Alta to bring bike sharing to Portland
New York is where Alta established Citi Bike with a huge cash infusion from Citibank.
Despite some early glitches, Citi Bike has become highly successful. The owner is BikeShare Holdings, which is led by Jay Walder, the former chair of New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
Bike advocate Jonathan Maus, who is behind bikeportland.org, said he believes changes in management and Alta’s location could further delay a bike share program in Portland. The city has a contract with Alta to bring bike sharing to Portland.
Additionally, a $2 million federal grant to get the program going was in place three years ago in a city that has more bike lanes than anywhere in America and where at least 19,000 people commute by bike every day.
“If PBOT and if city hall really wanted to have a bike share, we’d have bike share,” said Maus.
Dylan Rivera with PBOT said the bureau is taking a cautious approach.
“We want the private sector to invest in the system, and so we’re working with potential sponsors and we’re evaluating this rapidly changing industry,” said Rivera.
Rob Sadowski of the Bicycle Transportation Alliance points to cities such as New York, Chicago, Washington, D.C. and Seattle, which already have bike share programs that were all started by Alta.