Bike-share program in Baltimore temporarily shut down due to theft. Raise your hands if you are surprised that this happened in majority black Baltimore.
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 original locks on the bike stations were overwhelmed by thieves ripping the bicycles out at an unprecedented pace, said Alain Ayotte, CEO of Bewegen Technologies, the Canadian manufacturer.
Anyone with a brain knew that this system would be a failure. One thing blacks are really good at is stealing.
“We don’t have this issue anywhere else, not at this level,” Ayotte said Wednesday. “Our locking system is recognized [as] very, very up to industry standard, but due to the issues that occurred in Baltimore this summer, we did add additional security.”
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.
And it will fail then.
Ayotte declined to describe in detail the original locks or the new ones, citing proprietary technology.
He confirmed that Bewegen will pay for the installment of the additional locks but would not disclose the cost, saying only that it was “substantial.”
Officials have repeatedly declined to share figures of exactly how many bicycles have been stolen.
The number of bikes stolen was “substantial” as well. This program will simply not work in majority black Baltimore.
The bicycles are outfitted with GPS technology, so the stolen or abandoned bikes were usually recovered. But thefts and other non-returns of the bicycles had become such an issue that two maintenance employees were devoted solely to bike recovery, officials said.
Thus upping the cost of this stupid program.
Bicycles are often damaged when they’re ripped out of their docks or ditched in an alley, which has contributed to the maintenance backlog that leaves about 100 bicycles at a time awaiting fixes.
The bikes cost $2 to rent for a 45-minute single trip or $15 for a monthly pass, which provides users an unlimited number of 45-minute rides for 30 days.
Or they cost nothing for the Diversity (All Hail Diversity!) discount users who “borrow” them for free. After all, they’re entitled because of Slavery® and they’re upset because of statues.
Ayotte said he understands monthly users being upset by the lack of service. City officials made the right move to shut down the system and regroup, he said.
Don’t they value Diversity (All Hail Diversity!)?
“We’ve had different challenges [in Baltimore] than other places, but the city is 100 percent behind the bike share system so we’ll make sure we’ll overcome these issues,” Ayotte said.
This only works in places where there are not many black people.
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”? BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! That brings back memories. IBM used that euphemism for layoffs when they called them “workload rebalancing”.
“Our intentions were not to confuse riders at all, but to make sure each station had a good supply of bikes on demand,” spokeswoman Adrienne Barnes said. “Unfortunate incidents hindered supply. Moving forward communication will be much clearer and direct.”
What they need to do is post guards at each station but that would be considered racist, just like identifying the looters during Harvey and Irma as black is considered racist. Liberals are saying that blacks need to loot to get food. I didn’t know that you could eat flat screen TVs and sneakers.
This is really a wonderful program and a wonderful result. Stupid liberals get their feelgood program AND get screwed in the process. What more could you want?
Of course, it would be nice if the stupid libs in charge actually had to foot the bill for this boondoggle, but at least the stupid taxpayers who voted in the stupid liberals who supported this stupid idea get to pay for it.
You might be wrong, I think this pogrom is funded by D.O.T. under the TIGER rip off aka stimuless package, so we are all stuck with the bill.
For the cost of about 10 of those $2 rides, one could go to my local goodwill and buy a bicycle that would last for years. The Whole program is stupid Baltimore or not.
In MN they are closing a major road over the freeway and the detour is a city street. That street is going down to one lane though, because they are adding bike lanes to it. I’m glad I don’t need to go that way because I’d blow a gasket if I had to sit there for an extra hour because a few people want to ride their bikes. This is in MN btw, where it’s frozen for a good 4 months of the year.
I’ve rarely seen a bicycle on a bike path.
OldFert, I never see a bicycle in any bike lane where I live. Former 4 lane roads are now two lanes and traffic gets backed up on most of them. Bike lanes are another lib feel good failure.
