West Hollywood city workers were spotted removing WeHo Pedals Bike Share bicycle docks on Santa Monica Boulevard yesterday. The removal of these docks signals the very end of The City’s bike share program, an experiment that officially ended on August 30, exactly three years after it officially launched August 30, 2016.
WeHo Pedals featured 150 “Smart Bikes” available at 20 self-service stations within the City of West Hollywood.
The City rolled out a “Bike Share Connect” network on April 23rd of 2018. The program was designed to allow WeHo Bike Share members to continue riding past the city limits to different parts of the westside, going as far as the City of Santa Monica. WeHo Pedals partnered with bike share systems in Beverly Hills (Beverly Hills Bike Share), UCLA (Bruin Bike Share), and Santa Monica (Breeze Bike Share), to form one seamless bike share network. Bike Share Connect was the first integrated regional bike share network in the Los Angeles area.
Sadly few people cared about the WeHo Ride Share program. The bright lime green bikes failed to inspire community members to ditch their cars and go for a bike ride throughout the city, even with access past the city limits. The docks remained, for the most part, full of unused bicycles throughout the day.
With the WeHo Bike Share program discontinued, current WeHo Pedals members have rolled over to be a part of the regional Bike Share Connect System. Members will continue to have access to bikes at stations outside of West Hollywood. West Hollywood will continue to offer Bike Share Connect users free drop-offs at select bike racks in WeHo, however, bikes are no longer available for rental in West Hollywood.
West Hollywood City Council council members are in the process of researching dockless bike share as an alternative option.
For details about Bike Share Connect for current members, please visit www.bikeshareconnect.com or download the Social Bicycles app on the App Store or get it on Google Play.
