What Do You Get with a $5,500 Bike?
The Bend Metropolitan Planning Organization (BMPO) is considering a bike-sharing program which could allow people to rent city-owned bikes from kiosks around Bend. Sounds like a nice little plan to offer people alternatives to cars and quick ways to get around town. The concept is to rent a bike from a public docking station and drop it off at any other station when you’re done.
A bicycle sharing program is a service in which bicycles are made available for shared use to individuals who do not own them. The central concept of these systems is to provide affordable access to bicycles for short-distance trips in urban areas, thereby reducing traffic congestion, noise and air pollution.
Concerns have already been raised that other bike-sharing programs haven’t been so successful including one in Portland. But keep in mind that the original Portland plan was for free bikes and many were stolen and damaged. Portland’s new bike-sharing plan will cost about $4 million to get up and running; with $2 million coming from the federal flexible funding grant and the other $2 million from private investments. Rental bike-sharing systems have been successful in 12 major cities across the country including San Antonio, Ft. Lauderdale, Minneapolis and Washington D.C.
In Florida, for instance, Broward County’s newest mode of public transportation and the first countywide bike-sharing system in the nation, Broward B-cycle, is rolling strong. It has only been a few months since the County’s blue bikes first rolled out and more than 7,600 trips have already been taken.
This is good news for bike-sharing programs but Bend should proceed cautiously. First the question should be asked as to the cost: where did they come up with the idea that a bike would cost $5,500 as reported recently in the Bend Bulletin. Perhaps the BPO is thinking of purchasing a very high-end model such as the hand-made Titanium Cantilever frame that’s said to be as light as carbon fiber, stronger than steel, and rust and corrosion-proof – and costs $5,500. You have the choice of a belt-driven single speed or for an extra $750, an 11-speed internally geared transmission. Is all this necessary for our local bike program?
For your information the BMPO, which looked at the bike program at a recent meeting, is the federally designated regional transportation planning organization for Bend. It serves as a forum for cooperative transportation decision-making by state and local governments, and regional transportation and planning agencies. MPOs are charged with maintaining and conducting a “continuing, cooperative, and comprehensive” regional transportation planning and project programming process for the MPO area.” City Councilors Mark Capell and Tom Greene represent the city on the board.
Given the current Bend city council’s propensity for wayward spending a careful review of costs should be undertaken. While visions of spending on the shared bikes concept swirl around Bend city councilors’ heads, the city should weigh other priorities from water and sewer issues to police and fire funding.
The council has still not come up with a plan for the now vacant historic Goodwillie-Allan-Rademacher House in downtown Bend on the river, which once housed Arts Central. Nor has it found a way to solve the crime problem in the riverfront square. The city council must take a leadership role in not only securing that property from unsavory activities but finding a long term suitable use for the building, one that will best serve the community.
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could have it all? pha
