Seattle’s Pronto bike share shutting down on Friday

Seattle Times ^ | March 28, 2017 | David Gutman

[mdittmar]

Poor, poor Pronto.

Seattle’s beleaguered bike-share system is not long for this world.

Its last day of operation will be Friday. After a weekend in purgatory, work crews will begin taking down and packing up the program’s 54 stations and 500 bikes on Monday. That process will last about two weeks, the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) said.

[aquila48]

“SDOT has spoken with cities including Spokane; Pittsburgh; Tulsa, Oklahoma.; and Pioneer Valley, Massachusetts, about buying the Pronto equipment, Rowe said.”

Portland is not on the list?

[lacrew]

There are two types of systems, with a subtle but (IMHO) important differences. You may notice that in the story it reference buying ‘stations’. These stations basically lock and charge the bikes...charging the electronic keypad and gps.

Another version has a small solar panel on the back fender...and there is a bike lock on board. No need for ‘stations’...any bike rack will do. Besides saving on costs, it means instant flexibility. For example, the bikeshare could deem a dozen existing bike racks on a college campus as drop off points...with only one or two bikes per point. In a day, presto the campus is covered. No building pads for the stations and taking up valuable space...just use whats already there.

IOW, the Seattle stuff is not as useful...and no city should buy it.

[Blood of Tyrants]

“But it had to deal with a challenging environment — a hilly, rainy city with a mandatory helmet law and a downtown area clogged with traffic and with few protected bikeways.”

The city planners didn’t think of these obstacles.

[Blue Jays]

It works great is other cities. I agree that climate and topography likely didn't help matters.
Some people reflexively have an instantaneous aneurysm whenever bicycles are mentioned in an article.
They are perfect if one wants to zip somewhere a dozen blocks away without waiting for a cab or walking the whole way.

[vette6387]

“That was $8,500 per bike, including the stations. No wonder cities are broke.”

And in a related matter, I’m wondering just how all this “covered student parking” with related solar panels is costing. I can’t imagine it’s in any way cost effective, but it’s sure nice for the students and faculty having covered parking. Wonder if mom and dad know just how much it’s costing to protect their kids cars? Ditto for city halls and other public structures.

[MadMax, the Grinning Reaper]

Seattle, where the Marxists can ruin anything.

[angry elephant]

Bike sharing works pretty well in other cities.
Too bad it couldn’t be successful in that location.”

It rains a lot in Seattle and there hills everywhere, especially right in downtown.

[Blue Jays]

"...It rains a lot in Seattle and there are hills everywhere, especially right in downtown..."

---

My anticipation is the very frequent rain was the biggest hurdle.
Even with fenders and Gore-Tex garments, it is a challenge. :-)

[T-Bird45]

Thanks for the comment on Tulsa being interested in those bikes and bike stations. I’ve heard of this idea being floated among the Tulsa biking community. It will be interesting to watch the local do-gooders twist themselves into pretzels.

[husky ed]

Maybe they should sink another billion into the lightrail.

Ed

[RedWulf]

>Climate and topography are a weak excuse. Pittsburgh is similar enough to Seattle in those features, yet has a thriving bike share program started by our ultra progressive mayor, Mr. Peduto.

>Peduto had the foresight to open up bike lanes all over town, in spite of the hassle it would cause motorists.

The difference between the 2 programs is the type of people leaving in living in those cities. You can’t have bike sharing when minority groups are just going to wreak or steal the bikes.

[jonrick46]

Seattle has too many steep hills. Imagine pushing your bike up several blocks of steep hill in the rain.

[vooch]

I am a avid Citibike user in NYC. It’s a great and simple way to get around the city. In the rain, in the snow, all the time.

Citibike sees 60,000 trips during a peak weekday. The average Citibike is used 6 times every day.

cycling is really the only way to eliminate traffic congestion in cities. A person on a bike takes up 1/10 the roadway space as a private car. Citibike is great because I never need to mess with parking.

[jonrick46]

Pittsburgh does not have nearly the steep hills that Seattle has. There are no flat areas in the core area of Seattle. The hills in Seattle are absolutely ridiculous. Any east west travel around the downtown area is a killer with those heavy Bike Share bikes. And, don’t forget the rain. You have never seen rain like in Seattle.

[sphinx]

Bikeshare programs seem to be working very well and growing rapidly around the country. I don't know why Seattle would be an exception, but from the story it sounds as if the city wasn't really committed to it and failed to do the things needed to create a viable system.

Here in DC and in several of the close-in suburban jurisdictions, the system is very well used, at least in the neighborhoods with which I'm familiar. I've never seen a detailed analysis of the ridership, but two key groups are commuters, who use bikeshare to get from a convenient neighborhood location to a metrorail stop, and high school students, who also integrate bikeshare with metro. To make this work, or course, you need a bikeshare station at every metrorail stop. This has been done. You also need a sufficient density of bike stations in high density residential and downtown areas to make the system reliable and convenient enough for people to buy in. But once a jurisdiction is over that critical mass issue, the system is great.

The story also says Seattle has a mandatory helmet law and very few bike lanes. That sounds like two good ways to self-sabotage a system.

I got a membership for my older daughter when she started high school. She carpooled in the morning but the kids were all coming home at different times due to various school activities, so they took the bus and/or metrorail. A properly designed bikeshare system is a terrific complement to those systems. It's a good way to get around downtown as well. There is no charge for rides under 30 minutes, and if your destination is relatively close, bikeshare is much easier than driving and often faster than hailing a cab.

I'm surprised that a crunchy granola place like Seattle wasn't able or willing to figure it out. They are common enough around the country that the formula really isn't a mystery anymore.

[sphinx]

P.S. Regarding critical mass: the DC system currently has 3,700 bikes and 440 stations. The story says Seattle had 54 stations and 500 bikes, which is probably too small to make a viable system. I imagine the idea was to grow it over time, but they didn’t give it the time, as they’re killing it after only three years. It sounds to me like it was started with good intentions but without the political will to really see it through.

[vooch]

did you get any grief from other parents about your daughter riding a bicycle from school ?

[SamAdams76]

CitiBike in NYC is a well run operation. Not sure if it turns a profit but they get subsidized by CityGroup in exchange for naming rights. They seem to be expanding.

[sphinx]

No. Their kids were doing the same, or taking metrorail or busses and walking the rest of the way. Some of them took bikeshare to metro to get to school in the morning as well. These are city kids who had been walking up to a mile and a half home from school since 5th grade. Even when the mother isn't working and could pick them up, the kids usually prefer to walk. It's an independence thing and their friends are all doing it. They walk with their friends, usually swinging by one of our neighborhood corner stores on the way. We are not talking about a demographic where gang activity is a problem.

In my daughter's case, she attended schools in the neighborhood through 8th grade. The kids in her class then dispersed for high school; no more than three of them were in any one high school. Almost all of them went to Catholic high schools. They were all over the city and several of the closer suburbs as well. My daughter ended up across town. To get home, she took a city bus that picked up a couple of blocks from the school (in a good neighborhood) and brought her to Union Station at the foot of Capitol Hill. That left her about a mile and a half to get home. That's where bikeshare came in.

[sphinx]

P.S. I should add that my daughter certainly had many classmates from suburban areas who needed to be driven each way. Their parents tended to go green with envy of the city kids who could get themselves home.