Behind RVA Bike Share's sudden shutdown

Why it matters: The city spent more than $1 million getting the system off the ground and was encouraging riders to use it as recently as Friday in a Bike to Work Day tweet.

What they're saying: In a statement yesterday, the city blamed "a last-minute, two-day notice and shutdown" by the Canadian firm Bewegen Technologies, which runs the program in Richmond and about a dozen other cities worldwide.

• The city did not provide a timeframe for reopening, but promised 30 days of free rides to welcome people back once things are working again.

Zoom out: The issue is not unique to Richmond, though most bike-share systems operated by Bewegen in other localities warned users of closures a full month ago.

• In Raleigh, for instance, an April 14 press release said Bewegen terminated its contract with the city under Canadian bankruptcy laws and that the city was seeking a new vendor to operate the system.
• They've since announced plans to reopen in early June.

Zoom further out: Things sound a little more complicated in Eastern Europe.

• Officials in the Estonian city of Tartu, which operates Bewegen's biggest bike-share system with more than 800 bikes and nearly 100 stations, expressed concern about being able to continue operations without Bewegen because the system runs on its proprietary software.
• The officials said the company was seeking payments of "hundreds of thousands of euros" to continue using the management system, which had been free, per local press reports.

The other side: Bewegen did not respond to phone calls or emails seeking comment.

• The company's only public comment on the issue appears to have come last month via the company's Twitter account.
• "Several articles have been written on the bankruptcy of Bewegen Technologies," the company wrote. "This is fake news, Bewegen has not filled [sic] for bankruptcy. We continue to work with our clients."

What's next: The city says it's searching for a new contractor to provide software and run the program.