Bikes Lose Money
In a normally functioning economic system, when you lose money, you go out of business. Unfortunately, Chicago doesn't seem to operate anything close to a functioning economic system:
- While trying to gain traction with riders, Divvy posted a preliminary operating loss of $148,000 last year, most of which must be covered by Mayor Rahm Emanuel's administration under its agreement with operator Alta Bicycle Share Inc.
The operating deficit came on revenue of $2.2 million in 2013, according to a spokesman for the Chicago Department of Transportation. Because of the uncertainty over the bicycle rental program's success, the administration agreed to cover 90 percent of operating losses through this year. Meanwhile, Alta is set to receive a nearly $2.5 million fee from the city for installation.
Though the operating loss is not unexpected, and the amount is relatively small, it comes at a time when Mr. Emanuel is under intense pressure to cut costs and avoid tax increases. The bicycle-sharing program has not yet reached many neighborhoods, reinforcing a view that Divvy is merely a toy for yuppies and tourists.
Alta got $2.5 million from the city just to install the bike racks? So the city was already that much in the hole before a single bike arrived in Chicago. At least one transportation expert is quoted as saying the bikes might not be profitable for another three years.
Anyone see a balloon pension payment lying around somewhere?
Anyone see a balloon pension payment lying around somewhere?
Labels: money questions
posted by SCC at 12:03 AM
48 Comments:
Wasn't there a story the other day that those bikes had the biggest weekend ever last week or so? This city is a joke, run by thieves.
Interesting.
They attempted to head off this story by saying Memorial Day Weekend was a record-setter for Divvy.
rb
Really nice to have a start up operation with virtually all the risk removed and paid for by chump taxpayers isn't it?
Meanwhile...
It could soon cost $200 for kids to set up a lemonade stand, have a bake sale or sell cupcakes in Illinois.
“This is absolutely insane!” State Senator Jim Oberweis (R-Aurora) said at a Capitol press conference Friday. “Somebody in Madison County went crazy and decided to enforce a law against an 11 year old kid who was baking cupcakes.
****
Chloe Stirling of Troy’s State Representative Charlie Meier tried to do the right thing by introducing a law that would help those in her situation and exempt up to $1000 in sales.
“Then what happened? It came to the Senate… We ‘Illinois-ized’ the bill - doing things the way we do in Illinois, which is everything we can to discourage entrepeneurism to discourage business interests,” Oberweis told reporters. […]
[Sen. Donne Trotter] amended the bill to require anyone selling food products to take an 8 hour food service sanitation course costing $145, obtain a county health department permit costing $25, label the food products to indicate ingredients and the fact that they are homemade, plus another $35 fee.
read the whole thing: http://capitolfax.com/2014/05/27/poison-pill-kills-cupcake-bill/
A totally rigged corrupt system. They pick and choose who wins. who loses. Who gets the tax breaks and bailouts while ticking 11 y/o kids to teach them about Broken windows. KMA, Illinois
Anyone see a balloon pension payment lying around somewhere?
===============================
If they borrow more money by selling a bond to raise the money in order to make a pension payment
AND THEN
Raise our taxes to pay for the bond who wins?
If they lower the cost of living increases and then down play real inflation using some magical seasonal adjustment formula that shows real inflation is say 10% but seasonally adjusted inflation is a mere 5% how many years of that before you're on food stamps living retirement in poverty?
In the very near future the Bikes will become profitable. Once Obama get the nations energy production firmly in hand, oil/gasoline will be so expensive that very few people can afford to operate a fossil fuel powered vehicle. Riding a bicycle will be the only was to get around.
Heh, got these two foot deep pot holes five feet long and three feet wide RIGHT IN THE BIKE LANES in some areas.
Alice is gonna have to do a corporate private/public contract for bike helmets next because he's concerned for the taxpayers safety.
Don't let a crisis go to waste.
Who's the lucky clouted one that gets it?
I have a prob w/Trib writer saying it's RE administration that has to cover the divvy losses...in fact, it's TAXPAYERS not RE, his flunkies, nor his cronies.
