Set to launch this summer with 700 bikes at 70 locations from San Jose to San Francisco, the pilot bike-share program run by Alta Bike Share will be the first regional program in the country, reports Molly Schremmer.
Led by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (Air District), in partnership with a number of the region's municipal governments and transit agencies, the "main goal of the pilot is to evaluate bike sharing's potential to effectively reduce vehicle traffic and improve local air quality," says a press release announcing the program's expected August launch date.
"The Bay Area’s pilot will be the first regional program in the country — a detail that created complications and delayed the program, originally expected to begin in 2012," explains Schremmer. "Structured around Caltrain, it will put an estimated 50 locations in downtown San Francisco and about two dozen more near Caltrain stations in Redwood City, Palo Alto, Mountain View and San Jose. BAAQMD is seeking sponsorships to expand the system. Meanwhile, SF Supervisor Scott Wiener is lobbying to extend the dowtown San Francisco part of the pilot across the city."
"Though it’s focused on Caltrain stations, the program’s concentration of downtown SF locations could also make it useful to BART riders," she adds, "who are not yet allowed to bring bicycles on trains during rush hour."
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