Take action today to grow a world-class bike share system

Imagine a city with bikes at your fingertips wherever you go, providing convenience, access to great transit and Seattle’s amazing neighborhoods.

It’s a future that could be right around the corner as Seattle’s bike share system — Pronto Cycle Share — is poised to grow into an even easier transportation choice for Seattleites. Pronto provides convenience with secure locking stations, durable bikes, pedal-powered lights, reflective tires, helmet vending and an online map that show station locations and bike loads. Bikes near transit mean that you can hop off the bus or light rail to get to that meeting or to a restaurant with friends quickly and affordably.

Now with Pronto being just over a year old with a relatively small number of bikes and reach, Seattle has yet to enjoy the benefits of a full-scale, world-class bike share system. On Friday, Feb. 19, Seattle City Council’s transportation committee will review a proposal to acquire Pronto for $1.4 million so that the City of Seattle can begin to expand bike share to more neighborhoods and connect to more transit faster.

Cascade Bicycle Club applauds Seattle City Council for taking a hard look at the plan and approach for acquiring bike share. As any investor should, it’s important to do the homework to ensure that the Seattle Department of Transportation puts together a smart and sustainable plan that embraces industry best practices to grow bike share in Seattle.

Unfortunately, critics of the city proposal and of Pronto are saying bike share can’t work in Seattle. Unless City Council makes this important investment by Thursday, March 31, we all will lose bike share in Seattle. Right now every one of us needs to show our support to city council if we want to see bike share continue and flourish in Seattle.

Let Seattle City Council know that you support bike share by sending them a letter today or testifying in person on Friday, Feb. 19.

Its ease of use will only grow when there are more bikes and stations that get you to all of the places you want to go. Pronto currently gives us 500 bikes. Imagine 1,000. Imagine 1,500. If city council invests in Pronto and grows it from a small starter system into a full-scale bike share system, Seattle’s residents and visitors will enjoy better access to transit and a hassle-free way to get around.

Additionally, private operators have shown strong interest to invest their own dollars to grow Seattle’s bike share system into one that rivals the convenience and ease of those in New York, Minneapolis, and Washington DC.

Let Seattle City Council know that you support bike share by sending them a letter or testifying in person on Friday, Feb. 19.

Pronto has a great safety record. In fact, not one of the bike share systems nationwide — comprising millions of bike trips taken on bike share — has experienced a single fatality. Zero!

If the City Council fails to invest in Pronto in the next month, Pronto will be required to undertake the unprecedented step of returning over $1 million in federal and county grants. So Seattle has a choice — invest in bike share and grow or give money back with nothing to show for it. If the latter happens and bike share closes, it will make it even harder to restart it in the future.

Luckily, there’s a better option: one that sees bike share grow in Seattle to become another easy and convenient transportation solution for all sorts of people who want to get around. It’s a future at our fingertips, but it’s one we could just as easily lose.

It’s time to speak up now to make this smart transportation solution a reality in Seattle. Join us!

Let council know that you support bike share. Send them a letter today or testify in person at the Seattle City Council’s Sustainability and Transportation Committee on Friday, Feb. 19. RSVP here!