Politics & Government

Bloomberg Says Computer Problems Cause of Bike Share Delay

Start date for Citi Bike program still unclear.

In the end, it wasn't or fears about that caused the city's bike share experiment to be indefinitely delayed.

Instead, Mayor Michael Bloomberg gave the New York Times City Room blog on Thursday a more high-tech explanation for the hiccup in :

"Its software isn't working yet," Bloomberg told reporters. “And just rest assured we’re not going to put out any program here that doesn’t work.”

Find out what's happening in Fort Greene-Clinton Hillwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The kiosks—56 of which are to be located in Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Boerum Hill, Downtown Brooklyn and Brooklyn Heights—include touchscreen monitors allowing riders to pay with credit or debit cards.

Still unclear is when the software issues will be resolved. The official website for the program, which once touted the expected July launch, now promises a start date sometime during summer 2012.

Find out what's happening in Fort Greene-Clinton Hillwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

In his comments today, Bloomberg reminded bike share enthusiasts and detractors that no city funds were tied up in the privately operated program. 

“It’s fascinating,” Bloomberg told the Times earlier this week. “The people who did not want bicycle lanes at all are now screaming, ‘Well, where are they? Where are they? I want them quickly.’ ”


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

More from Fort Greene-Clinton Hill