Bike Share Program to Launch Aug. 28

Written by Bay City News Service

With just a little more than a week to go before the Aug. 28 launch of a bike share program serving the Peninsula, San Francisco and San Jose areas, crews are busy installing docking stations for the bikes.

The regional program will initially operate near Caltrain stations and other public transit lines in San Jose, San Francisco, Redwood City, Mountain View and Palo Alto. The program will launch with 700 bikes available for rent at 70 stations according to Michael Burns, General Manager at the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority. Phase two of the program will add 300 bikes and 30 more stations by the end of the year, Burns added.

The Canadian-made, seven-speed bikes will be available for rent with memberships costing $88 per year, $22 for a three-day pass and $9 for a daily pass, according to the Bay Area Air Quality Management District.

The $7 million program's bikes are intended for short trips of 30 minutes or less but borrowers may use them for longer periods for an extra fee, air district officials said.

The company Alta Bike Share was chosen to manage the bike share program, partnering with the VTA, the air district, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, Caltrain and the San Mateo County Transit District, Burns said. Alta Bike Share currently runs bike share programs in New York, Chicago, Boston and Washington D.C., Burns said. 

More information about how bike share programs work is available by visiting the New York CitiBike blog at http://citibikenyc.com/blog. 

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