On Thursday SF Appeal reported on California’s first regional bicycle sharing program that is set to make its debut in the Bay Area in 2011.
With the help of multi-million dollar grants from transportation and air quality agencies, 1,000 bikes at 100 kiosks will be installed throughout the Bay Area – 50 of which are slated to be in San Francisco.
The $7 million pilot program will receive about $4.3 million from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and $1.4 million from other partners. The Bay Area Air Quality Management District, which is managing the project, is putting up $1.3 million.
Aaron Richardson, spokesman for the management district, told SF Appeal the initiative will work like a car sharing program, where registered users will potentially use smart cards or rent the bikes with credit cards.
"These would be bikes you would use for a short trip to complete a BART ride. It’s not like a bike you’d be renting for the weekend," he said.
The New York Times says the program will be more like Zipcar than other bike-sharing systems, such as the one in Paris, which are based on an honor system.