And what about the parking meter thieves who are losing money because all of the parking spots lost to the bikes. Taxpayers have to make up that gap too?
What a racket.
I understand that Department of Trans. carpetbagger Gabe Klein has moved along to victimize another city along with Alta's multimillionaire boss Alison Cohen -- and that her Canadian bicycle factory has declared bankruptcy.
Not like they pile the money up and burn it. Wonder where it all went?
So where do all the spare parts come from now? Ha.
"Because of the uncertainty over the bicycle rental program's success, the administration agreed to cover 90 percent of operating losses through this year."
Oh. "Administration" is going to get a paper route, take in washing to meet the losses? Right.
When did any of this s__t become the business of government?
The answer to ths problem is simple. Just sell the operation to the Mayor's mega-rich agent brother. Can you say Lala -Palooza?
Only in Chicago can the losses be compensated for by the city another fine example of graft, greed and corruption by the Daley's parking contract and in keeping the tradition of graft, greed and corruption the Emanual administration!
$2.5 million for bikes is nowhere near the $810 million CHA budget to allow mostly dead beats/ gang bangers to live rent free.
Unless your elderly or truly disabled, no one should live rent free !!
Cut CHA budget in HALF and use that money for pensions!!
How bout a retro check and a fucking raise????
DIVVY looked like a total loser from the start just like Rahmen Noodles.
So we restrict major streets and intersections with bike lanes. Then we fail to keep the bike lanes painted(as well as all the other markings, but one miserable failure at a time).
So Mr. bike rider has an expectation (a lawyer word, you know what's coming) an expectation of safety. Low and behold, an unfamiliar driver smacks one of these bike riders because no one knows where the damn lanes are without any paint.
A couple of million? Chump change when the ambulance chasers rev up their machine.
Now let's talk about the gridlock those Divy racks and bike lanes cause.......Worth it? Let the voters decide.
"Yuppies", which according to South Siders is anyone under 70 yrs of age with a job, living north of Madison who ride bikes already have a bike. And tourists who use these Divvy bikes are low-end tourists who come here and are too cheap to use a cab. Why would you want to put your sweaty butt on a germ invested seat where someone else put their sweaty butt? How the City contracted with this firm is the question. Didn't Rahm's Transportation Whiz leave suddenly? Once again the tax-payers got shafted.
News flash: government services are not profitable. Nor are they meant to be. Roads, trains, etc. "lose" money too.
Do they have he bikes in Englewood?
Now it all makes sense. 1st put up a few Pod Cameras. 2nd put up a few red light cameras. 3rd speed cameras. Now you can put the bikes in shit neighborhoods since you have all these cameras watching so the ghetto rats don't steal them. Bonus you can keep track of no one using them too!
Parking meters made money -- sell them.
SkyWay made money -- sell it!
Divvy bikes LOSE money -- keep them?
This is all a fucking joke right?
Don't forget the lost revenue in gas taxes, cta ridership, metra and IC ridership, parking, taxes parking tickets, etc...Dumbass democrats
Had to figure it would directly lose money it's first year, it's still a novelty to most. I think the benefits that comes from these bikes would be reflected on other balance sheets. More people on a Divvy = less cars = less road work.
WTF .....who keeps coming up with these so called profit numbers? Someone or some people need to back economics101.
Has anyone seen the trucks that restock the bikes? Are those employees of Divvy ? Or is the city suppying the manpower?
The furthest south I have ever seen one of those Rahm bike stands is Thirty Fifth Street.
Those are gurly man looking bikes anyway. Seeing a guy on one of them reminds me of the guys who ride those Vespas. I guess the Guy Factor does not apply.
"Lightloafers" Littleton does use them though.
Who negotiates these contracts? The city paid for what? The city has to recoup the company's losses for how long? WTF?
Bikes & Bike Lanes in a City that has shit weather 8 months out of the year. Brilliant.
Remember Watergate's Deep Throat ?
"FOLLOW THE MONEY"
Do you think anyone in the administration, is part of the Divvy Bike Team ?
