Bike-share programs in the Monterey Bay Tri-County Region

Short link to this post: http://bit.ly/BikeShareMRYBay

Bike-Sharing in Monterey County

For Monterey County updates, and to advocate for bike-sharing

To advocate for bicycling— regarding bike-sharing and more—you may wish to attend meetings of the Transportation Agency for Monterey County’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Facilities Advisory Committee.

Contact TAMC’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Facilities coordinator for updates about bike-sharing in Monterey County.

A partial history of bike-sharing efforts in Monterey County:

2019: Pam Marino of the Monterey County Weekly, 3/5/19, “TAMC board not ready yet to hitch a ride with shared scooters or bikes.” Marino stated on Twitter on 2/27/19, that the TAMC board “declined to adopt the dockless scooter/bike policies. Just received the report.” (TAMC presented to its board of directors on 2/27/19 “Dockless Bike/Scooter Shared Mobility Program Recommended Policies and Sample Ordinance” http://tamc.novusagenda.com/agendapublic/CoverSheet.aspx?ItemID=1543&MeetingID=213, and per TAMC: “The cities of Marina, Monterey, Pacific Grove, Salinas, and Seaside are looking into adopting policies to regulate dockless bike/scooter shared mobility programs.” Related story, “Lime eyeing Monterey for e-scooters,” by Dennis L. Taylor in Monterey County Herald, 3/28/19; and “pros and cons of electric scooters and other forms of emerging transportation options” on agenda for 4/16/19 Monterey City Council meeting—see Taylor’s story in the 4/15/19 Herald titled “Monterey begins parsing e-scooter regulations.”
2018: Monterey County Weekly report by Pam Marino, 11/15/18, “Peninsula cities are mixed in reactions to scooters and bike sharing.”
2015: You may also be interested in the Sept 2015 thesis of Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey student Shian Chin Kang of Singapore, “Studying Urban Mobility Through Modeling Demand in a Bike Sharing System”: http://faculty.nps.edu/ncrowe/oldstudents/sckang_thesis.htm
2012+: On this site, Bike-Sharing – Monterey County Feasibility and Bike-Sharing in Monterey County: Bicycle-Sharing Feasibility Update
Contact the City of Salinas—Public Works Department—for bike-sharing proposal updates for the Monterey County seat and largest city, Salinas. As reported in the Salinas Californian’s “We Could Car Less” column on 1/11/18, the City had received five bids from bike-share companies.
Contact the City of Seaside for updates about their bike-share system plans and the anticipated schedule of operations. In 2018 City of Seaside expected to have the first dockless bike-sharing in Monterey County, also anticipated to be the only bike-share system in the county at the time it was to launch. (Years back, the City of Salinas tried out a “Yellow Bike program,” quite different from today’s bike-sharing systems.) Seaside hoped to have the dockless bike sharing service begin operation in Seaside on June 7, 2018, the date of the celebration and ribbon-cutting for West Broadway Urban Village. The Seaside City Council authorized City Manager Craig Malin on May 3, 2018 to enter into an agreement with bike-share company, ofo US Ltd. To view the staff report, draft resolution, and operating agreement, refer to consent item K on the 5/3/18 Council agenda: http://seasideca.civicclerk.com/Web/Player.aspx?id=2382&key=-1&mod=-1&mk=-1&nov=0
Contact the City of Monterey for their bike-sharing proposal updates.
For other local cities and unincorporated areas, contact TAMC for updates.

For traditional bicycle rentals in Monterey County, see section 9 “BIKE RENTALS in Monterey County–plus Self-Led and Guided Tours” in the 20-section guide Tips for Bicycling Monterey County.

Bike-sharing in Seaside will allow visitors and residents to get HER Helmet Thursdays discounts even if they don’t have their own bicycle. Check out the first Seaside HER Helmet Thursdays spots, including Erik’s DeliCafe (pictured above).

Bike-Sharing in Santa Cruz County

Check with the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission for bike-sharing updates for that county: http://sccrtc.org.

Some history: Bike-sharing was scheduled to begin March 2018, in a partnership with Brooklyn, NY-based Social Bicycles. As reported in a 5/10/18 Santa Cruz Sentinel story, “Santa Cruz celebrates Bike to Work Day with e-bike share launch“: “In April (2018), ride-hailing service Uber acquired Jump Bikes, originally launched in 2011 as Social Bicycles.” It was planned to have 50 electric/e-assist bikes and 200 standard bikes.

For details, see the Santa Cruz Sentinel’s “Spin City” column by Karen Kefauver, October 19, 2017, “Bike share rolls into Santa Cruz.”

Bike-Sharing in San Benito County

For any San Benito County bike-sharing proposals or information, contact the San Benito County Council of Governments.

Foreground, at left: “Spin City” columnist Karen Kefauver at Monterey County’s Sea Otter Classic’s 2011 Ladies Day activities.

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This post was previously published on 21 October 2017 and includes a few 2018 and 2019 updates.

This post was published on 10 May 2018. One or more changes last made to this post on 1 March 2020.

Comments

2 responses to “Bike-share programs in the Monterey Bay Tri-County Region”

Founder, Bicycling Monterey
25 May 2018
Hi, Bill. First, thanks for being a great role model among the perennials who bike—and who volunteer in bike advocacy efforts too! We’ve added your talk at MLK, Seaside to https://bit.ly/KidsBikeToSchool, as another example of bike-related support for Monterey County students at elementary, middle, and high schools.
In Bicycling Monterey’s resources directory, Gears 4 Good is listed. People who are unable to purchase their own bicycle to get to school, work, etc. can contact Gears 4 Good about their need: http://gears4good.org.
We also appreciate your support for the Bridge; they’re in the directory too, and some of their B2B rides are on this site as well. Our available time and resources don’t allow starting a fundraising campaign for them (this website and other https://bit.ly/BikeMRYProjects are a volunteer gig), but please let us know if you do. Best wishes with all your good work.
Bill Ziering
25 May 2018
I’m Pokey Bill Ziering, 88, and a USAT triathlon ambassador and have 2 projects in mind. Yesterday, May 24, I spoke with 25 5th graders at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School in Seaside (and 2 other neighborhood schools 2 weeks before). It was an interactive discussion about the merits and joy of bike riding (also swimming, and jogging/hiking). But for want of a cycle and a companion, the children would be off and running ‘stead of on Instagram and computer games.
Even more germane. Today at the invitation of Pastor Mike Casey (“The Bridge” and Calvary Chapel), I’m to help guide the long term residents (addictive behavior) into a healthier lifestyle. I would suggest but for want of a bike (maybe 6 or so) at their facility, with counselling on repair, maintenance, and group riding programs, we could help “save lives” one starfish at a time. What do you think? Can you help? How about “GoFundMe” for bikes about $300 apiece? At their request I meet with them today (May 25, 2018).

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