SANTA CRUZ, Calif. — The community is invited to the ribbon-cutting for a new countywide bike share system that launches throughout the City of Santa Cruz and UC Santa Cruz campus on Tuesday, June 20. The event begins at 2 p.m. with refreshments hosted by bike share vendor BCycle at Santa Cruz City Hall Courtyard, 809 Center Street.
The event continues at 2:30 p.m. with remarks from officials including Santa Cruz Mayor Fred Keeley, UCSC Chancellor Cynthia Larive, City of Santa Cruz Public Works Director Nathan Nguyen and BCycle Executive Director Brian Conger. The event concludes with these and other officials taking a short inaugural bike ride at 3 p.m.
The event kicks off public access to a countywide bike share system that also includes the County of Santa Cruz, City of Capitola, Cabrillo College and City of Watsonville. The system, fully owned and operated by BCycle, is scheduled to extend to these other locations in early 2024. BCycle and its parent company, Trek, are financing all capital and operating costs.
The June 20 launch will include up to 400 electric-assist bikes available at 800 docks throughout the City of Santa Cruz and UCSC. The countywide rollout will eventually extend the system to include 660 total e-bikes and 1,320 total docks.
This implementation of a regional bike share system reflects the policy goals of the participating jurisdictions to reduce single-occupant vehicle trips and greenhouse gas emissions, improve multimodal mobility, and increase the number of trips made by non-auto modes. A single vendor was chosen to ensure that bike sharing is available and accessible for all community members, including students and those with limited income. The six-partner jurisdictions are providing a convenient, sustainable and affordable way for community members and visitors to travel countywide.
Users can sign up to ride, find stations, and unlock electric bikes by downloading and using the BCycle mobile app. Link to download the BCycle app and bike share details, including system pricing, are available at cityofsantacruz.com/bikeshare where questions and comments may be submitted. UCSC affiliates may subscribe to the monthly newsletter Slugs on the Move at taps.ucsc.edu for updates about UCSC affiliate pricing and Slug Bike Lifeemail sign-up; they may contact tapssales@ucsc.edu with questions.
About BCycle
BCycle, a fully owned subsidiary of Trek Bicycle, is on a mission to change the world by getting more people on bikes. Headquartered in Waterloo, Wis., BCycle develops and delivers best-in-class bike share systems to cities across the country by partnering with organizations to deliver and operate community-based bike share.
