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1 PW
Seen here:
http://www.seattlepi.com/local/poli...es-to-buy-failing-bicycle-sharing-6889850.php
From February/last month:
Seen here:
http://urbanland.uli.org/economy-markets-trends/bike-sharing-pedals-toward-fourth-global-generation/
http://www.seattlepi.com/local/poli...es-to-buy-failing-bicycle-sharing-6889850.php
Launched in October of 2014, the Pronto! bike sharing program was weeks from insolvency due to lack of ridership and revenue. The Seattle City Council stepped in Monday, voting 7-2 to spend $1.4 million taxpayer dollars to buy bike stations and other assets. The city will now take money from a $5 million transportation fund to possibly triple the number of stations and possibly expand into electric bicycles.
The purchase of Pronto, which was due to go insolvent, came at the request of the Seattle Department of Transportation. Transportation Department Director Scott Kubly was deeply involved in bike sharing in both the public and private sectors before coming to Seattle.
SDOT boss Kubly has a big background with bicycle sharing, including work with a firm that could seek to operate the city-owned operation.
He used to work for Alta Bicycle, now renamed Motivate, which operates the Pronto program. (Kudos to The Stranger for laying out the director's career moves.)
Kubly worked for transportation departments in Washington, D.C., and Chicago. He was a member of the selection committee in Chicago that picked Alta to run the Windy City's bike share program.
Kubly left his city job and worked as Alta's director before coming to work at the Seattle Department of Transportation.
From February/last month:
Public-use bike programs in over 60 cities in Europe currently have an e-bike component, and last year China forged ahead by adding 3,000 more e-bikes to a huge fleet in Jincheng. E-bikes, or “pedelecs,” are not solely electric because it is only after the cyclist pedals a few revolutions that the electric mechanism activates to ease the ride. This is why e-bikes are also called “pedal assist.”
Seen here:
http://urbanland.uli.org/economy-markets-trends/bike-sharing-pedals-toward-fourth-global-generation/