Bike share delayed for 2 weeks Sun Times story

So much for Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s plan to launch Chicago’s long-stalled bike-sharing program in time for Friday’s Bike-to-Work Day rally at the Daley Center Plaza.
The program that Emanuel hopes to build into the nation’s largest bike sharing program has been delayed yet again—this time until June 28.
Transportation Commissioner Gabe Klein disclosed the two-week delay on Tuesday, just as Divvy was informing its Chicago members of the latest pothole.
Klein said “a few components showed up a little bit late,” but that’s not the reason for the latest delay. It’s about guaranteeing a smooth launch of a solar-powered system that has many technical components.

“It would have been great to launch on Bike to Work day, but we realized it’s better to have it as ride-ready as possible. We have all the equipment now on the ground, but we have not had a chance to test it,” Klein said.
“With any large-scale deployment of any technology or transit system—and this is both—you want to avoid glitches as much as possible. The more we can test in our environment, the more we can ensure it’s as seamless as possible.”
Klein said the city is “still selling memberships” and “still on track” to install 75 stations by the end of the month.
“What we’re delaying is the actual go-live of the system because we want to have more time to do extensive testing on the ground with our software, our management and our communications system,” he said.
Operated by Portland, Oregon-based Alta Bicycle Share, the bike-sharing program was originally scheduled to offer 3,000 bikes for rental at 300 stations last summer.
Now, it’s been delayed, yet again. How disappointed is Klein?
“On a scale of 1 to 10, it’s a two,” he said.
Ron Burke, executive director of the Active Transportation Alliance, said Chicago’s start-up problems are nothing new. Other cities, including New York, have experienced similar hiccups.
“They told me they need more time to test the system to make sure everything is going to work properly: checking out bikes, re-docking bikes, being able to sweep your credit card to get a bike,” Burke said.
“We would rather the city delay a couple weeks than risk a sub-par service. This is sort of like the grand opening for the latest, coolest roller-coaster at the amusement park. The line just got a little longer. But I’m not getting out of line. A two-week delay in a system that will be around for decades is disappointing, but it’s not that big a deal.”
The Chicago Sun-Times last fall that the program that was supposed to offer 3,000 bikes for rental at 300 stations last summer had been put off until spring.
The delay came as Inspector General Joe Ferguson continued to investigate a rival bidder’s claim that the bid process was greased for Alta, an Oregon company that once hired Klein as a consultant.
At the time, problems with Alta’s newly-developed software to keep track of rented bikes and accept rider payments had also stalled the company’s 10,000-bike rental program in New York City.
The Emanuel administration insisted then that neither complication played any role in the Chicago slowdown.

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Permalink Reply by Jim Freeman on June 11, 2013 at 8:44pm
no biggie. I would only have been surprised if it launched on time.

I'm super stoked about bike share. better late than never.
Permalink Reply by SlowCoachOnTheRoad on June 11, 2013 at 11:18pm

I think we animals find too much to complain about.  They need more time and that is understandable.  This is an amazing gift for Chicago and if the biking community is not going to be supportive from the get-go then no one else will. So far the Mayor has been as bike friendly as the last one.  Changes take time.  So far 1,000 people have signed up, which means that even if they all paid the $125 founder fee, that is only $125,000 trickling in for something that clearly must have cost millions.  Imagine on a stormy day like today when I will probably chicken out of biking to work as I have to meet a friend for dinner after work - I could have hopped on the bus there, and rode the Divvy to the dinner date if I suddenly found I had a short rain-free window later after work.  This is going to be COOL!

Permalink Reply by Lisa Curcio on June 11, 2013 at 11:30pm

Actually, not complaining about it being late, just disappointed.  It is better to have it be right when it is launched.  I am pretty sure this segment of the cycling community was a big part of the early adopters who signed up already.  We are very much looking forward to Divvy!

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on June 12, 2013 at 2:58am

+1

Lisa Curcio 6.5 mi said:

Actually, not complaining about it being late, just disappointed.  It is better to have it be right when it is launched.  I am pretty sure this segment of the cycling community was a big part of the early adopters who signed up already.  We are very much looking forward to Divvy!

Permalink Reply by Adam Herstein on June 12, 2013 at 3:03am

As a software developer, I am always in favor of more QA time. It's better to hammer out the bugs before going to production.

Permalink Reply by Tony Adams on June 12, 2013 at 4:30am

Sure, but one of the reasons the City cites for outsourcing and privatizing this stuff is to control risk isn't it? And here is more evidence that sending Chicago dollars out of state to Portland (Alta) and out of the country to China (bikes) wasn't necessarily the best approach.

Permalink Reply by Duppie on June 12, 2013 at 5:07am

As a SI consultant in a previous life, I'd say it is better to have more functional design time. Bugs usually aren't a sign of bad coding, but instead a sign of a mismatch between what the user actually wants and what they documented in the functional spec.

Adam Herstein (5.5 mi) said:

As a software developer, I am always in favor of more QA time. It's better to hammer out the bugs before going to production.

Permalink Reply by Melissa on June 12, 2013 at 6:00am

+1

SlowCoachOnTheRoad said:

I think we animals find too much to complain about.  They need more time and that is understandable.  This is an amazing gift for Chicago and if the biking community is not going to be supportive from the get-go then no one else will. So far the Mayor has been as bike friendly as the last one.  Changes take time.  So far 1,000 people have signed up, which means that even if they all paid the $125 founder fee, that is only $125,000 trickling in for something that clearly must have cost millions.  Imagine on a stormy day like today when I will probably chicken out of biking to work as I have to meet a friend for dinner after work - I could have hopped on the bus there, and rode the Divvy to the dinner date if I suddenly found I had a short rain-free window later after work.  This is going to be COOL!

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