Why this Seattle council member is voting to buy the bike share program

A Seattle council committee is expected to take a vote Tuesday that will set the stage for a $1.4 million purchase of the area’s bike share service.

The council’s sustainability and transportation committee will vote whether or not to direct the city to make the purchase. The city council as a whole will then take a vote to approve or deny taking over the entire infrastructure of Pronto! &#8212 the bike share system serving Seattle’s core.

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One committee member is Rob Johnson, representing the 6th District in Northeast Seattle. He decided his vote in the days leading up to the committee meeting.

“I’m going to be voting to support the city purchasing Pronto!” Johnson told KIRO Radio’s Jason Rantz Show.

“The city adopted, as part of its budget process last year, $5 million for investments in bike share,” he explained. “The decision that we’re making at the committee level is to recommend a portion of that funding that is already dedicated toward bike share to be spent in this fashion &#8212 to purchase the assets of Pronto!. This $1.4 million is out of that $5 million.”

Johnson stresses that the money in question is strictly slated for transportation and bike share. The council member notes that he has received quite a few emails from Seattle residents asking him to divert the money to a range of other projects. But it’s not that easy.

“We are specifically prohibited from spending the money other ways than transportation projects,” Johnson said.

Further explaining his rationale, Johnson said that the Pronto! purchase is unlike other transportation investments. If the city buys the bike share service, the money will go toward a one-time purchase of the infrastructure. Whereas other transportation investments, such as buses, are usually on-going expenses.

Johnson is recommending that the city maintain how Pronto! operates the service – hiring a third party to manage it. That third party contract is Pronto’s largest cost, he said, but with the money the service generates, it should break even. That’s before taking into account the city’s aim to expand the service in the coming years.

Rantz points out that if the city doesn’t purchase Pronto! the service will likely be insolvent, and in dire financial straits. Johnson counters that notion, however, arguing that the reason Pronto! is in that state is because once the city expressed its interest in buying the service, Pronto! stopped going out for grants and sponsorship – its primary funding.

“In this instance, what we are doing is investing in a system that we think is going to really help improve mobility in the city,” Johnson said. “If you look at the financial projection for the organization, I think, we are going to take on an organization that has a good financial plan and end up being a good benefit for city residents.”

The purchase would be in keeping with what he hears from his neighbors Johnson said.

“I hear from neighbors in my neck of the woods in Northeast Seattle about the need for more safe biking infrastructure,” he said. “One of the major impediments is not just investments in Pronto! but also investments in safe streets to make folks feel comfortable taking a bike.”