Portland’s bike infrastructure was fabulous over the past week at WordCamp US. In the central city, I was riding on protected and clearly signaled lanes. Most important, there were often locals biking, walking, and skating nearby to model expected routing and provide a sense of community along the way. #bikeshare #pdx #wcus #wordpress
I rented a BIKETOWN bike share for 134 minutes across 11 rides from 7 to 25 minutes in duration. The total was just over $20 , discounted from what would have been closer to $60 at full price. If I had chosen to call cars, I estimate it would have been $130, although some of the trips were also perfectly suited to Portland’s excellent light rail and busses. Props to the WordCamp team for coordinating transit passes for all attendees.
In my home town Los Angeles, Metro bike share is a best choice for me increasingly often. I still prefer to ride my own analog bike, but bike sharing shows up as a multi-modal transit option, for example
- Expecting to carpool to a second destination or return trip
- Uncertain security for locking personal bikes ( DTLA, Hollywood )
- Between locations after arriving by bus / train / walk
- Group rides with folks who want to try an e-bike
- Group rides with folks who don’t own or maintain a bike
- Personal bike gear is out of service
The Portland bike share is currently run by Lyft, which prompted me to purchase a Lyft Pink subscription last year in anticipation of using the bike share across multiple Lyft-managed markets. The car share bonuses on traditional Lyft service would be a bonus. I think it will pencil out after another week or two in Portland, certainly after a month of consistent short bike share rides. Lyft was reported to be in negotiations to purchase the Los Angeles system over the past year, and already manages other huge north american bike share markets including Bay Area, DC, NYC, Chicago, Denver, and Portland.
Based on current news, it looks like Bicycle Transit Systems (BTS) will continue to run the bikeshare network in Los Angeles. Notably, BTS reports also having entered into an agreement to purchase BCycle from Trek, who manufacture bikeshare equipment including docking stations and bikes.
- 2024 September – “…Bicycle Transit Systems the only vertically integrated docked bike share company in North America…”
- 2024 March – Streetsblog LA – Metro Cancels Bike-Share Procurement that Had Led to Proposed Lyft Contract
- 2024 January – LA Public Press – Lyft’s bid to run LA County Metro bike share delayed after union & cyclist scrutiny
For data interests, BCycle’s footer links over to the General Bikeshare Feed Specification (GBFS) managed by MobilityData in Canada, and sits next to Google’s General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS)
If you live or plan to visit Los Angeles, please support Sunset 4 All to help extend our new Hollywood Blvd bike lanes into Downtown LA along the essential Sunset Blvd corridor from Fountain Ave through Silver Lake, Echo Park, and Dodger Stadium.
Thanks all pushing these bike share systems, as well as all vision zero related efforts forward. Hope to see you out on the streets.