In a major win for our “Bike Share for All” campaign, Motivate and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) today announced a commitment to ensuring that Ford GoBike, the bike-sharing system serving the Bay Area, is accessible for unbanked and low-income people.
As part of the system’s expansion, Motivate is offering $5 first-year memberships to low-income people for the life of the program, as determined by a household’s qualification for utility lifeline programs. They also announced that cash payments will be accepted, opening up the possibility of bike-sharing for people without debit or credit cards.
“We’re excited to see Motivate and the MTC heeding our calls to make sure that bike share is accessible for all San Franciscans,” said our executive director Brian Wiedenmeier. “Everyone deserves access to affordable, healthy transportation options, and today’s announcement makes great strides toward realizing that vision.”
We launched our “Bike Share for All” campaign in 2015 to ensure that San Francisco’s next public transit system is open and convenient for everyone. Affordability is a crucial barrier to biking for many people in San Francisco, and transportation is the second-highest household expense in the city after housing itself.
“This is an enormous victory for low-income San Franciscans and our ‘Bike Share for All’ campaign,” Brian said. “We know this step forward only matters if the system reaches all communities, so it’s crucial that outreach and engagement occurs in all neighborhoods, with a focus on communities of concern.”