Progress made towards regional, public micro-mobility

At the February 10th meeting of the Operations Committee of MTC (Metropolitan Transportation Commission), the committee approved an almost $16M expansion of the Bay Wheels bike-share contract. This contract expansion does not extend the life of the contract, which ends in 2027. Instead, it expands the range and quality of the bike-share service, while lowering the cost for riders. This is an important first step toward using public funding to provide affordable, easy-to-access bikeshare as part of a well-integrated public transportation system.

The Bay Wheels bike-share system, serving San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, Berkeley and Emeryville, acts as a key component of a complete transit system, providing first- and last-mile connections to transit, and short trips anywhere within the service area. According to stats from MTC, measured by ridership, Bay Wheels would be the 8th largest transit system in the Bay Area. Now the system is set to expand.

What’s In It For Riders?

The public funding will add 2700 new e-bikes to the system, finally bringing e-bikes to the whole coverage area of San Jose, Oakland, Berkeley, and Emeryville, with additional e-bikes added in San Francisco as well. Other key improvements include new stations within existing service areas, especially in Oakland and San Jose. The new contract also includes a reduction in membership fees to an estimated $150/year, and a 25% reduction in per-minute e-bike charges, along with discounted rates for approximately 20,000 student memberships. MTC notes that these numbers are preliminary and may change over time.

A presentation slide from the February 10th MTC Operations Committee on the Bay Wheel Bikeshare E-bike Expansion Contract.

When e-bikes were rolled out, they quickly became very popular. But they were deployed mostly in San Francisco (1800+), minimally in San Jose (<100), and for only a few months in the East Bay. E-bikes initially were more expensive than traditional bikes, resulting in use being concentrated in more affluent areas.

The inequitable deployment of e-bikes was a consequence of the structure of the original contract with MTC, which included minimal public funding. Under the contract, bikes were expected to generate a profit based on user fees alone, resulting in higher pricing for ebikes. MTC, cities and advocates agree that this model has not met public goals of an equitable system that serves people across the region and across the income spectrum. But MTC could see in the stats that e-bikes improved ridership: ebikes make up 50% of the SF fleet, but 70% of the trips taken. In San Jose, it’s even more lopsided: the 10% of the fleet that is ebikes supported 55% of the trips taken. On November 4th last year, MTC staff brought to its board the idea that public funding should be used to expand access, and the board agreed.

Next Steps toward a Publicly Funded, Seamless, Regional Bikeshare System

Based on ridership, Bay Wheels would be the 8th largest transit system in the Bay Area (Image Source: SFMTA).

This $16 million investment is only a first step. There is now a 3-year process in place to plan for public bikeshare beyond the end of the Bay Wheels contract. MTC is asking which strategies for public investment can improve the system, and prepare for the future system. The new contract expansion is one element of this program. The capital investments made during the contract period will revert to MTC at the end of the contract, so this is a long-term investment in the system that will replace Bay Wheels in 2027, even as the outlines of that next system are still coming into focus.

Next, a whole range of options are being investigated, including opportunities to integrate payment and pricing policies of bikeshare with payment and pricing of public transit. Also under pilot is a collaboration with assistive mobility organizations in order to better understand accessibility needs the system could support. The current Bikeshare for All program currently subsidizes access for low-income riders, and makes up just over 10% of all riders. We look forward to all of these opportunities to be explored to meet the principles of affordability, equity, accessibility, and reliability that are necessary to establish in the successor system.

There is the opportunity to support further expansion, improvement, and seamless integration of bikeshare with public transit as part of a regional funding measure. As noted in a previous blog post, the process to plan for a measure includes stakeholder engagement and polling over the next few months, draft goals and analysis of revenue options in the spring; broad public engagement in the summer, and proposals for approval in the fall. A regional measure should support maintaining, restoring, and expanding transit service, and providing accessible, robust, seamlessly integrated public shared micro mobility in order to have the greatest impact.

Advocates Having an Impact

Given the limitations of the for-profit bikeshare model, advocates have for several years envisioned and promoted a publicly funded and governed micro-mobility system. As the region started planning next steps, a coalition including SF Bike Coalition, Bike East Bay, The Marin County Bicycle Coalition and the Silicon Valley Bike Coalition and Seamless Bay Area urged MTC to pursue a vision of affordability, equity, accessibility, and reliability through public funding and public governance. With its approval of the public funding, MTC appears to be adopting the language used by our coalition, thereby signaling the influence of our policy positions.

We can have a seamless, user-friendly, comprehensive transit system, including shared micro-mobility, if we plan for it, fund it, and remain committed to growing the system over time.

We will keep you posted about the next steps in the coming months to support this vision.