Two newly released maps new show over 80 percent of the locations proposed or sited for the Ford GoBike bike share stations throughout San Francisco and San Jose. The soon-to-launch program will boast more bike share bicycles per capita than anywhere else in North America.
The station maps released by global bike share operations leader Motivate and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) offer the most detailed plans yet for the public-private partnership’s new regional transportation network. The updated maps now detail site locations for 454 Ford GoBike planned stations throughout the Bay Area, which account for more than 83 percent of the 546-station system once completed next year.
Motivate and MTC also announced another series of community planning workshops in San Francisco later this spring, which will begin the planning process for the final phase of the Ford GoBike system. Community workshops are a key first step in a comprehensive engagement process to ensure that the new bike share system best meets the needs of Bay Area residents, neighborhoods and businesses.
The new regional bike share system, which will be known as Ford GoBike under a major partnership announced with Ford Motor Company last year, will offer near ubiquitous access to bike share throughout San Francisco, and provide some 1,000 bike share bikes at 80 stations in San Jose. Oakland, Berkeley and Emeryville, whose Ford GoBike station locations were announced earlier this year, will be also be part of a unified regional bike share system that will ultimately include 7,000 bikes system-wide.
“After nearly two years of planning, and countless hours of input from neighbors and the community, the Ford GoBike system is coming to fruition — and San Jose is excited for it,” said San Jose City Councilmember Raul Peralez, whose downtown district will include a significant number of Ford GoBike stations. “Bike share is an on-demand, affordable and fun transportation option that’s especially well-suited to mobility in downtown areas like those I represent. It facilitates easier access to our existing transit systems, and it even benefits motorists by reducing the number of cars on the road for short trips. I’m proud to have sponsored urban biking workshops in San Jose to enhance safety and encourage biking. I think Ford GoBike will play an important role in helping even more commuters to see biking as a convenient transportation alternative.”
“I’m a strong believer that improving safety and access for bicycles is an important part of improving the quality of life in our neighborhoods — for residents, visitors and businesses alike,” said San Francisco Supervisor Mark Farrell, whose district will include Ford GoBike stations in multiple locations. “I was proud to be an early supporter of bike share in San Francisco, and I’m grateful to MTC and Motivate for leading a thoughtful and collaborative planning process with community leaders, businesses and neighbors — not just in my district, but throughout the Bay Area. It’s an approach built to serve neighborhoods’ needs, and I’m looking forward to the benefits Ford GoBike will offer.”
The maps of San Francisco and San Jose show significant growth in bike share stations from their current pilot programs. In San Francisco’s new station map, neighborhoods to be newly served by the Ford GoBike system will include the Richmond District, Laurel Heights, Inner Sunset, Sunset, Ingleside, West Portal, S.F. State and Lakeside. In San Jose, plans detailed on today’s map for the new Ford GoBike system include stations around San Jose State University, Northside, Japantown, Willow Glen, Spartan-Keyes and Rosemary Gardens. As part of its ongoing outreach and engagement efforts, Motivate will continue soliciting public feedback on planned locations.
Station locations were selected through an extensive community engagement process and are the product of over 250 meetings with local officials, community leaders, business owners and residents, 27 public workshops, and door-to-door outreach, with more still to come. There is also an online station-suggestion portal that has generated over 5,000 unique station location suggestions submitted by the public so far. Motivate will continue this outreach as it plans the final portion of the Ford GoBike network later this spring.
