(Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland)

Seeking to help boost enthusiasm and raise operating funds for our forthcoming bike share system, the leader of the Bicycle Transportation Alliance, Rob Sadowsky, has joined forces with four other partners to form Portland Bike Share Incorporated (PBSI).

The other founding members of this new non-profit organization include car-sharing expert (currently working with Getaround) Steve Gutmann, the executive director of Portland Streetcar Inc. Rick Gustafson, citizen activist and Portland Planning Commissioner Chris Smith, and Rob Bennett, the executive director of the Portland Sustainability Institute. (more...)

(Photo: UO Bike Program)

The Associated Students of the University of Oregon (ASUO) has approved a $199,000 investment to launch a bike share system on the Eugene campus. The system will be initially launched with four rental stations and 40 bikes and it will be managed by the UO Bike Program.

UO Bike Program Coordinator Ted Sweeney says the bike share system will help get more people riding, "Without the individual ownership costs and hassles of maintenance, storage, and fear of theft."

The system will consist of rental hubs located strategically throughout UO's 295 acre campus. Also, thanks to a partnership between the ASUO, Lane Transit District, and the City of Eugene, the bike share system could eventually expand beyond campus. LTD and the City have applied for a Federal Transit Administration (FTA) grant that would expand the system to 10 rental stations and 100 bikes covering campus and locations in Eugene's downtown core. (more...)

Kenji Sugahara, Michael O'Leary, Tom Archer, and other Oregon advocates, take the lane on Constitution Avenue with the National Cherry Blossoms in the background.

During a break between meetings on Capitol Hill today, I joined several members of Oregon's bike advocacy team here at the National Bike Summit for a spin on D.C.'s Capital Bikeshare. (more...)

Headlines in Chicago not what
Alta was hoping for.

Portland-based Alta Bicycle Share chalked up another huge victory last week when they were chosen by the City of Chicago to develop their $21 milllion bike sharing system. Alta already runs the highly successful Capital Bikeshare system and they were chosen last fall to implement New York's City's system, which will be the largest in the U.S..

While this should be a time of celebration over at Alta headquarters in Portland's central eastside, the company is being forced to answer questions about the Chicago contract because a competitor who lost out on the bid is alleging that Alta used its high-level city relationships to unfair advantage in the selection process. Here's more from the Chicago Sun-Times:
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We could see bike share on the streets (at least in test form) by this coming fall.
(Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland)

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It'll be here sooner than you think.
(Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland)

The Portland City Council authorized the Bureau of Transportation to move forward with a search for a "request for proposals to solicit a private sector operator."

The action by Council comes just days after PBOT launched their Portland Bike Share website. An interactive map launched as part of the site that allows anyone to suggest a rental station location has gotten a huge response.

In a statement released today, Portland Mayor Sam Adams said bike share, "will be a great addition" to Portland and that it's a, "simple, attractive alternative to making quick trips by car."
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Adams on the streets of DC. (Note: This is
a still from a video, he's about to roll up onto
the sidewalk)

Portland Mayor Sam Adams took a ride on Washington D.C.'s bike-sharing system last week. Adams took a break from the U.S. Conference of Mayors annual meeting to rent a bike from D.C.'s Capital Bikeshare service and his office has released a short video of it.

In the video (below), Adams swipes his credit car in the kiosk and checks out a bike. His analysis? He noted how light the bikes where (compared to ones he tried from Lyon, France several years ago) and said, "I like them, they're cool," and then added, "We're going to have them on Portland streets very soon."

Watch the video below: (more...)

JPACT came together this morning to green light $16.8 million in federal grants for active transportation projects.
(Photo © J. Maus)

A Metro committee unanimously approved a $70.7 million package of federal "regional flexible funding" at a meeting of their Joint Policy Advisory Committee on Transportation (JPACT) this morning. 14 projects (totaling $22.9 million) — including $2.0 million for the Portland Bike Sharing Project — were included in the passed resolution.

But prior to the vote, there was a heated exchange between Mayor Sam Adams and Multnomah County Commissioner Deborah Kafoury. It came after two citizens gave testimony to the committee about concerns that equity considerations and public input around the bike sharing project has been inadequate. Kafoury supported the concerns and tried to delay a vote on the project, while Adams spoke up in its defense. (more...)

Mia Birk, President of Alta Planning + Design and Principal of its sister company Alta Bicycle Share photographed yesterday at a celebration of their selection as operators of New York City Bike Share.
(Photos © J. Maus)

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Promo photo from New York City Bike Share website.

Local staff of Southeast Portland-based Alta Bicycle Share are celebrating a huge victory this morning. New York City has formally announced that they've selected the company as the vendor for their massive 10,000 bike, 600 station New York City Bike Share system.

