KANSAS CITY BIKE SHARE ROLLING TOWARD CITY HALL SUBSIDY?!?!

Generally, we think the d-bags @ B-Cycle are doing a good job and their rent-a-bikes are a nice idea that give local cyclists another option for dodging cars.

Still . . . Today the Show-Me blog hopes that cyclists will stay off the taxpayer dime: Keep Bike Shares Self-Supporting

Deets on the real world challenges facing this program:

"All is not well for bike sharing programs. Public Bike System Co., which operates many bike share systems in the U.S., recently went bankrupt. The problem for many bike share programs is that rental fees from users do not cover operating costs, meaning sponsors need to cover part of the operating expenses and all the capital investment of the services. Sponsor support can be transient, and as bike shares expand to include less profitable stations, bike share services quickly lose solvency. Enter the urban transit boosters (such as the National League of Cities), who claim dubiously large congestion and livability benefits from bike share programs. They support city and state funding for, and capital investment in, bike share programs."

While the B-Cycles are appreciated and enjoy great traffic . . . KCMO simply doesn't have the cash for another dubious tourist attraction so we hope they step up their endorsement and sponsor pitch given their aggressive expansion plans that will take the bikes out of downtown and into neighborhoods across Midtown.

Developing . . .