The city’s new bike-share program had its first theft on Sunday, one day before the official launch of the program.
The thief rode off on one of the blue Citi Bike cycles at approximately 6 p.m. as workers delivered a batch of the bikes to a rack at Second Avenue and 25th Street, The New York Post reports.
The bicycles had not been locked into place when the bike-snatcher struck. Workers were alerted to the theft by a witness. They then notified cops who were nearby.
A spokesman for Citi Bike told the Post that he had not been informed of the incident and could not comment.
The long-awaited Citi Bike program is set to launch today, with 6,000 bikes available at more than 300 stations in Manhattan and Brooklyn.
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said it’s too soon to tell whether theft will be a problem plaguing the bike program.
“We’ll need some experience data as the program goes forward to see if this presents a major problem or not,” Kelly said.
“Part of it has to do with how the bikes are locked up, the size of the bikes, that sort of this,” Kelly explained, noting that the Citi Bikes are “pretty identifiable” and “solid and chunky.”
“I don’t know how desirable the bikes will be, as far as theft is concerned,” Kelly said.
The commissioner said that only one bike has been stolen thus far.
