After launching in the summer of 2013, Bay Area Bike Share and its distinctive sea foam blue bikes have become part of the downtown landscape. However, due in part to the bike manufacturer going out of business in January of 2014, downtown is where the stations have remained. No more! Following an announcement last April that the system would grow tenfold and expand to the East Bay, we this week learned the proposed locations of the 72 new stations to grace our wonderful streets.
With a focus on the Mission, Castro, SoMa, Tenderloin, and Mission Bay, our Sunset friends may be quick to cry foul. However, the selected locations, according to Bay Area Bike Share, were chosen based on 5,000 suggestions submitted by the public which were then narrowed down via 70 meetings with stakeholders and nine public workshops.
According to BABS, the expansion will roll out over the course of two years starting late this year. When completed, the planned Bay Area expansion will grow the number of bikes from 700 to 7,000. The exact East Bay locations have yet to be announced.
So expect to see a lot more of these 44-pound rides on our streets in the near future. Also, this being San Francisco, expect to see a bunch of stories about these rides being stolen.
Related: SFPD Recovers First Stolen Bike Share, Shames Thieves Appropriately