By Jill Colvin, DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
NEW YORK CITY — The rollout of the city’s long-awaited bike share program has been delayed until at least the spring.
After weeks of dodging questions about a final launch date, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced the Citibank-sponsored bikes won’t hit the streets until at least the spring because of a software glitch in contractor Alta’s operating system.
“Unfortunately there are software issues,” he told WOR’s John Gambling during his weekly radio show Friday morning. “The software doesn’t work. Duh. We're not going to put it out until it does work.”
While Bloomberg said the city had considered the possibility of a partial launch before winter hits, at this point they’ve chosen to wait.
“We’re just not going to launch it [until] spring,” he said. “Hopefully the software will work by then.”
The city announced the new Paris-style program with great fanfare this summer. At the time, officials said the program's 10,000 new bikes, docked at 600 pickup and drop-off stations, would start hitting the streets in July.
But questions began swirling as the clock ticked down with no sign of the new bike displays.
Chicago recently announced that it would also delay its program launch, which is using the same contractor, until warmer weather returns.