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.

—

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.
(more...)

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.
(more...)

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.
(more...)

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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Tom Miller
(Photo © J. Maus)

Welcome to Part Five of our six-part, 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 what's at stake for Portland in choosing a bike share vendor.

In today's article, Tom examines some of the key questions that must be answered before PDOT moves forward with this idea.

(more...)

Tom Miller
(Photo © J. Maus)

Welcome to Part Four of our six-part, 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. On Friday, Tom shared experiences from the bike share system in Stockholm, Sweden, which is operated by Clear Channel (Clear Channel also had a bid in to manage Portland's system).

In today's article, Tom reflects on their trip to Scandinavia and ponders on what's at stake for Portland.

(more...)

Tom Miller
(Photo © J. Maus)

Welcome to Part Three of our six-part, 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 shared his initial impressions on bike sharing systems from a recent trip to Scandinavia.

In today's article, Tom shares what he learned when a delegation of Portlanders (including Mayor-elect Adams) tried to navigate through Clear Channel's bike share system in Stockholm, Sweden.

(more...)

Tom Miller
(Photo © J. Maus)

Welcome to Part Two of our six-part, 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 gave us some background on Portland's efforts to launch a bike share program.

Today's article is short but sweet. Tom shares initial impressions of bike share programs in Copenhagen, Helsinki, and Stockholm from a trip last June. Tomorrow, Tom will share extensive details on what it's like to use Clear Channel's bike share system in Stockholm.

(more...)

Tom Miller riding in
the 2006 Bridge Pedal.
(Photo © J. Maus)

Welcome to the first in a six-part series; Bike-share in Portland: A status report. The author of this guest article series is Tom Miller. Miller is the current Chief of Staff for Portland City Commissioner Sam Adams and he'll follow Adams into the Mayor's office in January.

Besides being Adams' right-hand man, Miller is a major bike believer. This series arose from my constant prodding to Miller about the future of Portland's bike-share program (an effort that began in February of 2007 but was shelved before a contractor was found).

In six parts, Miller will share his insider perspective on the inspiration, current status, and future potential for bike share in Portland.

Part One: Bike share in Portland; a brief history (more...)

On Monday, the New York Times featured a story about bike-sharing in Europe.

I've got an in-depth story (guest article actually) about Portland's bike-sharing status that will hit the Front Page in the next few days, but there were so many great quotes in this story that I thought it deserved a story (and so did many readers -- thanks for sending the link!).

Here's the opening paragraph of the story:

In increasingly green-conscious Europe, there are said to be only two kinds of mayors: those who have a bicycle-sharing program and those who want one.

Story continues below

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And they touch on why bike-sharing is lagging in the U.S.:

In North America, issues like insurance liability, a stronger car culture, longer commutes and a preference for wearing helmets have slowed adoption of bicycle-sharing programs.

The best quote comes in the final paragraph:

“The critical mass of bikes on the road has pacified traffic,” said Gilles Vesco, vice mayor in charge of the program in Lyon. “Now, the street belongs to everybody and needs to be better shared. It has become a more convivial public space.”

Read the full story at NYTimes.com.

By the way, the system profiled in the story, Barcelona's "Bicing", is managed by Clear Channel Outdoor, the same company that was in the running to do Portland's system which was shelved back in June.

Stay tuned for Front Page coverage on the status of Portland's bike-sharing potential.