Dive Brief:
- Central Los Angeles will add more than 20 docked bike-share stations and more than 300 electric bikes to its Metro Bike Share system, according to a joint announcement from the city, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) and the Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT).
- The new stations will be located near major transit hubs and other destinations in central LA, officials said. They are made possible by a more than $2 million Active Transportation Program Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund grant that Metro received last year from the State of California.
- "It's a fact that electric bikes make getting around by bike easier for more people more often," LADOT general manager Seleta Reynolds said in a statement. "We are confident that they will connect more Angelenos to each other and to greater opportunities."
Dive Insight:
More bike-share systems have been adding e-bikes to their fleets as part of a wider trend that has outpaced traditional pedal bikes in popularity. In recent months, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, New York and Chicago have either introduced or approved deals to add e-bikes as part of fleet expansions. In cities like Los Angeles, they will be particularly helpful as riders navigate steep hills and get to and from transit stations that might be relatively far from where they live.
Recent safety concerns over e-bikes seem to have faded as such expansions gather momentum. In April, Lyft pulled several thousand e-bikes from use in New York, San Francisco and Washington, DC due to brake problems, and electric scooters have also been at the center of safety concerns around battery fires. However, many issues have been isolated or quickly addressed, allowing companies and cities to continue pursuing the electric mobility trend.
This latest expansion comes with Los Angeles determined to shake its reputation for crippling traffic and reliance on personal cars.
In addition to discussing congestion pricing to try and discourage driving, its transit system is getting a facelift as part of the city's "Twenty-eight by '28" list, which consists of the 28 transportation projects it aims to complete before the city hosts the 2028 Summer Olympics. Metro plans to add more bikes throughout Los Angeles County to areas like North Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley, building towards a region-wide fleet of more than 4,000 bikes.