Partnership Paves Way for New Station
at Daly City BART
SAN
FRANCISCO, May 1, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The
Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) and Lyft today kicked
off National Bike Month by joining with partners from BART, the San
Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) and Daly City to cut the ribbon on a new Bay
Wheels bikeshare station at the Daly City BART station.
The new docking station marks the first Bay Wheels location in
San Mateo County and the
continuation of a growth strategy that began last fall with the
introduction of more than 1,500 new e-bikes and 30 new docking
stations in San Francisco and
San Jose and then shifted last
month to the East Bay, where the system is adding 24 new docking
stations and 565 next-generation e-bikes in Oakland, Emeryville and Berkeley.
"Daly City is proud to be the
home of the first Bay Wheels bikeshare station in San Mateo County," said Mayor Juslyn C.
Manalo. "As a city that is striving to reduce its carbon footprint,
I'm optimistic this new program at Daly City BART will encourage
the use of greener modes of transportation for commuters and
provide an opportunity for more visitors to explore our great
city."
The new Bay Wheels station in Daly
City — in the BART parking lot at 379 St. Charles Avenue —
is expected to accommodate a mix of next-generation and older-model
e-bikes as well as some conventional pedal-powered bikes Due to
their ability to climb hills, travel longer distances, and attract
riders of varying physical abilities, e-bikes are seen as a way to
transform mobility for Bay Area residents and visitors alike.
"I've seen first-hand how MTC has increased its focus on
regional connectivity," said MTC Commissioner and San Mateo County Supervisor David Canepa. "This new station reflects that
focus. In March, Daly City had the
ninth highest patronage of any station in the BART system. Nearly
two-thirds of those riders were headed to or coming from a station
in San Francisco. This shows the
potential for Bay Wheels to be that first- or last-mile connection
for thousands of BART riders at either end of their trip."
MTC and Lyft last November reduced the cost of an annual Bay
Wheels membership to $150 from
$169 and cut the cost for members to
use a Bay Wheels e-bike to 15 cents
per minute from 20 cents per minute.
Monthly members now automatically transition to an annual
membership at no additional cost when they renew for five
consecutive months.
MTC later this year will launch a pilot program to provide
reduced-cost annual Bay Wheels memberships for area college
students. To enhance the growth of Bay Wheels' e-bike fleet, MTC
and Lyft also are piloting grid-connected charging stations using
Lyft's next generation station technology. Electrified stations
improve e-bike availability for riders by increasing the number of
bikes with sufficient battery charge and making operations more
efficient. E-bike batteries traditionally had been charged in a
warehouse and then manually swapped at the station.
Launched in 2017, Bay Wheels is the Bay Area's regional
bikeshare program with over 6,000 bicycles — both pedal-powered and
pedal-assist electric bikes — at more than 500 stations in
San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, Emeryville and Daly
City. Lyft operates Bay Wheels under a contract managed by
MTC. MTC is the transportation planning, financing and coordinating
agency for the nine-county San Francisco
Bay Area.
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SOURCE Metropolitan Transportation Commission