For more than 10 years now, the Trek Bicycle Corporation has wanted to launch a commercial bike-share program on the streets of Santa Barbara. This week, Trek — in the form of its subsidiary BCycle — is launching such a program with a fleet of all electric bikes under what could be about the worst conditions imaginable — with COVID raging and heavy rains predicted. Still, it’s a start for what could eventually become one of the premier electric-bike-share operations in the country.
Beginning about 7 a.m. Thursday, around 75 white electric bikes will be distributed throughout Santa Barbara’s downtown in the black docking stations installed late last year. The bikes, made for entry-level riders, weigh 58 pounds, can hit maximum speeds of 17 miles per hour with no pedal assist, and are good for 30-mile trips. Annual members cost $150. For nonmembers, a half-hour rental costs $7.
“Santa Barbara is such a huge cycling community, with downtown, City College, and UCSB,” said Jesse Rosenberg, the PR and operations chief imported to Santa Barbara by BCycle to launch the new program. Santa Barbara, she noted, has ranked high in top cities for cycling many years in a row. “People here are so oriented to the outdoors, and most destinations in Santa Barbara are less than 30 minutes away,” she added.