As we reported last week, Puget Sound Bike Share is on track for a late summer launch utilizing a new partnership between Alta Bicycle Share, 8D Technologies and a “well-known global manufacturer” of bike share bikes.
The initial launch will include 500 bikes and 50 stations in the University District, Eastlake, South Lake Union, the downtown neighborhoods and Capitol Hill. But where should they go?
PSBS has launched an online tool to collect public feedback on station locations. You can vote for the stations you like or add ones that you think are missing from the map.
The shaded area shows the likely Phase 1 service area. Bike share success is dependent on having a dense network of stations in the densest areas of town. The PSBS business plan involves expanding this area in future phases and creating satellite systems in Kirkland, Redmond, Renton and Bellevue.
The system’s name, look and initial sponsors will be announced next month, and the organization will continue its outreach efforts to figure out the best places for stations to go.
Comments
10 responses to “Where should the first bike share stations go?”
I really want them to come to Fremont. Just a few stations would really expand the usefulness (for me, anyway).
Fremont is in phase 2 of the original king county bike share business plan, which psbs is using as a guide. So is the Central District, sodo and parts of ravenna.
Yes, but part of me worries that they’ll never get to phase 2…
SODO, ‘eh? I think it won’t be too long before we all realize that leaving out 1st Ave S was a major oversight in the 2013/2014 BMP. For riding through Marginal Way or the SODO trail extension would be fine if completed, but within SODO and the Industrial District 1st Ave S has by far the most destinations that would typically benefit from bike access (4th Ave S is a distant second, also with no planned biking improvements and with few cross-street connections to the SODO trail).
Phase 2 of the bikeshare plan goes as far south as Lander; hemming to current and planned bike routes there’s not much between the stadiums and Lander. But would we put bikeshare stations on 1st and 4th given the conditions there? Or build cycletracks on those arterials? Or maybe try to establish adjacent routes mostly on streets like Utah and 3rd (that could plausibly work about as far south as Spokane Street)? Will we augment bike facilities on Lander and Holgate to encourage the use of bikeshare for the last mile between Link/Busway stops and destinations on 1st and 4th? None of this is physically impossible, but if it couldn’t even make it into the BMP, how will we ever manage to get it on the ground?
I completely agree about 1st, and said so in my post about the 2nd draft of the plan: http://www.seattlebikeblog.com/2013/07/23/bike-master-plan-draft-2-sodo-beacon-hill-and-southeast-seattle/
It is packed with destinations of all kinds, it’s extremely wide and the lack of cross streets makes it both difficult to access using other streets and leads to rampant speeding. It’s among the most disappointing omissions in the BMP.
I hope that all (or nearly all) of the bike docking stations — wherever they end up being located — are built on the street, rather than on the sidewalk. And I really hope that SDOT can coordinate with PSBS to install public, non-bike-share parking at the same time (and also on the street) to save money.
Tom, have you heard anything more about the public meetings for this process? If the timeline is really to have 50 of these stations located, purchased, permitted, and installed by the end of the summer, things are going to have to move a lot faster than they typically do in Seattle.
They will have to go fast.
I believe PSBS will present the station locations in bulk to the council, and I assume the Council can pick certain ones out if they choose to. It will be interesting to see how that goes.
And I believe they are hoping to avoid placing then on-street unless there is no other option. I agree that for most of this center city area, sidewalks are already packed enough. There are certainly some good sidewalk and public plaza spaces for stations, but I hope they don’t try to jam them onto a packed sidewalk jsut because they are scared of taking a making space.
Regarding the south end, I said it before. They should be using Utah street, and get that coffee company that is also on it to jump on-board.
I think the emphasis on putting stations only in the densest areas of downtown is misguided. As we have recently learned from other systems, financial stability comes more from short term tourist rentals than from annual membership. And I would still argue that downtown, while it has a lot of people, isn’t very safe for cyclists.
I would much prefer a ‘neighborhoods first’ rollout with bikes near light rail stations, along the bike corridor on Capitol Hill and — Duh! — along the Burke Gilman between Children’s Hospital and Ballard.
[…] construction wiggle had the happy result of us cruising by the Puget Sound Bike Share (coming late summer!) on the way to the Bell Street Park for Cars. Here my son is keeping an eye on the pack of bicycle […]