Metro’s new 65-station bike share is officially scheduled to open in Downtown in just a couple of days, on July 7, and it’s already trying not to replicate the shortcomings of other bike shares. KPCC reports that the agency has partnered with non-profit transit advocates Multicultural Communities for Mobility (MCM) to try and attract more low-income riders—a group that’s often left behind by bike share programs, studies of such programs across the country have shown.
"Historically in other cities that have done bike-share, they’ve really been looking at this demographic of more affluent people that don’t necessarily ride bikes or take transit," a rep for MCM tells KPCC. They’re planning on reaching out to target communities and surveying them to find price points that might attract more lower-income folks to the bike share.
Currently, the rates start at $20 for a monthly pass, $40 for a yearly pass, or $3.50 per half hour for walk-up riders. (The walk-up option isn’t available until August 1.) "Low-income people are less likely to buy monthly or yearly passes for transit, although it would make the price of bike sharing more affordable," says KPCC.
Metro is also thinking about offering a low-income rider discount for bike share, similar to what it already has for buses and rail.
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