Officials estimate that bike share in New York City will lead to 27.5 million new bicycle trips every year.

New York City's system will dwarf Capital Bikeshare in Washington D.C. (also run by Alta Bicycle Share), which is currently the largest system in America with about 1,100 bicycles and 114 stations (Portland's plan is to have about 740 bikes and 74 stations). Bike share in New York City is expected to be similar to D.C.'s system because they'll use the same "Bixi" bikes (from Montreal) and the same vendor.
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This guest post is by Michael Andersen of Portland Afoot, a 10-minute newsmagazine and wiki for public transit riders in Portland.

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If bike sharing comes to Portland as expected, it won't really be for cycling devotees, many of whom already take their bicycles everywhere.

No, bike sharing will be for people who rode in on buses, trains, planes or automobiles. That's what makes it so interesting, especially to transit people like me. That's also why the price for using Portland's future bike sharing system is going to be very, very important.

Nobody cares more about price than a newbie.
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Checking out the B-cycle system.
(Photos © J. Maus)

When Portland last hosted a bike share demonstration, the concept was still just a twinkle in PBOT's eye. But now with a green light to accept $2 million in federal seed funding, a similar demonstration held today in downtown Portland put the idea in a much different light.

Now, instead of wondering if bike-sharing will come to Portland, it's a matter of getting it right when it gets here. (more...)

A few weeks back, we shared how momentum is building for the City of Portland to implement their Central City Bike Share plan. Today, I'll share more from an interview I did with Rick Gustafson for that story.

Gustafson, Director of Operations for the Portland Streetcar Loop project and a well known figure in local politics and transportation for over four decades, is "noodling" (along with transit guru and City Planning Commissioner Chris Smith) on an interesting idea that would revamp transit fares and transportation in the Central City.
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Alta Bicycle Share would operate
a system like this on the streets of
New York City.
(Photo © J. Maus)

Crain's Insider, a New York-based business news publication, says two companies remain in the running for a $200 million contract to run a bike-share program in New York City. According to Crain's, B-cycle and Portland-based Alta Bicycle Share are competing for the lucrative contract.

Alta Bicycle Share is a spinoff of Alta Planning + Design, a company that helps cities around the world plan and implement biking and walking facilities. In September of last year, Alta Bicycle Share launched Capital Bikeshare in Washington DC. That system is one of the largest in the U.S. with over 100 kiosks offering members 1,100 bikes accessible through a key-card system. (more...)

Portland is once again rolling
forward on bike-share plans.
(Photo © J. Maus)

After being mum on bike-sharing for about 18 months, the City of Portland Bureau of Transportation has now taken the idea back off the shelf.

At a meeting of the City's Bicycle Advisory Committee last night, PBOT shared plans for a bike-sharing system that would blanket the Central City with 74 kiosks and 750 bikes.

The plan came up during a discussion of which projects the City of Portland will look to fund with their allocation — expected to be anywhere from 3 to 5 million — from about $18 million in federal Regional Flexible Funds (RFF) that Metro will hand out specifically to "Active Transportation" projects (I'll share more about the other projects in a separate post). (more...)

Bike-sharing bikes from Montreal's Bixi.
(Photo © J. Maus)

As public bike-sharing systems continue to be launched in cities around the country (including a novel new system being developed in New York City), the City of Portland still sits on the sidelines. But that hasn't stopped the Lloyd District Transportation Management Association from exploring a system of their own.

The Lloyd District TMA is a non-profit, public/private partnership funded through a combination of Metro and federal grants along with membership from nearby businesses. Their mission is to promote a "balanced transportation system" in the heavily commercialized area bounded by the Willamette River, I-84, NE 15th and NE Broadway. (more...)

Ross Kenney shared this photo of the bike and walking facilities
on the Banpo Bridge, suggesting that they are similar to the ideas proposed for the Columbia River Crossing
(Photo: Ross Kenney)

BikePortland reader Ross Kenney writes to us that he moved this fall from Portland to Seoul, South Korea to teach English. He included some photos and notes on the state of bicycling infrastructure there. (more...)

A Vélib bicycle
(Photo: austinevan on Flickr)

We reported yesterday on a BBC article predicting the demise of Paris's Vélib bicycle sharing program due to theft, vandalism, and increased costs.

Streetsblog has done some research of their own and discovered that the threat may not be so great as the BBC article makes it seem.
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Tom Miller
(Photo © J. Maus)

Welcome to the final installment of our guest article series on bike sharing in Portland.

The series is written by Tom Miller, chief of staff for Portland City Commissioner and Mayor-elect Sam Adams. Yesterday, Tom laid out asked some of the questions that must be answered in order for Portland to make the right decision about a bike share system.

In today's article, Tom surveys existing efforts in the U.S. and concludes the series with a quote from Portland's future mayor.

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