Richard Johnson

Richard Johnson

Celebrity News

Hotelier Balazs’ $400 Citi Bike bill

There is a steep learning curve to using the new Citi bike program.

Hotelier Andre Balazs (the dapper man behind The Mercer and The Standard, High Line) signed up using a credit card, and was informed that he had six days left on his account.

Balazs rode the bike around the city for a couple of days, and took it to his office, where someone asked him what he was doing.

“I thought the bike was mine for six days,” Balazs told me. He didn’t realize was that he’d signed up for weeklong access—not renting the bike for a whole week. “They said, ‘You idiot. You’re running up a huge bill.’

“It ended up costing me 400 effing dollars.”