Software, \'Plain and Simple,\' Still to Blame for Bike-Share Delay

By MATT FLEGENHEIMER

To those seeking further explanation for the delays in the city's much anticipated bike-share program, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg delivered a bemused rejoinder Friday: There's nothing to report.

Speaking on WOR Radio on Friday morning, Mr. Bloomberg attributed the delay, as he did last week, to “software, plain and simple.”

“The company that's managing it changed vendors to have new software,” he said, referring to Alta Bicycle Share, which is operating the program. “And it just doesn't work yet.”

No new start date has been set for the program, which was supposed to begin in July. A program overseen by Alta in Chattanooga, Tenn., began this week after experiencing software-related delays.

Some riders and elected officials have called on the city to provide greater details on the program's possible start date and the reasons for the delay.

Mr. Bloomberg sug gested he was communicating as much information as he could.

“One newspaper wrote a story, ‘You're not telling us enough,'” he said in his radio interview. “There's nothing.”

He expressed amusement, as he has in the past, at some New Yorkers' recent zeal for the program.

“Everybody was screaming, ‘We do not want bicycles,'” he said. “Now everybody's screaming, ‘We can't get them fast enough,' You've got to love New York.”