Will there be a Divvy station by the $10,000,000 taxpayer rehabbed Uptown Theater? Must be nice to have a money loosing business or worthless property and get taxpayer money.
OT, Sorry for the rant, but while we're busy losing money on bikes, we're also flushing away more on street lights.
WHY is beautiful, HISTORIC Logan Square, with all its Victorian charm, getting new streetlights that look like they're straight out of the Jetsons?
What is wrong with the existing lighting? NOTHING. But maybe the contracting companies have to be 'fed' some work? Meanwhile, the residents are stuck with ugly, out-of-context, unnecessary futuristic lights for the next twenty years.
Thanks, Rey Colon. For NOTHING. Fix the damned potholes. And next time you think shiny new futuristic streetlights are such a great idea, poll the residents and ask them what THEY want first.
Losing money is the same as "chicago values".
Bikes lose money. The connected make money. It's the crook county way!
I Ride My Bicycle On The Lake Front Often. I Use Various Routes To Get To The Lake Front and Return To My Home on The Northwest Side. I Always Try To Use Different Routes.
My Point Is I Feel I Have A Pretty Good Feel as To What It Is To Ride A Bicycle in The City of Chicago. I Should Tell You I Am A 66yr Old Retired CPD Officer. First Off, I See A Lot Of Divvy Bike Users Out There. I Really Don't Understand The Concept. If You Want To Rent A Bicycle, You Can Get A Lot Better Bicycle, at A Lot Better Price At Various Locations From Other Vendors. You Can Get A Restored "Beater Bike" at Various Outlets. Get Yourself A Lock and Cable at Home Depot. Your Good To Go For About 150.00. Park and Leave It Anywhere, Anytime, even over Long Periods.
Better Choice.
Don't you peons worry about this.
Rahm knows what's best for us and the city.
Don't ever forget if Rahm wants it a Rahm gets it logic be damned.
Fuck the bikes, Fuck the backwards economy and fuck ALL those who think we are making progress.
In third world countries they ride bikes because they are too dirt poor to drive a car and too poor to have any public transportation infrastructure.
Who are these city government idiots promoting "use Bikes" when we should be focused on having personal cars?
Cars are a sign of success and economic stability - ask any coolie who is driving a bike in a third-world country and their dream is to come to America and drive a car.
Why do we keep clouding up values and success with trying to sell people to adopt third world amenities instead of focusing on good jobs and money to support personal vehicles?
Next they will be suggesting we all wear the same clothing like they did in Red China 30 years ago. Where are your black pajamas comrade?
Can't anyone else see we are going DOWN as a society and those who were labeled "third world" countries are now passing us up?
Good example - South Korea. They now have a corner on all major appliances, TVs, decent cars and Smartphones.
They were considered a third world country 30 years ago - now their network infrastructure supports speeds for all their Smartphones and other devices as speeds greater than what we have in Chicago.
Who lives in a third world country now?
I have a question scc. The Mayor and the City made all those one land streets in the west side for bike lanes, YET, I don't see any divy bike stands west or south.
Anyone get one of these inventoried yet?? 015 did. Says right on the bike if you lose it, its $1200.
Wonder if they got their $1200 and now the bike back to boot. Will the renter get his/her $$$ back???
Don't fret. All of the cyclists will be riding over to the Uptown Theater once the State of Illinois ponies up $10 million to rehab that white elephant and make it into the entertainment showcase that it has not been since Truman bombed Japan.
Money is scarce except for crackpot schemes that benefit the politically connected and their friends. A new Malcolm X College to replace the current building that is not even fifty years old.
A park to honor Maggie Daley. Divvy Bikes, but Z-E-R-O to pay past due bills or to make pension payments.
Wonder how much cash is going back to the elected? Another failed venture, thought the Daley crime family was bad, the rahm crew put Daley to shame. Let's hope when Obama loses a republican gets in and lets the new U.S. Attorney Zachary fardon run wild and scoop up all the city hall cook county state of illinois criminal enterprises. We would help load up the busses and train cars or make them march to 219 Dearborn!
Money loser per bike rented, no problem, they can make it up in volume.
