Working closely with the cities of Pasadena and Los Angeles, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority plans to launch bike sharing in Pasadena on Friday, July 14, and at the Port of Los Angeles on Monday, July 31.

Metro will announce the date for its third bike share launch in Venice in the near future. The region’s bike share expansions will result in nearly 1,500 bicycles at up to 125 stations.

Bike sharing is an ideal transportation option for people to get where they need to go for local destinations that may be too far to walk but to short or inconvenient to drive. Metro has worked with cities to strategically place bike share stations near Metro stations to encourage both bicycle and transit trips. Additionally, a single Metro TAP fare card can provide access to both Metro Bus and Rail lines and the Metro Bike Share system, making it the most integrated with transit than any other system in the United States.

In Pasadena, Metro and its contractor, Bicycle Transit Systems, Inc., will install 30-plus stations throughout the city. Key destinations accessible via bike sharing will include Old Pasadena, Paseo Colorado, the Playhouse District, South Lake Avenue, Levitt Pavilion (Memorial Park) and Pasadena City College. Another key Pasadena destination will be the Rose Bowl. Riders traveling to and from stadium events will be able to take advantage of the bike share via virtual kiosk.

Bike share in Pasadena. Bike share at the Port of Los Angeles.

At the Port of Los Angeles, 13 new stations will be installed along the L.A. Waterfront area, providing bike access to Gateway Plaza and Fanfare Fountains, the Battleship IOWA, the Los Angeles Maritime Museum, the Catalina Sea and Air Terminal, the Downtown Harbor, Wilmington Waterfront Park and Ports O’ Call Village, among others.

Metro is also studying the feasibility of future expansion to more than 20 other parts of the county, including North Hollywood, the San Gabriel Valley, East Los Angeles/Boyle Heights, Burbank, Glendale, Culver City, Palms and others. Metro seeks to create a regionwide system of more than 4,000 bicycles pending ongoing Metro Board approval.

Under Metro’s Bike Share business plan, Metro splits all costs with participating cities. Metro funds up to 50 percent of the program’s capital costs and up to 35 percent of the operations and maintenance costs.

Bicycle Transit Systems will operate the system with bikes and stations provided by BCycle, a unit of Trek Bicycles of Wisconsin. These companies have successfully launched and/or operate more than 40 bike share systems in metropolitan areas in the United States and abroad.

Metro originally launched bike sharing in downtown L.A. in July 2016. That system comprises 61 stations and approximately 700 bicycles throughout the downtown area. To date, more than 160,000 trips have been made on the system, with more than 380,000 miles traveled. Approximately 4,700 bike share passes have been sold. Metro’s bike share system has also helped removed more than 362,000 pounds of carbon dioxide from the air. Collectively, bike share riders have burned 10.5 million calories — equivalent to 10,000 pints of ice cream.

Those interested in utilizing bike share are encouraged to sign up for a Metro Bike Share pass at www.metro.net/bikeshare. In celebration of Bike Month, Metro is offering a free month with code BIKEMONTH17 until May 31.

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