After so many delays, Los Angeles is getting really close to creating its first regional bike share program. Metro's requested proposals for the program (due by the end of this month); once they're received, a contract is expected to be awarded by June 2015, with a two-month test (small-scale—just 10 of the proposed 65 docking stations) opening about four months after that, in October 2015! A full opening throughout Downtown would ideally be complete six to nine months after that, meaning that by spring or summer of 2016, Downtown could have access to about 1,000 bike share bicycles at those 65 stations. Bikes will be available at Union Station; along Broadway and Figueroa by the Staples Center; at USC; and at subway, Expo, and Blue Line stations. As Streetsblog notes, "Most of Skid Row, Chinatown, Fashion District, and Central City West are not included."

Once Downtown's up and running smoothly, the plan is to get moving on stations in Pasadena. The 34 proposed hubs for the city would make 490 bikes available and would include "docking stations" largely concentrated in the Old-Town-y region south of the 134, plus at Gold Line stations from Allen to Fillmore.

After Pasadena's set up, the next wave of the system would be established in Koreatown, MacArthur Park, and Echo Park, then into Hollywood and West Hollywood. There's a possibility that, after those expansions, Venice, Marina Del Rey, North Hollywood, Huntington Park, and East LA could get their own docking stations. As the request for proposals lays it out, the plan is to eventually have 254 stations and 3,812 bicycles. (Meanwhile, Santa Monica is working on its own plan with about 500 bikes, which is set to launch in mid- to late-2015.)

All that's pretty far in the future, though. Metro's request for proposals is offering a two-year contract, and the project is already fully funded for those two years. The contract is expected to be for anywhere from $10 to $16 million. LA's previous attempt to set up a citywide bike share program was done in by an advertising contract for street furniture that precluded the bike share operators from selling advertising on their stations.

· Metro Regional Bike Share Expected To Open In Downtown L.A. In 2016 [SBLA]

· Downtown LA Could Get an 84-Station Bike Share System [Curbed LA]