In Riverside’s continuing quest to expand public transit offerings and foster a “bicycle culture,” the city plans to launch what is likely the Inland area’s first public bike sharing program.

Many details have yet to be worked out, such as exact locations for the bicycle stations and how much using a bike would cost. A $260,000 federal grant will pay for installation and start-up, and $60,000 in city matching funds is expected to cover operational costs for up to three years.

Bike shares provide multiple automated kiosks around a community from which anyone can check out a bike, use it for a short trip and return it to the same or different station. Most programs offer annual memberships as well as one-time use charges.

Supporters say Riverside’s program could draw young people who don’t have cars, bus or train riders who need to travel that “last mile” to their destination, tourists and people who want to run a few errands or get some fresh air on their lunch break.

“There’s a lot of folks that want to use (a bike), but they don’t want to necessarily have to be responsible to bring the bike to work” or deal with secure storage and maintenance, said Eric Lewis, who chairs the city’s bicycle advisory committee.

EVOLVING CONCEPT

The bike share concept isn’t new. Community bikes were used in Amsterdam as early as the 1960s. The first organized programs in the U.S. date to the 1990s, said Susan Shaheen, co-director of UC Berkeley’s Transportation Sustainability Research Center.

Esri, a Redlands geographic information systems company, offers free shared bicycles as an employee perk.

Thanks to new technology that makes it easier to check out bikes and track their locations, the popularity of larger bike share programs has exploded in the past few years. Shaheen said that between January and June 2014, about 50 U.S. cities launched public bike shares.

Riverside’s pilot project, which could start in 2015, will likely include four bike kiosks – one near City Hall, one at the downtown Metrolink station and spots near the UC Riverside and Riverside City College campuses, said Brandi Becker, a senior administrative analyst in the city’s public works department.

The cost of using a bike won’t be known until the city takes bids and picks a company to run the program.

For most systems, pricing is set to encourage trips of a half-hour or less. Denver’s B-cycle, for example, starts at $8 for a 24-hour pass or $80 for a year, with weekly and monthly passes also offered. With all passes, trips up to 30 minutes are free; extra hourly charges apply for those who keep bikes out longer.

User fees help pay operating costs, but Shaheen said the most successful programs are also funded with a combination of public subsidies and private sponsorship. She said programs can also face challenges with being accessible to everyone, including low-income people and foreign language speakers.

SHIFTING ATTITUDES

Many bike shares are still ironing out financial and logistical issues, but Riverside should be able to learn from others’ early mistakes, said Charlie Gandy, a bike consultant and vice president of the California Bicycle Coalition.

Gandy sees the bike share trend as part of a movement toward recognizing biking and walking as important parts of the transportation system.

Statewide, a new law took effect Tuesday requiring drivers to give cyclists a three-foot buffer when passing. In Riverside, a project to add nearly 2.5 miles of bike lanes on Brockton Avenue should be done next month.

Gandy expects a bike share to fuel even more interest in cycling, whether for work, fun or fitness.

“Cities that take on this type of project see a major shift in people’s attitudes towards bicycling,” he said.

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