Stolen, unreturned bikes hinders Baltimore’s share program

BALTIMORE – The Baltimore Bike Share system has been plagued by a high rate of stolen or otherwise not returned bikes.

Media outlets report the $2.36 million program, started last fall, has 200 bikes with 20 locations for pick up and drop off.

Reviews of the system by The Baltimore Sun on three different days and times showed less than a third of the 200 bicycles were available at docks across the city. Program co-ordinator James Decker says the absent bikes could have been in use or undergoing maintenance.

Decker says the bikes are outfitted with GPS, so it’s rare a bicycle goes missing entirely.

But the subcontractor that operates the program and maintains the bikes, Corps Logistics, has assigned two employees who solely recover bikes from around the city on a daily basis.

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This story has been corrected to show that the Baltimore Bike Share program has 200 bikes, not 180. It also corrects the price of the program from $2.36 billion to $2.36 million.