Bike Share Kicks Off With Celebrations Thursday

Mountain View will host a ribbon-cutting ceremony to launch the start of the Bay Area Bike Share program this Thursday.

Mayor John Inks, Councilwoman and VTA Board Member Margaret Abe-Koga and City Manager Dan Rich will welcome the bikes on August 29 at 10 a.m. at the Mountain View's City Hall—the site of one the five docking stations in the city.
Other docking stations include the Mountain View and San Antonio Caltrain Stations, the Evelyn VTA Light Rail station and the corner of Rengstorff Avenune and California Street

"Improving bike and pedestrian mobility is a high priority for the City of Mountain View and we have made significant investments in new bike facilities," Rich said. "We are pleased to participate in the Bay Area Bike Share pilot program to improve opportunities for our residents and visitors to get around safely and conveniently on a bicycle."

Rates to join Bay Area Bike Share will be $88 for an annual pass, $22 for a three-day pass and $9 for a daily pass. Each pass provides for unlimited trips during the membership period, with no additional cost for the first 30 minutes of each trip. Trips that exceed 30 minutes will incur surcharges. 

The Bike Share program encouraged people to sign-up for annual memberships and the first 1,000 member would be considered founding members. So far only 787 people have become annual members, according to VTA spokeswoman Brandi Childress. (Disclosure: This editor is number 60!).

After the Mountain View launch, the public will have access to shared bicycles 24 hours a day, seven days a week at specific locations within the cities of San Francisco, Redwood City, Palo Alto, Mountain View and San Jose.