FYI - Bike Share program - MV Voice
Bruce England
http://www.mv-voice.com/news/show_story.php?id=2333
MV to test bike share program
$500,000 grant gives go ahead for VTA
by Kelsey Mesher
Mountain View Voice Staff
Mountain View could be among three transportation hubs to test out a
new bike share program this spring, thanks to a $500,000 grant the
Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority secured earlier this
month.
"It's a conceptual project at this point," said Jennie Loft, VTA
spokesperson. "There aren't a lot of details."
VTA officials estimated that there will be about 100 bikes available
through the program to start. The VTA is conducting a feasibility
study before a pilot program can be implemented in 2010. The VTA said
in a statement that its initial findings are that over half of those
they surveyed would use a sharing program if it was made available.
The basic idea for the project is to make bicycles accessible to
anyone who wants to use them -- without the hassle or worry of bike
parking or theft. Bicycles would be made available at three VTA
transit centers -- Mountain View, Palo Alto and San Jose -- with pods
or bike sharing stations scattered within a three-mile radius of each.
The transit centers were chosen because of their high ridership and
frequent overcrowding on trains.
"It's more about the commute versus going to the grocery store," Loft
said. "They can just kind of leave one (bike) behind and then catch
up at the other side."
Bike sharing is relatively new in the United States. The VTA said it
will be looking at models in Paris and Montreal, where bike sharing
is more popular, and will continue to work with partners like the
Silicon Valley Leadership Group and the Bicycle and Pedestrian
Advisory Committee as it plans for the spring launch.
The $500,000 grant is funded by $1 bridge toll increases made by
Regional Measure 2. The "Safe Routes to Transit" grant, as it is
called, was awarded by TransForm, a Bay Area nonprofit that "works to
create world-class public transportation and walkable communities,"
according it's Web site. The grant was approved by the Metropolitan
Transportation Commission on Dec. 16.