If the city signs an agreement, it is 100% at fault for agreeing to any odious terms within it. Claiming "I didn't know" like they do again and again to dodge responsibility isn't going to cut it.

I propose that all agreement the city enters into include a clause that says: "The city can terminate the agreement at any time and at no penalty or cost if at any time a public official claims "I didn't know" by public notice in regards to any portion of this Agreement." After all, if it is a valid excuse, it should work in a contract, right? ;-)

I suspect the company would not have entered into the agreement without it. Consider the risk of lawsuits even if the bikes are in perfect shape. Now consider how users can claim that they failed to maintain the bikes (as in the case of all the vandalizing happening right now), and poorly maintained bikes were the reason for (INSERT ITEM FOR LAWSUIT).