Bikeshare Finally Coming to the City that Made Bikes Famous—Portland

"Portland plans to roll out a long-delayed bike rental program, perhaps as soon as next summer," reports Elliot Njus.

"The reworked proposal calls for a 600-bike fleet supplied by Social Bicycles, Inc., or SoBi, of New York. That's 150 fewer bikes than proposed in 2012, when the city signed a contract with Alta Bicycle Share, now under new ownership and rebranded as Motivate Co," adds Njus.

According to Njus, the city is forging ahead even without the corporate sponsor that has so far eluded the city's bikeshare plans—and proved the death of the earlier version of the plan. The current proposal estimates the launch of the program to cost $2 million, funded by federal grants. "Operations are intended to be self-sufficient through user fees and, eventually, sponsorships."

Njus goes on to provide more details about how the system will work and where the stations will be located around the city.