Comments on: San Antonio getting public bike share, should we be envious?

By: Dawn

Dawn — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 00:50:50 +0000

If you come to San Antonio, definitely try the bikeshare. I used it today, and loved it. I work in downtown San Antonio and will use bikeshare for short errands during the day. Others are using bikeshare as a “park and ride.” Why buy a bike when I have one sitting outside my door at work? What’s not to love? And, congratulations to B-Cycle for a fanstatic program. It works!!! Yeah!!!!

Oh, and by the way, the desirable place to live in San Antonio is urban Pearl Brewery or South Town. Perfect for bikers. (It feels like people from Austin don’t know what’s happening 100 miles to the south.)

By: ATX Bikette

ATX Bikette — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 02:08:22 +0000

effects* sorry that really bothers me.

By: ATX Bikette

ATX Bikette — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 02:07:44 +0000

It seems targeted to tourists and SA people who want to tour their own city, judging by the comments from city leaders and the location in central SA. The desirable part to live in is northern SA, far away from downtown and the bikes.

A bike share would be unnecessary here in ATX, unless it was a very small one targeted towards tourists downtown. A bike can be had for pretty cheap, and one of the unintended affects noticed elsewhere is that people tend to go buy their own bikes after a bikeshare is implemented. Not a bad thing, just something to keep in mind before you go buy 500 bikes.

By: elliott

elliott — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 05:40:27 +0000

Annie D.,
If bike share is for tourists, than that’s another story. That is not the way bike share has been sold in Austin or other cities I’ve read about. Instead, it is being positioned as a facilitator to getting more people on bikes where we don’t currently have many. My point is that bike share cannot do that, and if getting majority culture adoption of cycling as legitimate transport is the goal, facilities for all skill levels, not bike share, will get us there.

I would say that if San Antonio wants to get beyond tourists using bike share, halting the sprawl and redeveloping your urban core is the direction to go, not more spread out. You have a really great urban core if resources were put there. I’m not holding my breath, but downtown San Antonio and the surrounding neighborhood could be really great, walkable, livable neighborhoods, not just a tourist land, if the city tried.

By: Annie D.

Annie D. — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 21:54:31 +0000

San Antonio is not Austin at all. The size is different, and the bikeability is very different. I’ve ridden my bike a lot in San Antonio, and they are putting in a lot of effort to make it better to ride around central San Antonio, ex. FREE bike maps, large movements for greenbelt conectivity, lots of bike lanes, plus a bike trail that connects the Missions. Plus San Antonio is not as dense as Austin, people don’t live cramed into downtown, it’s mostly for the tourists, so traffic is really light, and fun and easy to ride in. I’m assuming that this is not mainly for the people of SA, but for the tourists, which has it’s +/-, but because tourists will use it because SA is easier to ride in I think it might actually work on the small scale. So it may not be right for Austin right now, but I think SA could make it work for their city and their circumstances.

By: elliott

elliott — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 14:04:39 +0000

Rob,
I’m also reminded of the millions of dollars CapMetro gave for roads after the 2000 light rail election failed. Think if they had spent that money on infrastructure like bike facilities that actually enhanced ridership? CapMetro is pretty broke right now, but if they have money to spent, it should be on bike infrastructure, like that rails with trails network we were promised, not bike share.

By: elliott

elliott — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 14:01:17 +0000

Yeah, but if the roads you ride on aren’t bikeable to all skill levels when you get to your rail stop, people will not use it. I think bike share before you have good infrastructure is cart in front of horse. It makes cities feel good because it’s a program they can point at as progress without addressing making room for bicycles and pedestrians (which inevitably comes at the cost of room for cars.) Bike share should augment an already great system, not a silver bullet to replace one.

By: D'Amico

D'Amico — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 13:37:52 +0000

Then again, how much money was spent on the commuter train? Cap Metro should be working with the city on public private partnerships to get something small going to get commuters from the station to their ultimate destination. If you had even five small share stations around downtown, you might be able to bolster ridership a bit…and the bikes could advertise cigarettes!

By: psyfusion (psyfusion)

psyfusion (psyfusion) — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 01:49:23 +0000

RT @austinon2wheels: San Antonio getting public bike share, should ATX be envious? http://bit.ly/c2LsO9 I say no. #yellowbike.org