In July 2017, the city of Pasadena joined the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s bike-share program and placed 375 bicycles and kiosks around the city to promote bicycling for short trips.
Fourteen months and $2.7 million later, all of the bikes are gone.
Pasadena officials hoped the bike-sharing program would help commuters make connections between work, home and transit lines without using cars. Instead, the bicycles averaged less than one ride a day, according to city data.
“The bikes were not used as anticipated,” Pasadena spokeswoman Lisa Derderian said.
The city’s average monthly bill was $100,000. User fees and memberships paid for less than 7 percent of the operating costs, meaning the 31 stations were more than 93 percent subsidized. (Source: Los Angeles Times, September 4.)