Will Seattle roll along with these Bewegen electric bicycles?

Update:

City officials promoted a dramatic change to Seattle’s controversial bike-share program Wednesday, in hopes of creating positive buzz as the city council considers what to do with it. The change: Bewegen electric bicycles.

Andrew Glass Hastings, with the Seattle Department of Transportation, told KIRO 7 that the city has been working out details of a potential deal with Canadian bike-share company Bewegen to convert the current Pronto! system into an all electric bike system. The latest potential plan will place less financial risk with the city. Bewegen will operate the electric bike system and contribute 25 percent of the cost to start it up. The City of Seattle would use about $5 million to put toward the remaining 75 percent.

The plan is to use 100 docking stations – the current Pronto! system has 50 — and the fleet would consist of 1,200 electric bikes. The “smart bikes” have an onboard computer that would allow riders to use their Orca card to purchase a ride.

The city hopes the changes to Seattle’s bike share system will make it more successful – especially after spending $1.4 million to bail it out. Mayor Ed Murray told KIRO 7 that he believes Pronto! suffered because it was too small when it launched.

Original article:

Seattle may soon learn if its expensive bike-share system will get an upgrade with Bewegen electric bicycles.

The Seattle Department of Transportation rolled out samples of the electric bikes it’s considering. It even peddled them straight to the Seattle Times to get some media coverage. The fate of bike sharing in Seattle is up in the air as the city council works out its budget over the next month. The council will ultimately decide if it will keep the same bikes being used now, go electric, or jump off the bicycles altogether.

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Seattle has already spent more than $1 million to bail out Pronto — the local bike-share system. Moving forward, SDOT is considering replacing the bikes, and related infrastructure, with an electric model made by Bewegen, a Canadian company.

Bewegen electric bicycles

Bewegen bikes are electric-assist models that include motors to help cyclists up hills.

The Seattle Bike Blog recently got a sneak preview of the electric bikes.

“The Bewegen e-assist bike share bike is heavy, boxy and clumsy, but you can climb James Street from 2nd to 5th without even trying,” the Bike Blog reports.

“Compared to a Pronto bike, the Bewegen is very heavy and clumsy,” the blog continued. “It’s hard to turn around in place, and the steering feels a bit twitchy. Your posture when riding is so laid back that Pronto feels like a racing bike by comparison. But that may not be a bad change.”

Replacing the current Pronto bikes will cost the city $5 million, according to KIRO 7. That would essentially replace the existing bikes and 100 stations with the electric versions. The other option would be to keep the current system, provided by Motivate, but expand it by 60 stations. Of course, there is a third option — supported by Seattle council members Lisa Herbold and Tim Burgess — to give up on the bike-share program altogether.

The city is still working out details with Bewegen. KIRO 7 reports that one proposal states that SDOT will purchase new equipment for the electric bikes. Bewegen, however, would take on all financial risk. The other side of that is if the city assumes the risk, it would take the profits.

The bike blog also points out another potential issue with Bewegen electric bicycles. While bikes are allowed on sidewalks, electric bikes — by state law — are not allowed on sidewalks. The electric motor puts the bikes, legally, in the same camp as scooters.

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