City pulls Indego e-bikes while police search for stolen rides
Spot for WHYY’s PlanPhilly, January 17 2020
Indego e-bikes have proven popular with riders. So popular, in fact, the city is turning to the Philadelphia Police Department for help finding and tracking electric bikes that have gone missing at the hands of riders eager to hold onto the $2,500 rides.
Over the last few weeks, Indego has been pulling the motorized bikes out of docks for maintenance and inspection. By Friday, the entire fleet of e-bikes will be off the streets, according to city officials.
While they’re being serviced, police will be on the lookout for any of the e-bikes, which they will know don’t belong there. The bikes have been disappearing faster than Indego’s traditional bikes.
“A number of them have gone missing. We assume that some of them have been stolen maliciously, but some of them may not have been,” said Aaron Ritz, the city’s transportation program manager.