Taking inspiration from cycle-cities such as Boston, Montreal and London, the program will enable commuters and leisure seekers to borrow bikes from various locations scattered around the Guadalajara municipal area.
When it gets underway in November, 860 bikes will be distributed among 86 docking stations across a grid extending from Avenida Américas to Calzada Independencia in one direction, and from Niños Héroes to Calle Hospital in the other.
Members will pay an annual subscription of 360 pesos, which will give them unlimited use of the bikes for journeys of up to 30 minutes between the hours of 6 a.m. and midnight. Longer journeys will incur extra costs. Registration opened on Wednesday on the website www.mibici.net and the organizers also offer temporary passes, the shortest being 80 pesos for one day.
As the program relies on the number and ready availability of bikes, the opening of the first station was a symbolic gesture. It was inaugurated in a meeting for the press hosted by Ricardo Villanueva Lomeli, the head of the city’s Department of Planning Management and Finances (SEPAF), and Ramiro Hernández García the mayor of Guadalajara.
Cyclists in the city have welcomed the new program believing it will be an incentive for people to swap their motor vehicles for a more environmentally friendly form of transport. Felipe Rivera Diaz, a local accountant who is involved in several of the Guadalajara cycling groups, says it is a refreshing change for the local authorities to help cyclists rather than drivers.
Diaz has concerns, however, about the safety of the roads in downtown Guadalajara. “There are lots of narrow streets in the center and quite often the drivers simply don’t see us,” he says.
These concerns appear to be backed up by the statistics. According to the NGO Bicicleta Blanca, 150 cyclists have been killed in traffic accidents in Guadalajara since 2009. This organization places a white bike near the site of each accident to honor the deceased and to place pressure on the authorities to improve conditions for cyclists.
Diaz is involved in lobbying the department of transport to clarify and enforce the laws relating to the rights and obligations of cyclists. He and others within the Guadalajara cycling community are currently collecting a range of suggested improvements, such as official signs to indicate that drivers need to share roads with cyclists.
The new bike share program will provide 13,000 daily journeys, according to the Jalisco state government figures. The race is on to deliver both the docking stations and the improved safety before these new bikes hit the streets next month.