Nearly 250 bikes go missing from Pace bike share program due to technology flaw

Justin Murphy | Democrat and Chronicle

Show Caption Hide Caption Zagster: How comfortable are the bikes, how easy to use? Justin Murphy and Olivia Lopez review their bike sharing experience with Zagster.

The Pace bike share program is operating at a fraction of capacity after nearly 250 bikes in the city of Rochester have gone missing, many presumed stolen, according to the company.

People apparently have capitalized on a flaw in the Bluetooth technology the company uses for locking and unlocking. The issue worsened in July and the majority of the bikes are now missing, according to documents obtained through a Freedom of Information request.

The company is transferring dozens of bikes to Rochester from Ithaca to help fill the current shortage and expects to add several hundred more in the next two weeks, this time with theft-mitigation measures included. There are only 126 bikes currently in circulation out of a stated fleet size of 350, according to the company, and Rochester users have noted the shortage.

In a statement, the company said there has been "outstanding participation in Rochester so far with record usage compared with other dockless bike sharing programs."

"Recently, as some of our users have noticed, a percentage of our Pace bike fleet has gone out of service due to a combination of theft and misuse. We are moving quickly to replace the displaced portion of our Rochester fleet at no cost to the city and recover any misplaced or stolen bikes. We are also bolstering our rider education efforts to ensure proper use and locking, and increasing our theft prevention procedures in coordination with the city of Rochester and local law enforcement."

Phantom bikes

The apparent problem is that the bikes do not have GPS tracking technology, but rather use the Bluetooth feature on a user's smartphone to locate them. Once a bike is parked somewhere and the rider walks away, the Pace map simply shows its location as the last place the user left it.

The problem is that the bikes can be locked and marked as returned without actually being fixed to a bike rack. Apparently people have been "locking" them then taking them away to tamper with the Bluetooth function. That explains the abundance of phantom bikes on the Pace app, where there is no bike where the map says one ought to be.

As of Monday there were 241 bikes missing, of which 136 had been missing for more than 500 hours and 105 missing for between 100 and 500 hours, according to an email from the company to the city.

A company representative told the city Monday that it would have 200 additional bikes deployed by Aug. 17 and would implement unspecified "theft mitigation tactics" to stem the pilfering.

"We’re confident this is an isolated issue and will be rectified quickly to ensure we provide riders ample bikes during the busy summer riding season," the company said in a statement.

In an email, Warren's Chief of Staff, Alex Yudelson, said: "The city of Rochester has been working closely with Zagster to make improvements to the system, recover missing bikes, and ensure it is functioning as effectively as possible. We are grateful to Zagster for remedying the situation and we look forward to the imminent arrival of new Pace bikes so that our residents can get back to enjoying our very successful bike share program."

The program launched in 2017 as Zagster and, according to the company, has been a great success. More than 8,000 people registered last year and took more than 22,000 trips.

It costs $1 per 30 minutes of riding. Last year it cost an additional dollar to park the bike somewhere other than an official dock; that fee was eliminated for 2018, in part to encourage ridership outside downtown and the city's more affluent areas.

The company told the city it was looking at its user data to try to identify users whose bikes tended to disappear; it did not respond to a request for comment about whether it would seek prosecution for any potential vandals or thieves but said it would be "increasing our theft prevention procedures in coordination with the city of Rochester and local law enforcement."

Brenda Massie, from the city's Office of Innovation and Strategic Initiatives," reported in an email "a small buzz on social media about run-ins with individuals trying to sell Pace bikes."

She added: "The Mayor actually had eyes on a stolen bike this afternoon and I owe an update."

JMURPHY7@Gannett.com

More: Curious about Rochester bike-sharing? Here's our review