Seattle's failing Pronto bike share program to end in March Sunset on program comes a year after city invests $1.4 million to save it

Seattle's Pronto bike share program will be no more in March, a year after the city spent $1.4 million to keep it going. Seattle's Pronto bike share program will be no more in March, a year after the city spent $1.4 million to keep it going. Photo: JOSHUA TRUJILLO, SEATTLEPI.COM Photo: JOSHUA TRUJILLO, SEATTLEPI.COM Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Seattle's failing Pronto bike share program to end in March 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

It wasn’t that long ago that the city of Seattle was resuscitating its failing Pronto bike share program.

The city opted in March to spend $1.4 million to purchase the rest of the stations, putting the whole system under city ownership, with the hopes of keeping the program going and even expanding it, despite troublingly low membership numbers.

Well, that’s all history now.

The latest two-year city budget, approved last Monday, cuts the Pronto budget in half -- to $300,000 -- and ends the program in March.

But the dozens who rely on Pronto bikes to navigate the city -- back in May, the bike share program had roughly 1,800 annual members, according to a Seattle Times report -- can rest assured that the city is working on a replacement program.

Seattle officials have been working with a company called Bewegen on a new contract that would put 1,200 electric bikes on Seattle streets following the demise of Pronto, according to Cyndi Wilder, with the city’s Department of Finance and Administrative Services.

But the services won’t quite overlap.

While Pronto is slated for its end in March (or sooner, if city officials deem it not even worth keeping going that long), the new Bewegen service likely wouldn’t be up and running until summer 2017. And that’s only if contract negotiations go well and Mayor Ed Murray and the city council then agree to the terms.

Wilder didn’t have an immediate answer on whether the new program could end up costing the city more or less than Pronto, or if members would pay the same rates or more.

One thing is for sure, though: since the new program would be all electric bikes, the old Pronto equipment would be sold off through the city’s surplus process.

But perhaps the electric bikes (they’re electric-assisted, so you still have to pedal, but you get some help on the hard parts) will garner a larger following and finally make the city’s bike share program the success its supporters have always hoped it would be.

Daniel DeMay covers Seattle culture, business and transportation for seattlepi.com. He can be reached at 206-448-8362 or danieldemay@seattlepi.com. Follow him on Twitter: @Daniel_DeMay.