Berkeley Opens Bike Share Throughout The City

From The City of Berkeley: Berkeley now has a bike sharing system, allowing riders to take advantage of 120 bikes and 10 bike share stations designed for one-way trips.

Berkeley's bikes and bike stations that launched today will be part of a larger network that will allow people to more easily connect to BART and AC Transit as well as other bike share stations in Oakland and Emeryville.

When the system is complete in 2018, Berkeley will have 37 bike share stations and 400 bikes in our city's 10 square miles. The finished network of 7,000 bikes will include Emeryville (100 bikes), Oakland (850), San Francisco (4,500) and San Jose (1,000). See the map of current and future stations to see where you can travel to.

The bike share network, known as Ford GoBike, is a partnership between the City of Berkeley, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, and Bay Area Motivate.
An annual bike share pass will be $15 per month or $149 per year, which includes unlimited 45-minute trips.

People can also pay for a single trip or a day. In an effort to increase socioeconomic equity, one-time $5 annual memberships are available to adults who qualify for Calfresh, a PG&E CARE utility discount, or a San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) Lifeline Pass.
Bike share can decrease dependency on cars and make for more sustainable communities. Bike share stations are planned to be spread into neighborhoods and integrated with mass transit, eliminating a critical barrier to public transit - the last mile.

Bike share addresses several concerns that limit bicycling in Berkeley. Approximately 70% of Berkeleyans were "interested but concerned" about bicycling, according to a survey for the City's 2017 Bicycle Plan. Their primary concern involved the safety of bike routes. The Bicycle Plan, which was approved by the City Council this year, helps address this concern by proposing a network of 20 new "low-stress" protected bikeways, and 9 new bicycle boulevards.

Bike share addresses the next three biggest concerns: bike theft, home storage and bicycle maintenance. Once a member returns a bike to a station, they are not responsible for theft or maintenance. Members will not need to bring their Ford GoBike home or on a crowded transit line.

Berkeleyans selected the bike share station locations at six dedicated planning workshops and seventeen public hearings from December, 2015 to September, 2016. Potential sites were further evaluated through consultation with nearby businesses and residents. Twenty percent of Berkeley's planned stations will be located in historically disadvantaged communities. All of Berkeley's bike share stations are conveniently located near transit, shopping, jobs or bike routes.

In 2018 when the system is complete, the Bay Area will have one of the largest and densest bike share systems in North America.

All memberships can be purchased on the Ford GoBike website, or with cash or a credit card at the Downtown Berkeley Bike Station, located at 2208 Shattuck Ave.

Image Courtesy of The City of Berkeley