Mountain View Council Votes for Bike Share Study

Image of Ford GoBikes courtesy: Motivate.Last week’s Mountain View City Council vote on Bike Share turned out to be a mixed bag. After learning late Monday that Ford was not willing to sponsor operating costs for any cities on the Peninsula that want to join the Bay Area system expansion, Mountain View city staff was understandably uncomfortable recommending that the city commit to a full 350-bike re-launch. Without Ford’s backing, the city would be on its own to secure a local sponsor, which would still have to share advertising space with Ford, as the region-wide system is known as Ford GoBike.Instead, staff recommended (and Council approved) hiring a consultant to develop a bike share implementation plan tailored to Mountain View. The hope is that a more detailed plan that takes into account the city’s population, demographics, employers, and traffic patterns will eventually yield a more successful implementation of bike sharing. Potential funding streams – including sponsorship, grants, and farebox recovery (user fees) – can also be studied.SVBC was there for the vote, and stressed the importance of bike share to council members. Our fear is that, as time passes, support for bike share may fade and the opportunity to join the regional system may pass. With thousands of employees traveling to Mountain View from San Jose and San Francisco every day, it would be a frustrating waste of an opportunity to not make the same transit system they enjoy near home available to help them get to work.We understand that bike sharing is fairly new in the U.S., that it can take some time to get right in any given community, and that it seems expensive at first glance. But the fact is that it costs money to move people around – whether it’s $17 for a bus ride, $30,000 for a parking spot, or $11 million per mile of urban freeway. We hope cities in the Bay Area keep this in mind as they consider making the investment in bike share.