Ann Arbor Council OKs $150K for Bike Share
A bike share program on the University of Michigan campus and in an area west of campus in downtown Ann Arbor will have the support of a $150,000 expenditure from the city’s Ann Arbor’s alternative transportation fund. The bike share initiative is also supported by the University of Michigan and the Ann Arbor-based Clean Energy Coalition (CEC).
Potential specific and general bike share station locations in Ann Arbor. The program would include 12-14 bike share stations with an anticipated total of 120-140 bicycles. The contract to provide the service was won by B-Cycle.
The selected vendor is B-Cycle. In a bike share program, users get access to bicycles parked at a station by swiping their credit card or membership card. Users can then return the bicycle to another station location near their destination.
The Ann Arbor city council’s action authorizing the alternative transportation funds came at its Aug. 8, 2013 meeting. The vote was 9-2, with dissent from Sally Petersen (Ward 2) and Marcia Higgins (Ward 4).
The city’s $150,000 will provide the necessary local match for a $600,000 Federal Highway Administration Congestion Mitigation Air Quality (CMAQ) grant that the CEC has received. The CMAQ funds are required to be spent on capital (bikes and stations). Operations will be supported in the first three years of the program by UM at a level of $200,000 annually for a total of $600,000.
This brief was filed from the city council’s chambers on the second floor of city hall, located at 301 E. Huron. A more detailed report will follow: [link]