Baltimore bike program halted due to theft

Not a huge surprise here.
It didn't take long for someone to figure out to get past the locks on the bikes.

They did say because of GPS, many of the bikes have been recovered. They had 2 employees assigned to recovering the bikes.

"The manufacturer of the $2.36 million Baltimore Bike Share system said his company has never experienced the level of theft that caused officials to announce a temporary shutdown of the program to allow additional locking devices to be installed to the bike docks."

"The bike-share program launched last fall with 200 bicycles at 20 stations and was supposed to grow to 500 bicycles at 50 stations in the spring. Instead, it has suffered so many thefts and maintenance backups that most of the bicycles are out of service. The program will close Sunday and reopen Oct. 15."

This is my favorite part.

"The Baltimore Department of Transportation apologized for misleading riders about the reasons for the lack of bicycles across the system. Users who complained about empty docks across the city were told for months that it was a “rebalancing issue.”

Rebalancing issue.....
Bwwhahahahaha.

I've used this system in DC, but thats a different city.


Mod note: No Quote/Plagiarism – Please Review This Link.

It's Baltimore. If you leave a wrench laying on the sidewalk a junkie is going to grab it and take it to the metal recycling place..

I can only imagine what happens with a whole bike.

Good program, terrible city to do it in.

they tried something similar over here in manchester, same results.
people are generally scum.

a reply to: growler

LOLZ - in liverpool - the entire docking station would be gone in 5 min too

the system seems to work in civilized cities [ paris velibs always have a servicable machine in a dock ]

a reply to: Bluntone22

The Bike share Program is racist. White people should leave enough money for a generationally poor POC to use the bike next.

The real theft is the cost of this program.

originally posted by: underwerks
It's Baltimore. If you leave a wrench laying on the sidewalk a junkie is going to grab it and take it to the metal recycling place...

It's so true...

Another big government // big city failure.

They pile high.

originally posted by: Krazysh0t

originally posted by: underwerks
It's Baltimore. If you leave a wrench laying on the sidewalk a junkie is going to grab it and take it to the metal recycling place...

It's so true...

Limewire (of all things) has started a similar bike sharing thing in my neighborhood. And much to my surprise, it seems to be working.

I figured by this point I'd see them up in trees or wrapped around a telephone pole.

Maybe they need to implement better measures to secure bikes.

Maybe these could help.

a reply to: Bluntone22

We have a bike-share system in Atlanta, but I don't think many people use it. The city has too many hills to make it practical.

a reply to: Bluntone22

Just rename the program.

"Steal and Wheel" or something catchy.

You stay classy, Baltimore 😁

They tried this in my state. Thieves lifted up the entire downtown area and carried it across the river on the back of a giant turtle.

Golly, can you imagine that, theft, who would thought...............

Buck

originally posted by: Black_Fox
Maybe they need to implement better measures to secure bikes.

Maybe these could help.

Never stops being funny.

Wasted a whole night watching those prank videos once.

Don't cycle anymore due to back probs but I always liked the idea. Wish they'd been around years ago. Might've saved me a few long walks home after blowing all my cash on adventures.

Baltimore isn't that bad, I used to live there ( still live nearby ) and frequent it at least as few times a month. It's the areas of the city you learn the color of your skin can get you killed, is the issue.

You also learn not to be a dummy, like put bikes and poor locks in a city with a horrid transportation issue, the metro ( train ) handles like 7 stops in the city, but doesn't touch any of the areas that actually need it, they leave that for the buses, which if you've ever used bus transit, isn't very big and some very restrictive times with lax security.

We have a city issue, not a baltimore issue, many of baltimores problems are found in every other city. We don't take care of people in general and in the city, that issue can't hide as well as it can in the country.

There is also the issue of corruption, shifting blame on one issue when they could of handled it many ways better.

What is the saying, a boss who blames the problem on their employees is a prime example of a poor leader.

Just another example of the disconnect between the average citizen and the policy/program makers. Next on their agenda.
Car2Go in Detroit.

Leave it to government to come up with a bike share program where the cost of each bike could have bought a nice used car.
Almost 2.5 million for 200 bikes and 20 stations?
That's $10 grand per bike and $20k per station.
Were they gold plated by any chance?

You forgot the link OP