The bike share phenomenon has hit the Bay Area. San Francisco and the Peninsula launched BayAreaBikeShare with 700 bikes at 70 pods, with 500 bikes at 50 pods in San Francisco. An additional 300 bikes will be deployed in early 2014 to bring the total on the other side of the bay to 1,000 bikes.
Many Bike East Bay members are heading west for a day to try out the sea foam green bikes and experience bikeshare for the 1st time. The huge buzz about New York City’s new 6,000-bicycle system, CitiBike, is timely motivation. With Chicago bikeshare coming soon, it seems like bikeshare is sweeping the nation. You may be asking: “when are leaders in the East Bay bringing bikesharing here?”
As you enjoy full-time access for bicycles on BART, we also want you to have the option to leave your bike in secure parking at your home transit station and pick up a bike share bike at your destination. And vice versa, you should be able to grab a bike share bike to go to BART, for example, and then take the train to work. We are currently working feverishly with city, county and regional officials to fast track a business plan for East Bay bikeshare and create a clear map of pod locations and a responsible budget for a pilot program. At the same time, we are working to identify funding to support the capital costs.
For a regional system to work, we need continued support to move quickly to increase the number of bikeshare pods in San Francisco and San Jose. Long-term, a thousand bicycles will not provide the density and distribution to make bikeshare a viable transportation system. Bike East Bay is working closely with our partners at the San Francisco and Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalitions, as well as BART and Amtrak Capital Corridor, to make our vision of a robust regional bikeshare system a reality.
You can help us bring bikeshare to the East Bay. Let your Metropolitan Transportation Commissioner, Bay Area Air Management Quality District Board member, Mayor or Councilmember know that you would use bikeshare for your everyday trips and ask them to provide funding for the pilot project.
Visit the official BayAreaBikeshare website here.
Bay Area Bikeshare in the News:
Mercury News: Photos: San Francisco Bay Area Bike Share prepares for Aug. 29 launch – August 16, 2013
SF Streetsblog: Bike-Share Station Rollout Continues, Plus a Glimpse of Bikes Ready to Go – August 14, 2013
MTC: Bay Area Bike Share pilot program to launch on August 29, 2013 – August 12, 2013
CBS Local: Bay Area Bike Share Program Begins August 28 – August 10, 2013
7×7: Bay Area Bike Share is Almost Here – August 8, 2013
Streetsblog: First Bay Area Bike Share Stations Hit the Pavement in San Jose – August 6, 2013
