Bloomy’s pedaling backward on bikes

THE CITY IS temporarily putting down the kickstand on its bike-share program.

New York’s effort to rent 10,000 bicycles to riders on an hourly basis was shelved until spring 2013 due to software glitches, Mayor Bloomberg said Friday on his weekly radio show.

“The software doesn’t work, duh!” said Bloomberg. “We’re not going to put it out until it does work.”

Asked about a possible spring rollout of Citi Bikes, the mayor replied, “Hopefully the software will work by then. We want to make sure it really works.”

The company behind the program, Alta Bicycle Share, has encountered similar problems setting up programs in San Francisco and Chattanooga, Tenn.

The New York version, initially expected to debut in July, was delayed until September, and now won’t kick off until next year.

“Keep in mind there’s no penalty,” the mayor said. “The public isn’t paying a dime for this. It’s done with private money.”

The bike share program is part of a $41 million sponsorship deal with Citigroup — and the mayor said they’re probably not thrilled by the delay.

“But that’s the real world,” Bloomberg said. “We are not going to put up the system until it actually works. We did think that there would be a possibility of a partial launch. But at this point we think that it just wouldn’t (work).”