On Friday, New York City announced yet another postponement for the launch of its long-awaited bike-share program. While faulty software was reportedly the cause for the initial delay, Superstorm Sandy can be blamed for the most recent problems.
As we learned last month, New York's bedeviled bike-share program was victimized by Superstorm Sandy when its storage facility at the Brooklyn Navy Yard was flooded. Now that the city's Transportation Department has had an opportunity to tally the damage, they've announced that "bike share will now begin in May...and on a smaller scale than originally planned," reports Matt Flegenheimer.
"In August, the city said the program would initially feature 7,000 bikes at 420 stations by March, then expand to 10,000 bikes and 600 stations by this summer. Now, the plan is to have at least 5,500 bikes at 293 stations by May. There is no timeline for the program to expand to 10,000 bikes."
"Janette Sadik-Khan, the city’s transportation commissioner, said she was pleased that a spring opening was still expected, given the scope of the storm’s damage," writes Flegenheimer. "The system’s pieces are weather-proof, 'but they’re not intended to be totally submerged in salt water baths,' she said, adding, 'We’ve literally had to open every piece of equipment with a transistor or a circuit board to see what the damage is.'”
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