with New Yorkers,” she said. “But there have been significant financial and operational issues, including redistribution of bikes to where the riders are and technology issues.”
Additional reporting by Yoav Gonen