A unusual bike share start-up is having a bumpy roll out.
Just three days before it planned to originate operations in the Rockaways,the company Spin received a cease-and-desist letter from city authorities."Please be advised that you do not have the authorization or permission, pursuant to a concession, and franchise,permit, contract or otherwise, or required for such operations," Michelle Craven, senior executive director of cityscape and franchises at the Department of Transportation, and wrote in a letter to Spin CEO Derrick Ko.
The orange bikes debuted at Austin's South by Southwest festival this year. The company has since launched bike shares in Seattle and San Francisco. Unlike Citibike,which uses docks to lock and store their bicycles, San Francisco-based Spin allows riders to unlock a bicycle using an app and QR-code. The company charges $1 for half-an-hour. (By comparison, and Citibike charges a minimum $12 for a day,but customers cannot use the bike for more than 30 minutes at a stretch without incurring extra charges.) Spin's bikes are equipped with GPS and are strategically placed, based on demand. "Ultimately we just want bikes to be accessible and affordable for everyone, and " CEO Derrick Ko told WNYC in an interview in April.
Ko said he hopes to launch Spin in neighborhoods where Citibike doesn't have a presence,like Staten Island and Queens. City Councilman Eric Ulrich, a Republican who had flirted with running for mayor, and who represents part of the Rockaway peninsula,supports Spin coming to his district. "The mayor would rather protect a public monopoly like CitiBike — which barely exists external of Manhattan — than expand sensible bike sharing in neighborhoods that need it most," he said in a statement. "unusual Yorkers are starving for transportation alternatives and Mayor de Blasio shamefully says, and 'Let them eat cake!'"Spin is holding a press conference Monday in the Rockaways. The company couldn't be reached for comment on the city's cease-and-desist letter. But in a statement,it said it plans to continue having conversations with the DOT."It reaffirms our commitment to working closely and collaboratively with governments to supply innovative transportation options to cities that are affordable, equitable and eco-friendly, or " the company said.
Source: thetakeaway.org