Eat A Burger, Then Bike It Off

New Haveners have a new, healthier transit option — coupled with enticements to consume Coca-Cola and Sausage McMuffins.

Those fast-food advertisements have gone up alongside docking stations for Bike New Haven, the city’s long-awaited bike-share program.

The rides at the first 10 stations officially went live on Tuesday afternoon, after a press conference with city officials near racks at the corner of Audubon and Orange streets.

In total, at least 300 bikes will be deployed by May at 30 stations. Nineteen have already been approved by the City Plan Commission, and five more are up for review on Wednesday night.

A subsidiary of P3 Global Management (P3GM), a New York City firm that specializes in public-private partnerships, is managing the bike-share program. According to the five-year contract alders approved in May 2017, the city government won’t pay a cent into the program.

That means P3GM needs to cover all its costs with a mix of membership fees, corporate sponsorships, and ad sales — some of which have struck some people as cognitive dissonance.

Mayor Toni Harp said the success of New York’s CitiBikes, as an eco-friendly, healthy and equitable transit alternative, inspired her administration to bring a program to the Elm City.

“We’ve been eager for New Haven to be a little more like New York and other top-tier American cities with a bike-share program of its own,” Harp said. ​“What I enthusiastically embrace is how this one public-policy initiative positively improves New Haven’s urban environment,” in part, she explained, because ​“it encourages everyone in New Haven to get active, stay in motion and enjoy a little exercise at the same time.”

Several commenters on the Independent argued in this recent article about the roll-out that the ads for the Dollar Menu’s sandwiches and sodas, which will be part of a rotating mix of advertisers, send a mixed message about the fitter lifestyle the Elm City is trying to promote.

“I am disappointed by the presence of McDonald’s ads for cheap unhealthy food placed around town and more specifically in a place like Hillhouse, targeting young people in a city that is presently also working on food insecurity and access to healthy food,” one wrote. ​“You had vision to get this program going. Use some for what you stick around our city.”

Carlos Pujol, P3GM’s CEO, said that the bike-share program, like most other forms of public transportation, relies on subsidies to keep costs down. ​“Ridership, by itself, does not pay for the whole system,” he said. ​“Between the three sources of revenue,” from subscribers, sponsors and advertisers, ​“we make sure that the program is going to be sustainable.”

Doug Hausladen, the city’s traffic and parking chief, pointed out that strategy’s true for other buses and trains coming through New Haven. As he answered questions about the bike-share program, a CT Transit bus stopped at the corner. It had a banner ad for McDonald’s on its side.

“Nobody has any problems with that,” he said.

Pujol said the bike-share’s advertising space is sold on the open market. Since a public agency is involved, he said he needs to be careful about denying advertisers because of potentially thorny First Amendment issues. ​“If it’s a lawful activity, if they want to be an advertiser, then we have to be open to it,” he said. ​“Nothing that’s offensive or charged.”

He will prohibit ads for guns and tobacco, he said, and he’ll watch out for sensitivities around schools and houses of worship.

McDonald’s, a national brand that’s worked with P3GM before, was one of the first advertisers to sign on. That fits a pattern Pujol recognizes, where smaller operators can’t afford to buy up spots right away. ​“The local shops cannot get to a certain level of commitment, like a national brand,” he said. Usually, most ads come from real estate, healthcare and financial services, Pujol said. In the past, the company worked with AT&T, Snapchat and Coca-Cola.

As the system grows in popularity, Pujol said he expects more local businesses will take out ad space. He said he also plans to offer at least one-third of the space to the city for public-service announcements, more than the minimum in his contract.

With most revenue coming in from advertisers and sponsors, P3GM is able to keep costs low for users, Hausladen said.

The first set of stations coming online are at College Street and Frontage Road, Stetson Branch Library on Dixwell Avenue, Church and Grove Streets, Audubon and Orange, Chapel and Howe; Chapel and York; Temple Plaza; Lincoln Bassett School; Orange and Pearl; and Hillhouse High School.

Users can purchase a single ride for $1.75; a daily pass for $8; a monthly pass for $20; or an annual pass for $90. Subscribers must check the bikes in every 45 minutes, or they will be charged $2 extra for each additional 45 minutes.

P3GM is also subsidizing costs for seniors and the poor. Any New Haven resident on state welfare qualifies for a $15 annual pass. Housing Authority tenants will automatically be pre-approved for the discounted rate; anyone else can send in a picture of their EBT card as proof.

(The city and company are also working on ways to make the bike-share available to those without a smartphone, perhaps by using the libraries to loan RFID tags and helmets, said Matthew Finelli, P3GM’s operations manager.)

“Transportation is a civil-rights issue,” Hausladen said. ​“For us in New Haven, access to jobs in a 21st-century market and access to our communities for all of us equally is something that we hold near and dear.”