Drafter
Clerk 07/12/2010
Title
A MOTION expressing support for development of a bike sharing program in King County.
Body
WHEREAS bicycling to work and for recreation continues to grow in popularity while providing health benefits and reducing traffic, and
WHEREAS the concept of short-term bicycle rentals from dispersed, unattended urban stations has been refined from early experiments and expanded in recent years with established bike sharing programs in major cities throughout the world including Paris, Barcelona and Montreal, and
WHEREAS, Washington D.C., Denver and Minneapolis have recently launched bike sharing programs and other United States cities are considering doing so, and
WHEREAS, a local, informal bike share partnership has formed with involvement of the King County department of transportation and the cities of Seattle, Bellevue, Redmond and Kirkland as well as the University of Washington, Microsoft, Children's Hospital, Sound Transit, the Cascade Bicycle Club and others, and
WHEREAS, a local bike share program could be privately operated and supported by grants, user fees, and bike station kiosk advertising, without requiring King County expenditures to facilitate program start-up or operation, and
WHEREAS, bike sharing could be considered for inclusion in the state and federal grant requests of King County and other jurisdictions, but only if it did not supplant higher priority transportation funding needs, and
WHEREAS, consistent with Policy 3.2.4 of the King County Transit Comprehensive Plan, involvement in a bike sharing partnership could support the county's public transportation function by providing a viable alternative to auto usage through improved bicycle access to the transit system;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT MOVED by the Council of King County:
The King County council supports efforts by a partnership of transit agencies, cities, educational institutions and employers to develop a bike sharing program in King County and the council requests the transit division to ensure that the bike sharing
partnership is broadly representative by including representatives of south King County cities and employers.