I think we need a better explanation than "profit motive" because that can't explain why SF, and Portland Biketown, are hybrid and operated by the same people. I think only local rules can explain the difference.
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BayWheels has indicated they aren’t adding any more hybrid dockless bikes to the SF system. They conveniently decided to pull the plug on them just when the e-bikes were being reintroduced to the East Bay, making the previously planned expansion to E Oakland impossible.
aug 31, 2025, 12:28 am • 2 0 • view
Portland’s bike share is operated by Lyft but publicly owned by the city. BayWheels is privately owned & operated. Publicly owned bike share systems (like Portland, LA or DC) tend to center access & equity more than privately owned ones.
aug 31, 2025, 12:31 am • 5 0 • view
Pre-pandemic I was working w the East Bay cities to advocate for bringing e-bikes back w hybrid dockless, better pricing structures, & serving more of Oakland. The local cities were clamoring for this, & yet Lyft didn’t follow up for nearly 5 years. It’s the profit motive, not a local rules issue.
aug 31, 2025, 12:35 am • 1 0 • view
ALSO Lyft only followed up to bring e-bikes back to the East Bay when they got a $20M bailout from MTC. Ridership has exploded since then, contrary to Lyft’s prior claims that they couldn’t afford to provide more service in the East Bay due to low ridership.
aug 31, 2025, 12:37 am • 2 0 • view
When Lyft’s Bay Area bike share contract is up in 2027 MTC needs to simply take it over themselves. Lyft could still participate as a contracted operator, but we need to stop subsidizing private companies with public tax dollars. Bike share should be public transit.
aug 31, 2025, 12:40 am • 10 1 • view
Bay Area's biggest failing is too many tech people who want to try novel neo-liberal ideas for public services that depend on profit Other cities have publicly owned bike share with a democratic process for this We should be preparing now to switch Bay Wheels to that more successful model
aug 31, 2025, 12:49 am • 4 1 • view
Uh I think it's pretty difficult to know the history of Lyft bike share, through Motivate, Alta, 8D, and the Montreal Public Bike System, and conclude that it was a neoliberal silicon valley idea.
aug 31, 2025, 3:25 am • 3 0 • view
This is not a complete list, but I looked at the largest bike sharing systems and most are publicly owned Publicly owned: Montreal Toronto CDMX Boston Barcelona Chicago LA DC Portland Philadelphia Paris Taipei London Amsterdam Seville Privately owned: SF NYC Toyko
aug 31, 2025, 6:07 am • 2 0 • view
While publicly owned bike share systems can be more effective than privately owned systems the operational model can also have an impact. In China I found systems run by the local transportation department were more effective than public private partnerships. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...
aug 31, 2025, 6:52 am • 1 0 • view
Thanks for the research! It matches my intuition that bike share works best integrated with a public transit network.
aug 31, 2025, 6:56 am • 1 0 • view
when were done saving transit i want the next campaign to be rollout baypass and as part of it do municipal bikeshare with cost included in baypass
aug 31, 2025, 7:06 am • 2 0 • view
I’ll be generous & say the privately-owned bike share experiment has proven the demand & the system now deserves to be publicly owned/funded. A similar trajectory as to rail transit in the mid-1900s. Let’s not make the same mistake by allowing service to degrade before then.
aug 31, 2025, 12:54 am • 2 0 • view
And expanded to include all residents in participating cities at a price they can afford It wouldn't even cost that much. DC Bikeshare costs about $10M a year to operate a similarly sized system. Covers 96% of those costs with prices that are less than half what Bay Wheel charges
aug 31, 2025, 1:48 am • 1 0 • view