Portland considers rental bikes for city's gathering spots

PORTLAND — Despite the failure of a project to provide free bicycles, a City Council member wants to see whether Portland is bike-happy enough to support a rental enterprise, perhaps subsidized by taxpayers.

The idea comes from City Commissioner Sam Adams, who took a spin on a shared bike during a trip to Lyon, France, last year.

Bike activists applaud the idea.

"This could be a great option for people who just want to give a bike a try," said Allison Hill of the nonprofit Community Cycling Center.

"If you could pay $5 to use one for a quick errand or part of the day, wouldn't you?"

This spring, the city transportation office will seek proposals from companies willing to provide at least 500 rental bikes at several dozen locations, including such gathering spots as Pioneer Courthouse Square, Lloyd Center, Reed College and Portland's high schools.

Several U.S. cities, including San Francisco, Chicago and Washington, D.C., are looking at bike-sharing programs to encourage more cyclists, offer tourists a new way to see the city, and curb traffic and pollution.

In Lyon, the third-largest city in France, the bicycle program began with 1,500 two-wheelers two years ago.

Soon, the city will offer 4,000 at almost 400 automated kiosks.

Adams thinks Portland, which is slightly larger than Lyon, with similar weather and fewer hills, can replicate that success.

In Lyon, the first half-hour is free and every full hour after that costs about $1.30. Ninety percent of all rentals last less than 30 minutes, meaning the city makes little off the bikes themselves.

The city does not plan to repeat its Yellow Bike Project, a grass-roots effort several years ago to provide free, brightly painted bikes to all comers.

That nonprofit effort started with a burst of national attention, then died when the bikes disappeared.