Metro is lowering prices on its bike share program.

Suffering from low market share and first-time user sticker shock, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority board voted 8-0 Thursday to reduce the cost of bike share and consider other structural changes.

Starting in July, the price of a single, 30-minute bike-share ride drops from $3.50 to $1.75. The goal is to attract more walk-up riders.

For more regular users, Metro also will lower the price of bike passes.

A monthly pass will drop from $20 to $17, with rides up to 30 minutes free and beyond that, Metro will charge $1.75 for each additional 30 minutes. Metro will be offering a one-day pass for only $5, instead of $7. Free trips must be 30 minutes or less or additional charges will apply.

One of the biggest pricing changes will be the annual bike-share pass called flex pass. For $40, the current annual pass still charged $1.75 per ride lasting 30 minutes or less. Under the new structure, Metro will offer a yearly pass for $150 with all bike trips 30 minutes or less included. Longer bike rides will cost $1.75 for each 30 minutes.

Seniors, students and Medicare recipients will be able to buy a bike share pass at reduced rates, said Dave Sotero, Metro spokesman. By September, bike riders can connect to trains and buses using the same TAP card, he said.

To spread the bike-riding habits into the workplace, Metro is offering businesses that buy passes in bulk a 40 percent discount, and workplaces buying single-ride passes in bulk get half off.

“This gives us a bike structure that is actually competitive,” said Los Angeles City Councilman and Metro board member Mike Bonin. “This new fare structure makes sense.”

Competition from dockless bike-riding outfits, such as Ofo in Pico Rivera and LimeBike in Monrovia, Watts, Cal State Northridge, San Pedro and Coronado in San Diego County has also slowed the spread of Metro’s program and in some cities where competition exists, reduced Metro bike share ridership. Long Beach, Santa Monica, Signal Hill and Lakewood have independent bike share systems.

In Monrovia, the city said no to Metro and instead opted for LimeBike, a for-profit company. City Manager Oliver Chi noticed that Pasadena was paying $120,000 a month to maintain the kiosks and bike racks for the Metro program. He said the city pays nothing for LimeBike.

Metro offers traditional bike sharing in Pasadena, Venice, San Pedro and parts of downtown Los Angeles. A rider must go to a docking station, run a credit card and unlock a bike. The bike must be returned to any kiosk in town.

On Thursday, the board voted to spend $35.5 million to expand the program into West Los Angeles, Culver City, Marina Del Rey, Echo Park, Silver Lake, Koreatown, MacArthur Park/Westlake, Palms, Mar Vista and Vista Del Rey.

The newer program will include “dockless option” bikes that can operate with a smartphone app that allows users to find a bike on racks, streets corners, parks not connected to a kiosk.

“You won’t have to leave it at a bike-share station,” Sotero explained.

The amended program also will lower capital costs by as much as 40 percent, which have proven to be a stumbling block to cash-strapped cities partnering with Metro.

Expansion of bike share will begin soon and be completed by this time next year, Sotero said. The first step is moving some stations from central L.A. to the USC area, he said.

The board also asked for a report in 90 days on how well the program is doing and whether or not the agency should abandon it and allow private enterprise to take over.

Under the existing program, Metro bike-share riders have ridden 407,349 total trips and 1,185,389 miles. Riding has reduced carbon dioxide emissions that cause global climate change by 1,126,119 pounds, according to a Metro report released Thursday.

About 60 percent of Metro bike share users connect to trains and buses, something transportation planners call first/last mile connections, according to Metro.