As Portland works feverishly to launch a 750-unit bike share system this year, there’s a bit of worrisome news. The Canadian company we’ve been planning to source those bikes from filed for bankruptcy yesterday. From the New York Times:
OTTAWA — The Canadian company that designs and builds the bicycles and supporting technology for bike-sharing systems around the world, including those in New York and London, sought bankruptcy protection on Monday.
Denis Coderre, the mayor of Montreal, told reporters that a failed, if ambitious, international expansion plan and a financial dispute with some United States cities, including New York, had forced the move by Société de Vélo en Libre-Service, a nonprofit company, better known as Bixi.
The move will allow the company, which was spun off from the city of Montreal, to continue to operate in the short term. But untangling the financial and legal mess surrounding its operations will most likely be a more protracted business.
Bixi is a long-time business partner of Alta Bicycle Share, the Portland company that’s working to secure sponsorship money to purchase and run a system here. So the company’s bankruptcy poses a big question: Once Alta gets the cash, will there even be bikes to purchase?
According to Mia Birk, Alta’s vice president, the answer is yes. She tells the Mercury:
“This is a legal restructuring, which is a common option for companies who need assistance with financial and operational issues. All our bike share systems and call centers are operating normally. We are continuing to communicate with Bixi and our bicycle supplier, DeVinci, as we normally do. Ultimately, we are confident that this will be a positive result for Portland. Our 2014 system will launch as planned.”
Transportation Commissioner Steve Novick says he’s aware of the bankruptcy filing, and that he’s been told by Bureau of Transportation Director Leah Treat that “it’s nothing to worry about.”
BIKERUPTCY!!1!
“This is a legal restructuring, which is a common option for companies who need assistance with financial and operational issues.”
Nothing to see here! The ever business-savvy local government assures us that the failure of a company is “nothing to worry about” when doing business with that company.
Hate to quote the O, but their columnist had a good turn of phrase this weekend (in regards to the our horrible school rankings):
“Oregon’s unrivaled ability to tolerate problems (and to ignore unflattering information as biased or otherwise misrepresentative of our special specialness).”
This reaction from Mirk and Novick is a prime example of that. Instead of an honest conversation among responsible adults with a fiduciary responsibility to tax payers, that something is going wrong here and what should we do about it, instead we get more “everything is fine!” “The 2014 rollout is definitely happening.”
It’s great that we’re nice and positive here, but Oregon and Portland aren’t served by naive optimism when actual problems arise. It’s why so many of our projects turn out to be over-budget boondoggles. Because it’s considered “mean” and pessimistic to point out when they are going off the rails.
I’m depending on this launch occurring as planned – I can’t very well ride from Powell’s to Voodoo Donut ON YOUR BROKEN PROMISES.
I am still obsessed with the fact that Novick lied on the November grant application for bike share (he said that a sponsor was secured and funding was available).
Leah Treat is the new Alfred E. Newman of PDX.
“What, me worry?”
Rev., more like Frank Drebin:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSjK2Oqrgic
I don’t understand why we would have bought bikes from Canada in the first place.
Nor, why do we see Prius’ as government vehicles here.
But this program in itself seems doomed to failure, and should not be supported with public monies.
This does not seem to be going well. I am truly stunned
This is a dumpster fire. Is there some way to do this (like say in Montreal, but not buying expensive bikes from them) without it being a disaster or asking for money?