The bike share opened Friday morning with a ribbon-cutting at 10 in the Plaza de la Constitucion, on the day the city’s Oct. 27 release named. It is run by Drifters, the local rental operator, on public land the city made room for under its Mobility Plan. When this paper previewed the launch on Oct. 28, the city’s release said pricing was published on the app and the program website, and the website carried no price of any kind as retrieved that morning.

The prices are up now. There are two sets of them.

The system is 14 stations and 170 docks, by the operator’s own count, from the Downtown Marina and the Lightner Museum to Lighthouse Park and the Amphitheatre, with stations in Lincolnville and Uptown. News4JAX, which covered the launch Friday, reports the city launched the program through local company Drifters Inc. with at least 90 bikes across the city. A rider downloads the app, unlocks a bike at any station, and docks it at any other. Up to four can be rented at a time, and the operator’s FAQ says the frame fits riders from about 4 feet 10 inches to 6 feet 6 inches.

The price depends on which of the operator’s own pages you read. The homepage prices a one-hour ride at $5.50, with each hour after at $4.50. The FAQ answers the same question this way: “$5.50 + $4.50 for the first hour = $10 and $4.50 for each hour after.” Those are different first hours, five and a half dollars apart. Same company, same day. News4JAX’s account matches the homepage, rental fees starting at $5.50 for the first hour.

The membership has the same problem. The FAQ’s cost answer gives the Local Passport at $18 for one month, $90 for six months or $180 for a year, and the answer directly below it gives six months at $99.

The yearly figure, $180, is the only one both answers agree on.

Ten of the ninety bikes are pedal-assist. The motor helps to 15 mph. The price is the same as a pedal bike, for now. All major credit cards are accepted, per the FAQ, and the fare is charged in the app from the moment a bike unlocks.

The operator is not new to this. By its own timeline, Drifters opened in St. Augustine in 2017 and ran a small bike share called Out Post starting in 2019. Owner Ian Guthrie told News4JAX the app is built to point riders at local businesses as much as to move them: “when you get a bike, great, but now you know where to go and what to do, and that’s what’s going to set this apart.”

The city’s part is the land and the plan. The operator’s site quotes the city on its Mobility Plan: “The bike share program is an important part of the City’s Mobility Plan that envisions making bicycling an integral part of daily life for St. Augustine residents and visitors.” One promise from the city’s October release is still outstanding. That release said Flagler College student discounts were available, with the information on the app and the program website. Neither operator page retrieved tonight prints a student rate. It may live in the app, which this paper cannot read, and the website is where the city pointed readers.

The stations are live now.

What a first hour costs is a question the operator’s two pages answer two ways, and this paper has printed both until one of them changes.