Bike sharing system gets a $500K lifeline
Houston’s floundering bike sharing system has a little more life, after city officials approved $500,000 to keep the system operational, at least until a new system for checking out bicycles is in place.
“There are a lot of people who use the service and we don’t want them to lose the service,” Mayor Sylvester Turner said.
City Council approved the money Wednesday from Houston’s general fund, aimed at giving the nonprofit Houston Bike Share a few more months of funding to keep roughly 60 kiosks and the bikes held there operational. Houston’s planning department will work with the nonprofit to decide how the money will be spent and formalize an agreement with the nonprofit.
Four council members — Mike Knox, Michael Kubosh, Amy Peck and Mary Nan Huffman — opposed committing the money.
“In my view, we are investing in a failing corporation,” Knox said.
The money allows the nonprofit BCycle to continue to exist, which was on the verge of collapse without finding additional money, until a new bike checkout system controlled by Metro debuts. The Metropolitan Transit Authority board is expected Thursday to approve a $10.6 million contract with a new vendor for a bike sharing system aligned with transit in the area.
If approved, Metro’s system would start with 20 stations and 140 pedalassisted e-bikes in the first year, and add 20 stations and more bikes annually for five years.
While the fate of the nonprofit BCycle system after Metro’s opens is unclear, council members said losing all bike sharing options would be a setback.
“The point is residents need access to these bikes,” Councilwoman Abbie Kamin said.
In addition to the $500,000 committed by the city, Kamin and Councilman Robert Gallegos provided a combined $40,430 to keep stations in District C and District I, respectively, open.
Turner said a portion of the agreement will be the nonprofit and planning department discussing next steps, especially related to the 90 stations now inoperable around the city and how best to “decommission,” stations if necessary.
For now, officials are balancing how to keep some bikes available while holding out hope some locations can be salvaged in some way.
“I don’t want to give up on the idea of a corporate sponsor for these,” Councilwoman Sallie Alcorn said, while conceding the closed, plastic-wrapped stations pose a challenge.
“They are kind of a sad statement,” she said.