IMAGINE 74 STATIONS across inner Portland where a credit card lets you check out one of 740 shared bikes, complete with lights and bells. That’s the plan the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) and a dozen community partners urged city council to recommend for funding to become a reality in Fall 2013.
The plan passed 4-1 at the city council meeting Wednesday morning, August 17th, with Commissioner Amanda Fritz voting no.
Backers of the long-pursued dream of bike sharing in Portland—including Mayor Sam Adams and Congressman Earl Blumenauer, along with over 1,100 people who signed a Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA) pro-bike-sharing petition—say offering the Zipcar-esque service for bikes throughout downtown and the inner Eastside will attract new riders and make taking transit easier. Aimed at tourists, students, and downtown office workers, the bikes would be free for the first half hour, but would likely require some to-be-determined daily and yearly user fee.
But even active transportation advocates split on the idea, some arguing that $2 million of the project’s $4.5 million price tag shouldn’t come from a pot of money that’s meant to promote equity in the region. Others say the city needs to focus on basic safety infrastructure before investing in a bike-sharing system modeled on programs in cities like Montreal, Washington, DC, and Paris.
“One of the barriers to riding a bike is actually access to a bike. If you make bikes more available, more people will ride them,” say BTA Advocate Gerik Kransky. Data shows that getting more bikes on the road leads to a decline in crashes.
The city weighed bike sharing two years ago, but balked at the cost. The current plan would match millions in private donations with $2 million in federal funds up for grabs through Metro’s Regional Flexible Funds. PBOT is also seeking $3.37 million from the fund for East Portland “Transportation to Transit” projects and $1.25 million for improving safety on Foster Road, but passed on the chance to go after $2 million for fixing up SW Barbur—where 26-year-old Angela Burke was fatally struck by a car this year while crossing the road.
“I think the concept of bike sharing has a lot of merit,” says Willamette Pedestrian Coalition Director Steph Routh. “But the East Portland, Foster, and Barbur projects further equity—and bike sharing does not.” Advocates and neighbors have long decried a lack of spending on transportation safety in Portland’s outer edges—PBOT spends more than triple on capital projects in central Portland than it does anywhere else in the city.
Transportation consultant Don Arambula says Portland needs to invest in world-class bike infrastructure citywide before going after bike sharing.
“I think it’s spreading the resources too thin,” says Arambula. “My fear is that it’s going to be implemented and it won’t be as successful as people say and it’ll be an obvious target for anti-bike people.”
City Commissioner Fritz explained she could not vote for the plan when there are unmet basic safety needs across the city. Fritz said she couldn’t support the plan as when, “I can’t get off the bus a stop earlier than I usually would because there’s no sidewalk.”
These bikes look really slow, but I want more people to ride bikes. City bike sharing will bring bunch of slow people riding that might not how to operate a bicycle and the city won’t provide helmets. I guess people have to learn how to ride somehow; but they should be wearing a helmet while riding around.
At lease PDX Bike Tours & Rentals has it right,( an array of bikes to choose from, get your bike fixed,buy bike stuff, whatever. ) No fluff added!
Bike sharing- HIP HIP HORAY !!
PDX Bike Tours and Rentals won’t be so happy to have tax dollar funded competition in the local marketplace.
Do they expect much buisness here in the winter and rain months?
The cost per bike…. crazy.
Wasn’t this same plan proposed a few years ago but voted down because of the cost? It was around the same time Montreal and Colorado launched similar programs and lost millions of dollars. How could there be more funding available now considering how strapped the city is for public transportation funding already?
@Libertypie – IT’S WORTH FUNDING BECAUSE IT WILL LOOK PRETTY IN TOURISM PICTURES, JERK! THAT’S WHY THIS CITY DOES EVERYTHING.
I live near Fritz in SW Portland. The bus line she’s talking about (44 & 94/12) has sidewalks only on one side consistently. It’s pathetic. My house is on an unpaved road that has irrigation problems.
I also work downtown, too. The SW downtown core lacks adequate bike lanes, and the sidewalks are not ideal to be shared with bikes. So, I’m not sure where the helmetless bike-renting tourist is going to be riding. The city is definitely overestimated the desire of tourists and working people to utilize these bikes. I would much rather have that $2 million go to restoring Fareless Square and ditch the fare checkers on the Street Car. Those services I would utilize. Hell, sidewalks, street lights, and cross walks would all be nice, too.