Rantz: Why I support the inevitable failure of the new bike share

The City of Seattle is ready to offer new, private bike share programs permits to bring possible thousands of more bikes to the area. These programs will inevitably fail, but I absolutely support each and every one of them.

RELATED: SDOT to make thousands off of new bike-share permits

Now, my position admittedly sounds snarky, but it’s mostly not. These are private businesses that will bring money and jobs to the local economy. That should be celebrated. The City should be business-friendly and shouldn’t stop innovative businesses from testing out and ultimately expanding their business concepts if there’s a market for them.

Granted, the City is only taking this position to make up for our tax dollars they threw away when they purchased the already-failed Pronto! bike share. And yes, they’re suddenly pro-innovation in this case, unlike in the case of rideshare services (like show-sponsor Uber), since bikes aren’t competing with a union-backed scheme like taxi cabs. But I’ll take it.

These businesses have the right to push a concept they think will work and we have the right to benefit from those dollars being spent here. Ultimately, the businesses will fail if the City enforces the law.

With mandatory helmet laws, the idea of picking up a bike at spots where bike helmets aren’t being rented seems financially untenable. If you own a bike helmet, you likely already own a bike so I’m not sure you’ll rent an inexpensive bike when you can get hit with a pricey ticket for riding without a helmet. But, perhaps these bike sharing businesses see something I don’t.

Perhaps these companies have research indicating they could be a success. Good for them. I want them to succeed (it helps deal with traffic gridlock during nice-weather moments) and I want to collect the revenue.

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