Bay Area Bike Share comes to Bayview and Portola

Bay Area Bike share came out to the Bayview this week to get suggestions from the public as to where we thought bike share stations should be located.

If you're interested in making a suggestion, please look at the enclosed map. Blue boxes represent areas where there will be a Bike Share station. The box areas are sized such that no station will be more than a five-minute walk from the next station, and are located such that they are all connected with no "islands".

Yellow markers on the map are placed at locations at which they have determined a station could be located. We were asked tonight to weigh in on those yellow marker locations and if possible, suggest alternatives.

Flags were placed on the map by attendees tonight - green flags represent locations that got an up-vote, red flags a down-vote. After studying the map, please send suggestions to expansion@bayareabikeshare.com or submit comments at http://suggest.bayareabikeshare.com/ Stations will hold between 15-19 bikes and will take up 50-60' of curb space. They have attempted to minimize removal of parking. For instance, stations in the Portola would likely not be placed on San Bruno Ave.

The bikes themselves are heavy, distinctive, and are made with proprietary parts, meaning they won't often get stripped of parts because parts can't be sold so as to be used on retail bikes. The bikes don't have a basket, so taking the grocery shopping would be tough, but they do have a funky spot up front to put a bag if your load is light. They have a headlight and taillight that activate when the bike moves. They are only one gear, so you'll likely only see them on the flat-ish bike network.

The goal of putting bikes in the Southeast is for riders to commute on them, either entire trips or to BART, and to make short recreational trips.