To the Editor:
The extraordinary success of Bike Share is a testament to the foresight of the Department of Transportation, which seeded the program by offering cities funding for both capital expenses (bikes and stations) as well as operating costs (maintenance, software, trucking etc). This full coverage funding was gradually cut back to include only capital expenses and balanced up by increasing funds for bike lanes. Wise and effective.
Today, the seed program is sunsetting and looking to the private sector to carry on the success story … and it has. In late October 2014 Bike Share Holdings LLC was established with investments from two CEO’s at Related Companies, which has an asset portfolio in excess of $14 billion, and an affiliate Equinox. They were joined by private investors and Citibank. The total new funds flowing into the renamed Bike Share (since mid-January, called Motivate) is around $100 million. This is supported by a line of credit from the Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group to mitigate risk and add stability.
Motivate’s early intent is to immediately address the substantial negative operating issues, and raise annual membership fees in N.Y.C. Other cities’ fee structures and relations with Motivate have yet to be established, although the expectation is that Motivate will act as all private sector companies do and work hard to turn a profit.
In essence this has been a model of how a federal seed program can be a success and attract private investment for future growth.
It’s now time for the City of Alexandria, in the midst of an extremely challenging financial environment, to realize that roughly $2 million in taxpayer dollars are no longer needed to sustain Motivate. And what has been allocated for operating monies should be immediately repurposed for other more critical projects, e.g., our library system and support for the poor and elderly. It is to the city’s credit that expansion has been halted. However, it is not prudent to plan for 16 new stations, when it is not proved they can be paid for by Bike Share Holdings LLC … a company worth far more than our small town.
Kathryn Papp
Alexandria