Dockless Bikes Coming To Mercer Island

MERCER ISLAND, WA - The dockless bikeshare company LimeBike will bring its free-floating bikes to Mercer Island beginning in mid-July. The city of Mercer Island is conducting a three-month pilot program with the bikes as a way to help residents get to and from the Mercer Way park-and-ride.

LimeBike is one of three major dockless bikeshare companies operating in Seattle, and so far the only one to offer battery-powered bikes for steep hills. There will be 25 LimeBikes on Mercer Island, which can be driven and parked anywhere.

In Seattle, the dockless bikes have been largely a success, although there have been some problems with vandalism and people parking the bikes in inappropriate spots. According to the Seattle Department of Transportation, tens of thousands of people ride bikeshare bikes each month, especially during mild summer and fall weather. SDOT recorded nearly 140,000 trips via dockless bike in October 2017.

The bikeshare pilot is the latest attempt to make up for the loss of the I-90 express lanes. Mercer Island is also offering low-cost Lyft and Uber rides to and from the park-and-ride through the end of October. The city is paying for both the rideshare and bikeshare programs with proceeds from a lawsuit settlement with Sound Transit over the express lanes.

Regular LimeBikes cost $1 per 30 minutes. The electric-assist LimeBikes cost $1 to unlock, and then $15 cents per minute.

File photo by Neal McNamara/Patch