A San Francisco supervisor today plans to call for a hearing on how the city can expand the regional bike share program that launched last month.
Supervisor Scott Wiener plans to call for the hearing at today’s board meeting following the Aug. 29 launch of Bay Area Bike Share, a pilot program that offers 350 bikes at 35 stations in San Francisco and 350 more in Redwood City, Mountain View, Palo Alto and San Jose.
Users can rent the bikes for unlimited 30-minute trips on a $9 daily pass, $22 three-day pass or $88 annual pass. Trips of more than 30 minutes result in surcharges starting at $4.
Wiener earlier this year authored a resolution calling on San Francisco to build off the pilot program and implement a citywide bike share program by 2014. The resolution, which is non-binding, was passed unanimously by his colleagues on the board.
Wiener is calling for a hearing to ask questions of the city’s Municipal Transportation Agency on how the pilot program is performing and what plans are in place to expand it.
San Francisco will have an additional 150 bikes in the program by the end of 2013, with another 150 being added as well in the other four Bay Area cities. However, the overall scope of the project is smaller than those in other major cities like New York City and Chicago, according to Wiener.
“To truly reap the full benefits of this program—like reducing traffic, improving public transit, and stimulating the local economy—and to ensure its viability, we need to act promptly to expand bike sharing throughout San Francisco,” Wiener said in a statement.
The hearing is tentatively scheduled to take place sometime in October at the board’s land use and economic development committee.
Dan McMenamin, Bay City News
