Bike-share program needs $7.5M to start

Honolulu’s long-anticipated bike-share system, which had originally been pegged to launch in 2015 and then pushed to 2016, no longer has an official start date. Nonetheless, its organizers say they’re making progress.

When the planned 1,400 bicycles come online for riders to rent and drop off at some 150 stations in town will depend on when Bikeshare Hawaii secures the full $10 million it needs to start the system, said Ben Trevino, the nonprofit group’s president and chief operating officer.

So far it’s secured $2.5 million, Trevino said. The bulk is a $2 million joint grant from the city and state, plus other grants from groups such as the local sustainability-focused venture Ulupono Initiative, he added.

Trevino said Bikeshare Hawaii “has some other announcements coming” on funding, although it doesn’t have a date set yet. It’s in talks with potential private sponsors and expects to close the funding gap “in one big chunk” rather than in small increments, Trevino said.

“We’re always shooting for as soon as possible” to launch, he added. “It’s a large and transformative project, and there are a number of moving parts. We want to do it right.”

The system aims to operate in a dense urban area stretching from Diamond Head to River Street in Chinatown. Previously, the group had been looking at 183 stations and about 1,700 bicycles, but Trevino said it made sense to scale back due to the available space around town.

With its launch, Honolulu would join more than 30 cities across the U.S. that have some sort of major bike-share system. A city consultant’s study in 2014 found that of the nation’s top 10 tourist destinations, Honolulu was the only one without a bike-share program.

In the meantime the group has been using the time to collect public feedback and do community outreach. Last summer Bikeshare Hawaii sought input from the public on the type of bike and vendor that riders would prefer. The group then selected bike-share firm PBSC Urban Solutions to operate the system.

The city, meanwhile, has pushed back indefinitely some of its efforts to add bike lanes in places where the bike-share system would eventually operate.

The city’s Department of Transportation Services no longer has a scheduled completion target for its planned protected bike lane along South Street. That lane, which would connect the controversial King Street cycle track to routes along Ala Moana Boulevard, originally was to be installed by the end of 2015.

In a statement Friday, DTS Director Mike Formby said the city continues to gather public feedback and finalize the South Street lane’s design. It won’t be done until after the city widens the sidewalk outside the Frank F. Fasi Municipal Building later this year, Formby said. The path is needed to accommodate both pedestrians and cyclists.

Under Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s administration, the city had also announced plans to create mauka-makai bike routes along Ward Avenue and Keeaumoku, McCully, Pensacola and Piikoi streets. Those lanes would connect to the King Street bike lane to form a grid, and city transportation officials and local cycling advocates hope the move would encourage more people to get around town via bike.

Regarding those announced routes, Formby’s email Friday stated, “We have been meeting with stakeholder groups and will have more information later this year.”

Daniel Alexander, who serves as advocacy, planning and communications director for the Hawaii Bicycling League, said the bicycling advocacy group is anxious for the bike-share to launch and that it wants to see action “sooner than later” on the city routes that might spur more riders.

However, he added that the group understands that city transportation planners have to thoroughly address community concerns before installing new routes.

The city did add a bike lane along Beretania Street earlier this summer from University Avenue to Alapai Street.

“I’m pretty confident bike-share is going to come to fruition,” Alexander said Friday. As for the planned mauka-makai bike lanes, “As long as we maintain steady progress, we’ll get there,” he said.