Bike-sharing rolls toward summer launch

Pretty soon, San Francisco residents, tourists and commuters will have an alternative to waiting for Muni or hailing a cab to get around downtown.

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency has chosen 35 locations to be considered for The City’s bike-sharing program set to launch this summer.

The SFMTA has partnered with the Bay Area Quality Management District to create a bike sharing system to improve traffic and stimulate the local economy.

A map was released showing 41 spots downtown being considered for the bike share program. Six of the 41 stations will be installed after the August launch of the 350-bike pilot project.

The stations will be along Market Street from Van Ness Avenue to The Embarcadero. The SFMTA said that this corridor would be most conducive for a bike-share program and that the neighborhood “immediately jumps out.”

After a three- to six-month trial period, additional bikes could be added to the program along with more stations. A fleet of at least 500 sharable bicycles could be rolling throughout The City a few months later after funding becomes available.

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors on Tuesday passed legislation urging The City to launch a full-scale bike-sharing program by 2014.

SFMTA is working with bike-sharing contractor Alta Bike Share to finalize the proposed station locations in order to move forward with lease agreements.