CINCINNATI — Cincinnati's budget and finance committee voted Monday to approve $200,000 in funding for Red Bike operations.
The bikeshare program's board voted to shut Red Bike down permanently in March, because of funding issues that arose after it lost a major sponsor. However, after that announcement was made, multiple organizations across Greater Cincinnati pledged around $450,000 to keep the program alive for another year.
That funding included the one-time commitment of $200,000 from the city of Cincinnati the committee approved Monday. From there, it will be up to city council on whether the funding is guaranteed for Red Bike.
In all, the influx of funding is nearly enough to keep Red Bike in operation without a deficit for roughly a year.
Thanks to that additional funding, Red Bike officials said they hope the bikeshare program can re-open on May 13.
The bikeshare service recently paused for the winter in January not due to lack of ridership, but due to too much growth with not enough funding.
Executive Director Douglas McClintock previously told WCPO 9 that it would have taken well over $250,000 to "really make sure that we were not having to close things down."
McClintock told WVXU the non-profit was facing budget issues after its biggest revenue source, UC Health, decided not to renew its sponsorship of RedBike in June.
At the same time, RedBike was expanding via capital grants. That left a steep deficit in the budget.
McClintock said a third of revenue for the program comes from fares, while the rest comes from corporate sponsorship and grants.
Red Bike previously announced an increase to ride fare, but he said funding needed to come from other avenues as well.
“People want to use this," McClintock said. "We know it's successful, and it has legs, we just got to put that funding underneath it.”
The bicycle rental service celebrated its ninth year in Cincinnati 2023, when it announced plans to expand Red Bike stations throughout the city. As of September, there were 70 different Red Bike stations within the region, with more planned for the future.
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