The first bike share program in Los Angeles County just got up and running in Santa Monica, Metro's bike share is coming to Downtown LA next year (it will expand after that), and Long Beach has something close to launch too; now West Hollywood is getting the wheels moving on its bike share. Set to launch next spring, it'll have 150 bikes available through 20 stations in WeHo and beyond (possible other locations might include Hollywood & Highland and the Grove), says WeHoville. The bike system will be operated by CycleHop, which is also operating the program in Santa Monica and will soon be running bike shares in Beverly Hills and Long Beach, as well as at UCLA.
The CycleHop system is a so-called "smart bike" system, meaning that the bikes can be dropped off outside of a designated hub because all the tech necessary for operators to locate and pick up the bike is in the thing itself. Metro, however, will be using a different system in its program, meaning that riders on Metro bikes won't be able to just return them to SaMo or WeHo CycleHop hubs or docking stations.
WeHo chose to go with CycleHop because they'd deemed the Metro system to be "a financial burden" for them. (Metro would require cities to pay for 65 percent of operation costs, and that they would keep all the revenue generated from sponsorship deals and ads.) By striking out on their own, WeHo projects (using the same pricing structure as Santa Monica) that they'll make $200,000 a year on the bike share. The city will be taking public comment on potential future station locations soon, via a website.
· WeHo to Launch Bike Share Program This Spring [WeHoville]
· First Bike Share Program in LA Has Launched in Santa Monica [Curbed LA]
· Take a First Glimpse at Los Angeles's New Bike Share System [Curbed LA]