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Officials In Hoboken, Jersey City At Odds Over Coordinating Bike Share Programs

HOBOKEN, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- A new bike share program to aid urban transportation has been stopped because negotiations between mayors of two New Jersey cities have gone nowhere.

As CBS2's Meg Baker reported, 'hop on, hop off' is the idea behind bike share programs, but some New Jersey riders are finding out that it's not always a smooth ride.

"I know there is a controversy right now between Jersey City and Hoboken," Harold Berkowitz said.

The neighboring cities have different bike share programs.

"Why would they use Nextbike when Citi Bike is used everywhere in the area? Makes no sense," Berkowitz said.

Hoboken uses Hudson Bike Share stations or Nextbike, while Jersey City uses Citi Bike, the same as New York City.

"We thought it was a good idea to tap into what our big sister across the river was doing, potentially cut transportation costs in half if not two thirds for some," Candice Osborne said.

Most of the Citi Bike locations in Jersey City are located near a PATH station so riders can park their bikes and hop on another one when they reach the city.

Riders can't do that in Hoboken.

"What's the point of having one location no one else can use? Who stands to gain?" Jersey City Councilwoman Candice Osborne said.

Osborne along with Mayor Steve Fulop have been negotiating with Hoboken's Mayor Dawn Zimmer to add access.

"The current proposal from Jersey City is, we would like to have a location for Citi Bike in Hoboken in exchange for some locations for Hudson Bike Share in Jersey City," Osborne said.

The conversation started in November.

"We are at a stall right now because we are having a disagreement on the number proposal. For Hoboken it was one spot for three spots in Jersey City. We would like to see something more equal," Osborne said.

In a statement Mayor Zimmer said she hopes the discussion will continue.

"So that a resolution that makes sense for both cities can be achieved," she said.

"In the meantime we are cleaning up our laws and making sure people aren't operating businesses illegally in Jersey City," Osborne said.

She was referring to Hoboken bikes taking up spots on public bike racks in Jersey City. The bikes can be locked anywhere. She said the private company is using public property illegally, and maybe it wouldn't happen if there were bikes and matching docks in each city.

Hoboken's Hudson Bike Share costs $95 a year, Citibike costs $155 a year.

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