This May, about 250 Trek electric bikes will descend on downtown Santa Barbara, part of the city’s first bike-share program. The e-bikes, programmed to hit top speeds of 17 miles per hour with pedal assist, will cost riders $5 for the first half hour.
Of the three companies that applied for the city’s contract, the Trek-owned bikeshare company BCycle was the only one to offer all-electric bikes, said city traffic planner Rob Dayton. According to Dayton, BCycle has been in the bike share business for 10 years and is now operating in 50 cities. “They’re not going anywhere,” he said. Nor did it hurt that Trek CEO John Burke lives part-time in Santa Barbara, Dayton added.
Unlike “dockless” bikeshare programs in cities like Seattle, where bikes tend to pile up, BCycle is proposing a docked system in which the docks look more like bike racks than corrals. The downside of a docked system is it can limit riders’ destinations to places with docks. In S.B., docks will be installed on city sidewalks.