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Friday, September 2, 2011

Bikes Take Bike Sharing on a Test Ride!

Posted by Alex Zielinski on Fri, Sep 2, 2011 at 3:59 PM

Remember the bike sharing plan the city council recently adopted, welcoming 740 rentable bikes to Portland's streets? But, of course!

Bike sharing station in Mexico City

However, while the council passed the bike sharing plan in August, the program itself isn't predicted to be up and running until Fall 2013. So to tide us over, the Bicycle Transportation Alliance is bringing Portlanders a little taste of what to expect.

On Tuesday, Sept. 6, the BTA is hosting a free demonstration for the Portland Bike Share project in the courtyard at 200 SW Market Street from 10 a.m to 2 p.m. Along with getting the run down on the project, attendees will be able to test ride a model bike.

Just a refresher: The Portland Bike Share project, backed by the city's Bureau of Transportation and about a dozen other local organizations, plans to set up 74 individual bike sharing stations across town, allowing anyone with a credit card to rent a decked-out bike for as long as they'd like — not a far cry from the Zipcar program.

Check it out!

 

Comments (15) RSS

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1
Bikes!

That's a thing... right?
Posted by Blabby on September 2, 2011 at 4:08 PM · Report
2
Third time I've seen the same photo of bikes at the sharing station in Mexico City. Meanwhile, every story on this I've seen has expressed more concerns about this program and why it's needed, and I still don't see why it's needed. Zipcar makes sense because people like myself who are car-free may still want to have affordable access to a car for several hours a year. But why shouldn't someone who wants to use a bike for transportation just buy their own bike appropriate size for $100 and maintain it?

http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/sh…
Posted by geyser on September 2, 2011 at 4:15 PM · Report
3
a bike of an appropriate size for $100 (or more), I mean. And I'm aware of statistics that show that bike-sharing programs bring significant numbers of people into cycling, and I'm for that (and it's good for tourists, certainly). But I don't think these programs pay for themselves and I don't get why something so inexpensive needs to be centralized and subsidized when it's already so much less expensive than driving and other means of transportation.
Posted by geyser on September 2, 2011 at 4:30 PM · Report
4
What is the difference between Zipcar and a rental car?

I agree with you on this geyser.
Posted by frankieb on September 2, 2011 at 4:42 PM · Report
5
Zipcar is much cheaper than going to a rental agency for people who are car-free (or a couple/family sharing one car) who need a car for a few hours at a time on a regular basis. Owning a car tends to be fairly expensive, over $5000/year. With a bike, I don't see a reason not to own one, or, if a tourist, not to just rent one or use TriMet. Not trying to be negative about this, I'm just still waiting for someone to advance some solid reasons why this is needed, responding to the criticisms of it in the earlier posts.
Posted by geyser on September 2, 2011 at 5:06 PM · Report
6
I'm totally with you on the Bike issue, but I've heard alot of critisism of ZIPCAR in that it really isn't cheaper (yearly fees, plus) and that the city gives up parking spaces and other bennies to this company - that has yet to earn make any money.
Posted by frankieb on September 2, 2011 at 5:36 PM · Report
7
These bikes are slow. Big, bulky and clumsy.
Posted by Tom [______] . on September 2, 2011 at 5:44 PM · Report
8
'I've heard alot of criticism of (insert any PBOT transportation program here)... that the city gives up parking spaces and other bennies to this company - that has yet to earn make any money.
Posted by D on September 2, 2011 at 5:45 PM · Report
9
Does this mean that after they rip your wallet and hit trimet machine for a bunch of monthly passes they will head over to get a bike ?
Posted by Rosy on September 2, 2011 at 5:55 PM · Report
10
I live in a different city and I use our bike sharing program all the time. It's incredibly popular here with locals, not just tourists. I take it to work if it's nice, running errands, or if I miss the last tram at night.

It's a good drunk driving deterrent, which is a big problem here because there are no busses/trams past midnight.

I'm not aware of the overall cost impact - I pay around $50 and all my trips are free up to 30 mins, $1/hour after that. So it's awesomely cheap. All I can say is that it's a really successful program where I live.
Posted by Annie on September 3, 2011 at 12:46 AM · Report
11
What kind of climate are you in? I don't think these way-overpriced bikes will be used much in our rainy season.
Drunk bikers on the road isn't good either, but our public transit system runs late to many places.
But most of all I don't think tax dollars should be used for something that the private sector would address - if there was enough need.
It is fun to see a city new to you on bike though. I did it in Japan before. The hotel offered up free bikes to use, with the hotel logo on them. Advertising. I'd like to see hotels here do that.
Posted by frankieb on September 3, 2011 at 1:27 AM · Report
12
Bike sharing is really useful if you want to quickly use a bike but couldn't or didn't bike to the place you are now.

Take the bus somewhere, get a ride share bike for an hour then drop it off. It really helps at night or people who aren't more serious bicyclists.

Also, people may need to have some empathy for someone that causally may want to use a bike every once in a while but not all the time. It is honestly a really good for everyone, unless you have an anger management problem and seriously have a beef with someone going slow with a rental bike in "your" lane.
Posted by Ardennes on September 3, 2011 at 1:45 PM · Report
13
I agree with Ardennes.

I don't know how expensive they'll be in Portland - couldn't find any info on that - but here they're WAY cheaper than buying and maintaining a bike. €35 for the whole year, and I've never paid for any additional time over 30 minutes.

And I'm in Northern Europe - the weather is just as shitty.
Posted by Annie on September 4, 2011 at 12:52 AM · Report
14
@Annie - You keep talking about how cheap they are, as if that's a good thing. These bikes are only going to be cheap because they are taxing everyone in order to subsidize them. That's what most of us are complaining about. Why should WE pay for the bike that YOU are riding? If it's really that handy, why aren't you willing to pay the full cost?
Posted by Reymont on September 6, 2011 at 10:05 AM · Report
15
Those bikes are embarrassingly ugly. They're like 'mom jeans'; but less stylisy.
Posted by Graham on September 6, 2011 at 11:08 AM · Report

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