Seattle has a year of experience with bike sharing. As the city awaits news on a $10 million federal grant to expand the system, it is poised to bring in the next generation of public transit with pedals.
With the planned city-takeover of Seattle’s bike share program, the mayor has earmarked $5 million in the budget to help bolster the federal grant. Most cities with bike share have done the same – including Boston and Chicago.
Nicole Freedman with Seattle’s Department of Transportation is overseeing the program. She also managed Boston’s bike share. She says this model reduces overhead.
“And that gives the city a lot more control to assure the success of the system - to grow the system - to ensure that it gets into low-income neighborhoods,” she said.
When The Hills Get High
Currently, Seattle has a 50-station network. Freedman says adding more stations will lead to more rides. But she expects electric-assist bikes – bikes with a motor and battery that give you a little boost when you peddle -will take ridership to the next level.
“We’re not the densest city here in Seattle and it will actually allow people to go farther distances than they would otherwise, and in a sense it can kind of shrink the city, and with the hills it can level the land.”
That’s the bet that Birmingham, Alabama is making. Last week, that hilly city became the first to debut electric bikes in America.
“We’re all just beaming about it, and we’re getting a ton of feedback from others across the country who are excited for Birmingham.”
That’s Lindsey West the director of Zyp BikeShare in Birmingham.
“I mean we’re getting all ages, all backgrounds, everybody’s wanting to know about this system.”
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Birmingham’s fleet has 400 hundred bikes – 100 of those are electric. Seattle plans to test a variety of these bikes in 2016.
