SANTA CRUZ – A bike sharing system could make a return to Santa Cruz after more than a year-long hiatus.
Bike sharing allows residents to pick a special bike up off the street and ride it with a designated app. Depending on the bike share company, users can pay for the time they use the bike, or the distance.
The city had a former contract with JUMP Bikes, which started in 2018. The partnership ended shortly after the start of the pandemic. The city was concerned about the potential for COVID-19 to spread through the shared use of the bikes, according to Transportation Planner Claire Gallogly.
“When COVID hit, there was so much uncertainty. We weren’t sure how to keep to public safe and how to keep JUMP employees safe,” she said. “So, we temporarily pressed pause.”
Now, the city has decided to resume its effort to provide a bike share service. The Public Works and Transportation Commission, an advisory board for City Council, is set to discuss the issue, Monday. If approved by the commission, it will move a recommendation to the council to send out a request for proposal for bike sharing services, which the council will deliberate Tuesday.
Securing a bike share service is part of an effort by the city to become a low-emission, pedestrian-friendly city. Santa Cruz is one of 15 cities in the U.S. to receive a gold ranking from the League of American Bicyclists for the effort, according to Gallogly. Now, the city strives to earn a platinum ranking.
One such way of upgrading to the platinum ranking is with the implementation of a bike share service. In the two short years JUMP Bikes were available in Santa Cruz, the bikes logged more than 680,00 rides, and traveled farther than 1.3 million miles. Each bike was used roughly four times per day with an average trip of 1.9 miles, Gallogly stated.
“We think of replacing car trips,” she said. “That was our sweet spot. We were really pleased at the role bike share played in our overall mobility system.”
Other ways the city can continue to work toward the platinum ranking is by improving biking infrastructure. The League of American Bicyclists recommended the implementation of separated biking facilities, which the city is planning with the rail trail. Increased education and other bike encouraging activities can help boost the city into the platinum tier.
As Santa Cruz shifts its focus toward the return of bike share services, it has considered re-engaging in a contract with JUMP Bikes, now owned by LIME – a bike and scooter share service. However, the city wants to keep its options open since a new contract with LIME would likely include scooter sharing, as well.
“In our discussion with LIME on the possibility of keeping bike share going in Santa Cruz, LIME was offering a scooter and bike share system,” Gallogly said. “We didn’t feel in good conscious that we could just assign the contract to them without going out in due process.”
While the city hears proposals from multiple bike and scooter sharing services, it will also look for a way to establish a regional bike share system that isn’t locked to city limits. This would allow someone to ride a bike from Capitola Village to downtown Santa Cruz without needing to switch bikes or bike providers.
The implementation of a bike share service will also benefit residents who have limited options for transportation. The city plans to require a low-income pass program with whichever bike share program it partners with. The city’s partnership with jump provided a $5 per month service that gave low-income residents 60 minutes of ride time a day.
“We’re looking to create something similar to that for communities who want o cycle, but possibly can’t afford to own a bike or rent at market rates,” Gallogly said.
Having a bike share service is an added convenience to some residents but should come with caution. Santa Cruz is consistently ranked near the top of bicycle-related accidents for a city its size.
Bicyclists in Santa Cruz County were involved in 789 incidents from 2015 to 2019, according to a report from UC Berkley. That ranks the county 16th among California’s 58 counties. Seven of those incidents proved to be fatal.
Despite the high level of bicycle-related incidents, numbers have been trending downwards. Over the five-year period, cyclist-related incidents fell to 133 in 2019 from 195 incidents in 2015. Numbers in 2019 were a slight climb from 121 incidents the previous year.
The decrease in bicycle-related traffic incidents could be the result of infrastructure improvement projects by the city. Santa Cruz has made improvements at more than 50 intersections that see high levels of bicycle collisions over the last two years, according to Gallogly.
“We are working on infrastructure projects every day to address those numbers,” she said. “It’s our jobs to bring forward the safest projects and the safest recommendations and that is something that we are really committed to doing.”
Gallogly also noted the importance of high ridership in statistics like that. In 2019, Santa Cruz had the second highest rate of bike ridership in the U.S., according to the League of American Bicyclists. The city had a bicycle commuting rate of 13.2%, behind only Davis.
“We are compared to communities that have 0.3% of people riding,” Gallogly said. “While we do have more collisions, we also have more people riding.”
The Public Works and Transportation Commission is set to discuss the request for proposal at 6 p.m. on Monday. Residents can participate in the meeting via Zoom with the access code 943 2915 7819.
The issue will then move to the City Council chambers on Tuesday. The meeting will start at 11:30 a.m. with the item to be discussed later in the day. Residents can view the meeting at cityofsantacruz.com/allmeetings, communitytv.org/watch or Comcast channel 25. They can also log on via Zoom with the access code 946 8440 1344.
Addition of a bike share service will not cost the city any money. The city’s previous contract with JUMP Bikes did not provide any additional revenue to the city, but it will explore options for a share of revenue from a future program.
“In the last year-plus since JUMP left, I have gotten countless calls who have repeatedly asked when bike share is coming back,” Gallogly said. “We’re really looking forward to partnering with a solid vendor to bring a sustainable system back to town.”
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