Sincerely,
Obammys Chief Economic Advisor
Wonder how much cash is going back to the elected? Another failed venture, thought the Daley crime family was bad, the rahm crew put Daley to shame. Let's hope when Obama loses a republican gets in and lets the new U.S. Attorney Zachary fardon run wild and scoop up all the city hall cook county state of illinois criminal enterprises. We would help load up the busses and train cars or make them march to 219 Dearborn!
Obama loses? Loses what? He can't run again.
WHO wants people to stop using Chiraq as a name for Chicago?
Are they embarrassed? Evidently, the RAPPERS of Chicago think it is OK. There are several videos already out about Chiraq.
Come on, Chicago Media, you can't try to filter out the label now--it's out there. Chiraq.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLxtUkVuwak
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyEPefYIN8A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BBsNHuogyU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4K_hz_ecOFM
I didn't know Chicago had so much local "musical talent". We should be making a tourism commercial with all these talented young people.
What about Rahm??? Maybe we should have a contest on best song for Chicago tourism?
I'm sure putting this on TV as a commercial to bring tourism to Chicago (Chiraq) would work.
Wouldn't it?
Get real -these videos demonstrate a complete failure of keeping Chicago as a world-class city (on YOUR watch).
Watch the videos - this town is a third-world joke. Next we'll be seeing Jeeps and .50 cal Machine guns driving around the South Side to make sure territories are defined by the different tribes.
"Didn't Rahm's Transportation Whiz leave suddenly?"
6/02/2014 06:04:00 AM
Gabe Klein goes from town to town with Alison Cohen, the multimillionaire owner of Alta Bicycles. When da job is done, they vamoose. Fresh pickings just over the horizon...
"WHY is beautiful, HISTORIC Logan Square, with all its Victorian charm, getting new streetlights that look like they're straight out of the Jetsons?"
6/02/2014 12:25:00 PM
I guess they ran out of the phony, overscale "antique" light poles -- supposed to look like old-fashioned gaslights except they're four times the size. Kick the "cast-iron" base sometime -- cheap die-castings in two pieces, held together with those plastic zip-ties.
...but you can hang stupid banners from them. "THIS IS A WAY COOL NEIGHBORHOOD."
Anonymous Anonymous said...
"WHY is beautiful, HISTORIC Logan Square, with all its Victorian charm, getting new streetlights that look like they're straight out of the Jetsons?"
6/02/2014 12:25:00 PM
I guess they ran out of the phony, overscale "antique" light poles -- supposed to look like old-fashioned gaslights except they're four times the size. Kick the "cast-iron" base sometime -- cheap die-castings in two pieces, held together with those plastic zip-ties.
...but you can hang stupid banners from them. "THIS IS A WAY COOL NEIGHBORHOOD."
6/03/2014 04:51:00 PM
...which automatically doubles the property taxes.
Anonymous Anonymous said...
"Didn't Rahm's Transportation Whiz leave suddenly?"
6/02/2014 06:04:00 AM
Gabe Klein goes from town to town with Alison Cohen, the multimillionaire owner of Alta Bicycles. When da job is done, they vamoose. Fresh pickings just over the horizon...
6/03/2014 04:39:00 PM
The very definition of 'carpetbaggers'.
Anonymous said...
Wonder how much cash is going back to the elected? Another failed venture, thought the Daley crime family was bad, the rahm crew put Daley to shame. Let's hope when Obama loses a republican gets in and lets the new U.S. Attorney Zachary fardon run wild and scoop up all the city hall cook county state of illinois criminal enterprises. We would help load up the busses and train cars or make them march to 219 Dearborn!
6/02/2014 11:33:00 PM
Now there is someone that took Government Class in a Chicago Public School.
Please read:
http://www.fee.org/the_freeman/detail/the-berry-bikes-a-lesson-in-private-property/
This wonderful, classic article is the ultimate in explaining the problems of Socialism. Written in 1999. If all college students were required to read this, instead of Rules for Radicals, we would not be having this conversation, and Obama and Rahm would just be odd first names instead of "leaders".
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