REPORT TO COUNCIL
SUBJECT
Title
Dockless Bike Share Pilot Program Update (Information Only)
Report
BACKGROUND
On February 16, 2018, City Council ranked the 2018 Study Issue DPW 18-08 Develop a Dockless Bicycle Share Pilot Program at the 2018 Study Issues Workshop and directed staff to move forward with this study issue. Staff worked with the City Attorney's Office to prepare the Request for Proposal (RFP) and the Licensing Agreement for launching the Dockless Bike Share Program.
In June 2018, a RFP was issued to solicit proposals from bike share operators to provide a pilot program for a dockless, free-floating bike share system citywide at no cost to the City. Neutron Holdings, Inc., a company headquartered in Delaware (also known as Lime), was the only vendor who has responded with a proposal. They were invited to an in-person interview with City staff in July 2018, where they presented their program's launch and operation plan. The pilot program would only include dockless bike share (electric-assisted bikes, aka e-bikes); scooters would not be part of the pilot program. Since this was a dockless bike share system, no permanent infrastructure would be required to be installed on the City's right-of-way.
In October 2018, the city entered a licensing agreement with Lime to operate a dockless bike share pilot program within the city. The program was officially launched on December 17, 2018 with 300 e-bikes, with a goal of eventually growing to 1,000 e-bikes within the city. Lime bikes were located throughout the city, including popular locations such as the Civic Center, Sunnyvale Public Library, Community Center, City parks, and Sunnyvale downtown. Users were required to download the Lime mobile app to locate and rent bikes at a cost; the rental fees were $1 to unlock the bike, and 15 cents for every minute of use thereafter.
In February 2019, due to a change in their business model and focus, Lime discontinued their bike share business nationwide to focus...
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