The city of Portland is launching its' bike share program, BIKETOWN, on July 9, 2016. Nike joined forces with the city last January when the $10 million, five year sponsorship was announced. Nikes funding allowed the city to increase the bike fleet from 600 to 1,000.
Happy, happy, joy, joy RIGHT?
With the launching of the event looming closer every day, disability advocates are calling Bullshit. A clear violation the ADA act, threats of having to take a number to file a law suite seem reasonable, even by several attorney who were asked for an opinion.
So, who fucked up?
-The city initiated the original bike share program and fleet of 600 bikes last fall.
-In January, Nike partnered with the city to launch a new branded program.
-The next day, Nike announced that it would partner with Motivate to provide the technical assistance, app, etc.
-Next came the announcement that "sobi" (Social Bikes) would build the bikes for Nike and the city.
So, who the fuck knows who's responsible. It'll probably be worked out in the courts after the law suites start coming in.
First is was Uber not giving a shit about ADA compliance a year ago, now here comes BIKETOWN, who obviously didn't learn shit from the disastrous public relation fallout from only a year earlier.
What's next? Unsafe levels of lead in the paint used for the bikes?