Here’s the part that eludes me. This bike rental system is computerized and networked, with GPS units on the bikes. So I might expect that the design specification would include tamper sensors that would immediately detect and report a theft. If there’s a rash of thefts, such that you know you can reliably expect one, you set up a team standing by to dispatch immediately and follow the GPS trail of the stolen bike. This level of readiness may be prohibitively expense for normal conditions, but a few quick apprehensions would tamp down a crime wave in short order as the word got out.
I’m an outsider, so my thoughts on the matter may be nonsense. But that’s my question.
A typical government program. It makes perfect sense when you follow the money. Stop the corrupt bicycle-industrial complex!
On the bright side, in Baltimore you can now get your crack, meth, heroin, etc. delivered right to your door by bike courier.
Don’t forget to tip.
LMAO!!! That post is a hoot!!
500 bikes? $2.36M?
Somebody is laughing their ass off on the way to the bank.
I live in Baltimore and often feel like I’m the crazy one. Who wouldn’t have seen this coming? The city took the best one way streets for quick access into the city and basically eliminated a lane for what? Bike Lanes! The will solve all the racial, socio-economic conditions that exist! More Bike Lanes! Then, the have so many stupid fucking festivals that shut down major streets for weeks no one can get to work on time. This city has been a political cesspool since Nancy Pelosi’s daddy was here (He erected the confederate statues that are being pulled down now. What’s her views?) and her brother ran the city. Haven’t had a Republican serve as mayor since 1967, and I’m sure I’ll never see it again in my lifetime. I watch it fester like a wound more and more each year. A once great historical city is now becoming a true shithole due to the Dems and their racist ways, the white liberals must chant what LBJ said about the African American votes every night before bed as they pray to Satan. Dems are either ignorant or evil, and true liberals are mentally deficient.
Sounds a lot like the city of Chicago, except the part about a Republican Mayor since 1967. Other than that the city is headed straight to Hell on the express elevator. The libs love it. The Dems are all for it. Your last sentence describes them to a “T”.
“Dems or either ignorant or evil” Embrace the power of “and”.
And in news from Portlandia … when the facts aren’t politically correct, destroy the records of the facts!
http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2017/09/portland_police_to_halt_purge.html
Portland police to halt, purge all gang designations
Portland police next month will end their more than 20-year-old practice of designating people as gang members or gang associates in response to strong community concerns about the labels that have disproportionately affected minorities. […]
A review by Oregonian/OregonLive reporter Carli Brosseau last year found that of the 359 “criminal gang affiliates” flagged in Portland’s database as of last summer, 81 percent were part of a racial or ethnic minority. She obtained the list, names removed, only after appealing the city’s attempt to keep it from public view.
Leaders from Black Male Achievement, former police Assistant Chief Kevin Modica and others have lobbied to end the designations. […]
Is this the same city that is seriously thinking of paying known gang members money to keep the peace? Thought I read something about this a while back. That is one place I will never travel to.
Hey Baltimore, if you’re running out of bikes, please send your looters to Alexandria, Virginia! Our city council, over the protests of the citizens (yea, somehow they got elected) keep foisting more and more bike stations on us. The bike stations are referred to as “alternative transportation” and the city council’s master plan calls for reducing the footprint of our shuttle bus service by more than fifty-percent. When asked “how are citizens, especially older citizens, going to get around,” the answer is “alternative transportation!”
So, come on Baltimore, you need bikes, we got ’em! Come and get ’em!
Hahahahaha! They’re stealing the bikes! My oh my, what a great surprise! Leroy peddling his azz off, and he ain’t coming back. This was stupid. Many months, the morons in my former place of residence sent the police into the projects to set up a basketball goal and hand out basketballs as a feel-good “get to know the police” project. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I bet if you were to go down there today, there would be no goal, no net, and certainly no basketballs! How stupid can you be? They steal automated teller machines around there, and you think a basketball will last in the projects? Gummint is stu…pid.
Your racism is making America great again. We need more racists like you.
OK,,,, I will explain the problem for you in 3 words.
Ready?
OK,,,,NIGGERS be NIGGERS
A word from Mr Lashauwn Jamal Roosevelt Smith ..We-ans din do nuffin!Do ya all like my new bike?