Lyft may soon not be the sole bikeshare operation in San Francisco as the city looks to expand the system and open the market up to other companies.
Aaron Short reports that Uber and Lyft are battling over the San Francisco bikeshare market. This summer the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency plans to expand its bikeshare program and allow new operators to offer dockless e-bikes, including Uber with its Jump bikes.
But Lyft, which runs the Ford GoBike program, says that its acquisition of the Motivate bikeshare company in 2015 included an exclusive contract with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission to operate in San Francisco Bay Area counties.
Lyft says it has invested millions of dollars to install bikeshare facilities and infrastructure and allowing competitors to enter the market violates the contract with MTC. Short reports that some bike advocates would welcome the addition of new operators, which they believe will help lower the cost of bikeshare and improve service quality.
"But the conflict between Uber and Lyft encapsulates a broader debate over how transportation should work — whether cities should allow freewheeling capitalism to take place on their streets or assume a top-down approach over for-profit vendors, a scheme often called a 'public-private partnership,'" notes Short.
FULL STORY: Bay Area Bike Share Battle Has Vast Ramifications
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The third and final installment of Planetizen's examination of the role of the planning profession in both perpetuating and solving traffic congestion.
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Urban Planning Partners
Sandy City
Ada County Highway District
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
City of Redwood City
City of Rohnert Park
City of Hot Springs
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Hand Drawing Master Plans
This course aims to provide an introduction into Urban Design Sketching focused on how to hand draw master plans using a mix of colored markers.
