Bay Area Bike Share

Bay Area Bike Share
Overview
Locale San Francisco Bay Area
Transit type Bicycle sharing system
Number of stations 104
Website www.bayareabikeshare.com
Operation
Began operation August 29, 2013
Operator(s) Motivate
Number of vehicles 1040

Bay Area Bike Share is a regional public bicycle sharing system in the San Francisco Bay Area, California, operated by Motivate. Stations and bikes are provided by PBSC Urban Solutions.[1] The system began operations in August 2013 and has 700 bicycles available in 70 stations, half around the city of San Francisco, and the rest along the Caltrain corridor in Palo Alto, Mountain View and San Jose.[2] By 2017, the system will be expanded to 7,000 bicycles, and will be introduced to the East Bay area.[3]

The system is operated by Alta Bicycle Share Inc. in a partnership with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District.[4] The Bay Area Bike Share is the first large-scale bicycle sharing system deployed in California and on the West Coast of the United States.[5][6]

Description

The Bay Area Bike Share is a regional bike sharing program along the Caltrain corridor in the San Francisco Bay Area. It was launched as a pilot program in two phases. The first phase opened to the public on August 29, 2013 with 700 bicycles at 70 stations in five cities: San Francisco, Palo Alto, Mountain View and San Jose.[2][7] For the second phase, it is planned to deploy in the five cities an additional 300 bikes and 30 docking stations during the first quarter 2014.[7]

The Bay Area Bike Share is the first large-scale bicycle sharing system deployed on the West Coast of the United States,[5] and, according to spokespersons from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, it is also the first regional system in the U.S. that services more than just a single city or adjacent cities.[6][8] The performance of the system, including safety impacts and travel behavior, will be monitored by the Transportation Sustainability Research Center of the University of California, Berkeley.[5]

The system is operated by Alta Bicycle Share Inc. in a partnership with the San Francisco Bay Area Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, and was supported with about US$11 million in initial public funding from several regional transportation, environmental and municipal agencies. Alta Bicycle Share also operates several other programs in the United States.[4][9]

Pricing

Bay Area Bike Share launch in San Jose, California, on August 29, 2013.

The bicycles are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to anyone who purchases a membership, with three options, annual fee of US$88, US$22 for three days or US$9 for 24 hours. Any rider may take unlimited trips of up to 30 minutes, as measured from the time the bike is withdrawn from a dock to the time it is returned. Bikes can be picked up at any of the stations using a key fob or electronic code, and dropping them off at any station. Longer trips incur additional fees starting at US$4 for the first additional half-hour, since the idea of bike sharing is to make bicycles available for short trips.[2][9] A replacement fee of $1,200 is charged if a rented bike is lost.[9]

During the first 12 days since the system opened to the public, a total of 1,790 users signed up as annual members and 2,128 as casual members (one or three days). According with usage records, the average number of trips per bicycle per day during this period was about 0.92, slightly lower than the initial usage reported in the Capital Bikeshare and Citi Bike systems in Washington, D.C. and New York City correspondingly.[10]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Bixi: PBSC Urban Solutions brings bike-sharing to the world (Part 3)". Montreal Gazette. 2015-10-23. Retrieved 2016-06-16.
  2. 1 2 3 Michael Cabanatuan (2013-08-28). "Bay Area Bike Share program about to begin". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2013-09-14.
  3. ↑ "Major expansion approved for Bay Area Bike Share". San Francisco Examiner. May 27, 2015. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
  4. 1 2 WKRG News 5 (2013-08-29). "Bay Area Bike Share debuts today". WKRG. Retrieved 2013-09-14.
  5. 1 2 3 Cathy Cockrell (2013-08-26). "Bikeshare and share alike: where (and why) to saddle up". University of California, Berkeley News Center. Retrieved 2013-09-22.
  6. 1 2 Krystal Peak (2013-08-29). "Bike share service rolls into the Bay Area today". San Francisco Business Times. Retrieved 2013-09-22.
  7. 1 2 Environmental News Service (ENS) (2013-08-13). "San Francisco Bay Area Gears Up for Bike Sharing". ENS News Wire. Retrieved 2013-09-22.
  8. ↑ Denis Cuff (2013-08-28). "Bay Area Bike Share rolls out Aug. 29". San Jose Mercury News. Retrieved 2013-09-22.
  9. 1 2 3 CBS San Francisco (2013-08-29). "Bike Share Program Launched In 5 Bay Area Cities". CBS 5 KPIX. Retrieved 2013-09-14.
  10. ↑ Aaron Bialick (2013-09-12). "Bay Area Bike Share Off to Underwhelming Start, Early Usage Data Shows". SF Street Blogs. Retrieved 2013-09-14.

External links

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