When Biketown for All launched in 2016, it was hailed as a way to bring the benefits of bike share to Portlanders who otherwise couldn’t afford it. Now the City of Portland says the program that offered free membership and free rides to qualifying participants, has become a victim of its own success.
The Portland Bureau of Transportation announced today they’re making changes to “ensure the long-term financial sustainability of the program.” The City says they will change enrollment eligibility immediately and launch a new pricing structure on June 11th. Biketown is operated by Lyft and sponsored by Nike.
Currently Biketown for All offers participants a free monthly membership and unlimited 60 minute (or less) rides. The new system will give people a ride credit of $10 per month. PBOT spokesperson Dylan Rivera told BikePortland that, “The ride credit is enough to cover the average Biketown for All rider’s use, given the ridership patterns we’ve seen over the years.” Rivera added that if users park at a Biketown station or anywhere in area east of 72nd [the Super Hub Zone] they would avoid fees and might never pay anything.
Starting June 11th, rides will be 5 cents per minute after the credit is used up.
Eligibility criteria will change, effectively immediately. PBOT says in order to focus on Portlanders with the lowest incomes, they will no longer offer Biketown for All to all college student aid recipients. Only Pell Grant recipients will be eligible. And being a member of the TriMet Honored Citizen program isn’t enough to qualify, you must also receive TriMet’s low-income and/or unemployment assistance.
These changes don’t impact current Biketown for All members but will go into effect once their membership renews.
Under the new rules, PBOT estimates that the average Biketown for All user would pay $5.40 a year in out of station parking convenience fees, based on the average for Biketown for All riders.
One BikePortland reader shared with that us that this news is a “Huge kick in the teeth” because Biketown for All has been a “lifesaving addition” to their transit regimen. “Losing that basically unlimited access is going to make life a lot harder for a lot of folks, especially in a town that refuses to provide 24 hour bus service,” the program participant said.
In a press release today that buried the news below-the-fold, PBOT said the changes are needed because of exponential growth in the program. According to PBOT there were 169 Biketown for All members in 2020 and today there are 4,270. In 2023, Biketown for All riders took 376,000 trips (up 82% from 2022), a number that represents 59% of all Biketown trips taken that year.
These changes come about one year after PBOT raised rental prices to cope with costs of maintaining their all-electric fleet of 2,000 bikes.
For more on the changes, see BiketownPDX.com.