Bike Sharing

Coming Soon to Santa Clara County!

VTA, in partnership with the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) is working on a regional pilot program to bring bike sharing to the Bay Area. The pilot program will provide 1,000 bicycles and approximately 100 bike share stations along the Caltrain corridor in San Jose, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Redwood City and San Francisco. Of these, 400 bikes will be available at the Caltrain stations and downtown areas in San Jose, Mountain View and Palo Alto. The pilot program is funded through local and regional grants in combination with a $4.3 million grant from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s Climate Initiatives Grant program. 

What is Bike Share?

Bike share systems provide a network of iconic public bicycles from self-service bike share stations located around town. Similar to car-sharing, members can check out a bicycle, ride to their destination and return the bicycle to any bike share pod in the system. Bike share uses unique, commuter-style bicycles designed for urban use and employs high-tech features such as smart cards, solar powered stations, wireless internet, and GPS technologies.       

Where will Bike Share be implemented?

In Santa Clara County, the Palo Alto, Mt. View and San Jose Diridon Caltrain transit centers will serve as the main bike share hubs with the largest number of bikes and docks. Within 3 miles of the transit centers, multiple bike share stations will be placed at high activity areas such as downtown, universities, shopping centers, city halls and major employment centers making it easier to quickly and conveniently connect to and from transit or make a short distance trip by bike.

Know of a good location for bike share? Email your suggestions to bikeshare@vta.org.

What’s going on now?

The Bike Share Request for Proposals (RFP) is now closed. Thank you to all interested parties who responded. To view the closed RFP and related documents, visit the Bay Area Air Quality Management District webpage.

The pilot is expected to run for a minimum of 12 months, followed by an evaluation to determine the next phase of the program. The partners are currently working to identify station locations in the pilot cities. 

When will Bike Share open?

The regional partners will select a vendor to install, operate and manage the bike share system in 2013. Stay tuned for more information as we get closer to the official launch.

For more information, contact VTA at bikeshare@vta.org or visit the Bay Area Air Quality Management District website to learn more about the regional pilot program.

FAQ's