Dwarfed by its city counterparts, the Bay Area's 1,000 bikes will cover a larger region (5 cities in 3 counties) with fewer bikes, many placed at key transit nodes. It also distinguishes itself by being a 'pilot program' with multiple public owners.
Environmental News Service writes that "the pilot is a part of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s Climate Initiatives Program that tests innovative projects for their ability to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from transportation." Presumably that's why it's called a pilot - if it doesn't reduce GHGs, they won't continue funding it?
In fact, the Bike Sharing Pilot is listed as one of seventeen demonstration projects that OneBayArea, a collaboration of four regional government agencies: the Association of Bay Area Governments, Bay Area Air Quality Management District, San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission and MTC, has awarded with "innovative grants".
The Bay Area Bike Share pilot program will go live on August 29 with 700 bikes at 70 stations in five cities – San Francisco, Redwood City, Palo Alto, Mountain View and San Jose. [See map of stations.] For the second phase, 300 additional bikes and 30 kiosks will be added in the first quarter 2014 to reach the full pilot complement of 1,000 bikes and 100 stations.
These locations correspond somewhat with the multiple managers of the pilot that include MTC, "Bay Area Air Quality Management District, and local government agencies – the City and County of San Francisco, SamTrans, Caltrain, the County of San Mateo, the City of Redwood City and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority." The five cities are also all located on the Caltrain commuter rail line that runs 47.5 miles from San Francisco down the Peninsula to San Jose.
KQED's Bryan Goebel wrote on August 12 that "San Jose become [sic] the first city to install docking stations."
It costs $88 for an annual pass, $22 for three days or $9 for a day. Each pass includes costs for the first 30 minutes of a trip, with surcharges on trips that exceed that time limit.
Will San Francisco break away and launch it's own project?
Streetsblog's Aaron Bialick wrote in March that at least one San Francisco leader, disappointed with the "minisucle" 350 bikes (out of 700 in the initial launch) in his city, may take matters into his own hands.
"Supervisor Scott Wiener says San Francisco needs to take the initiative to move ahead and launch a “full-scale system” throughout the city by next year.
Wiener plans to introduce a resolution [PDF] at today’s Board of Supervisors meeting calling on the SF Municipal Transportation Agency to move beyond the pilot being planned by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District and launch a citywide bike-share system by 2014.
FULL STORY: San Francisco Bay Area Gears Up for Bike Sharing
The Many Ongoing Public Transportation Projects of the Bay Area
The San Francisco Chronicle offers a round-up of 11 big transit projects, by Caltrans, BART, SFMTA, and others, making progress around the bay.
Three Bay Area Counties May Decide Whether to Support Caltrain with Sales Tax Measure
The oldest commuter rail line west of the Mississippi is also unique in another way—it lacks a dedicated source of operating revenue. Legislation has been introduced to allow Peninsula counties to vote to increase sales taxes by 0.125 percent.
Can a Single Regional Planning Agency Fix What Ails the Bay Area?
The potential to address the housing and transportation issues of the Bay Area by a single regional agency will be addressed this week.
The Shifting Boomer Bulge: More Bad News for America’s Housing Crisis?
In the first of a two-part series, PlaceMakers’ Ben Brown interviews housing guru Arthur C. Nelson on the sweeping demographic changes complicating the housing market.
New York Governor Advances Housing Plan Amid Stiff Suburban Opposition
Governor Kathy Hochul’s ambitious proposal to create more housing has once again run into a brick wall of opposition in New York’s enormous suburbs, especially on Long Island. This year, however, the wall may have some cracks.
A Serious Critique of Congestion Costs and Induced Vehicle Travel Impacts
Some highway advocates continue to claim that roadway expansions are justified to reduce traffic congestion. That's not what the research shows. It's time to stop obsessing over congestion and instead strive for efficient accessibility.
Ranking Exclusionary Zoning: D.C., New York Metro Areas Top the List
A new database measures the restrictiveness of exclusionary zoning practices around the country. Exclusionary zoning, it turns out, is much more prevalent than commonly acknowledged.
Historically Redlined Neighborhoods Have Higher Rates of Pedestrian Deaths, Study Says
The consequences of historic redlining continue to have consequences in the present day United States. Add another example to the list.
Tolling All Lanes
Bay Area transportation planners are studying a radical idea to reduce traffic congestion and fund driving alternatives: tolling all lanes on a freeway. Even more radical, the plan considers tolling parallel roads.
City of Greenville
City of Greenville
Resource Assistance for Rural Environments (RARE) AmeriCorps Program
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact: Mobility, Community, Possibility
City of Spearfish
City of Lomita
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.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
