On March 14, the Seattle City Council voted 7-2 to purchase Pronto!, a failing bike share program, for $1.4 million. With Pronto’s low ridership, high price tag, and history of failure, Seattleites can be certain that this purchase was a mistake.

According to the Seattle P.I., Pronto was weeks away from insolvency due to a lack of revenue and low usage when the Council voted to purchase the bike share, including its stations and assets, at the request of the Seattle Department of Transportation.

Council members Tim Burgess and Lisa Herbold voted against the plan, while Kshama Sawant, Mike O’Brien, Rob Johnson, Sally Bagshaw, Lorena Gonzalez, Debora Juarez, and Bruce Harrell voted for it.

“We are faced with the reality today that the current system is insolvent and lacks the ridership, membership and revenue to be viable,” said Burgess. “In essence the council is being asked to invest in Pronto’s rescue from insolvency so that a better and more viable service can be adopted. That is what economists call ‘optimism bias.'”

Optimism bias is defined as an underestimation of the chances of experiencing a negative event—in other words, the council foolishly voted to purchase the program with the optimistic hope that the Pronto program could be successful under the control of the city.

The program originally started in October 2014, and has 50 stations and 500 bikes. According to the Seattle Times, Pronto’s operations are run by the private company Motivate, while a nonprofit manages the bike share program.

There are very real problems with the City Council’s purchase of the bike share program.

According to MyNorthwest.com, Seattle previously spent $305,000 to keep Pronto running. At least $6.3 million is expected to be spent expanding the program, and yearly operating costs for Pronto will be almost $2 million. With many roads and public spaces in need of repair, food banks closing, and the rise in homelessness, this is an unfortunate allocation of taxpayer dollars.

Most of Pronto’s bikes were ridden an average of less than once per day between October 2014 and October 2015, according to the Seattle Times.

It is more affordable and more convenient to purchase your own bike. While many bikes can be purchased for under $100 dollars, Pronto charges users $85 for a yearly membership that includes unlimited 30-minute bike trips, $8 for 24-hour passes, and $16 for three-day passes. The first 30 minutes of any trip are included, $2 is charged for a second 30 minutes, and $5 is charged for every 30 minutes thereafter. Bike ownership is simply cheaper than Pronto.

 
But right or wrong, misguided or inspired, the council has voted. We will now simply have to wait and see how the purchase pans out, and hold the Seattle City Council accountable for their choice.