Last night, the Anaheim City Council approved the first 8 kiosk locations for its bike share system, which will be owned and operated by Bike Nation. Bike Nation announced at April's CicLAvia that it would bring 4000 bicycles and 400 kiosks to Los Angeles starting in December of this year.
Angelenos critical of Bike Nation have pointed out that the company hasn't operated a bike share system yet, so the opening of the first portion of their system in Anaheim is sure to be closely monitored by L.A.'s bike advocates. As outlined on Streetsblog, the City of Los Angeles is developing a permitting system to allow private operators to place bike share kiosks on open streets. While the permit process is not completed, it is unlikely the Los Angeles City Council will weigh in on kiosk location through a formal committee hearing and voting process.
Bike Nation provided a copy of the presentation given at last night's City Council meeting showing the locations and station layout for each of the eight kiosks. The presentation can be downloaded or viewed by clicking here. A map of the locations, with some basic details, is included below. Bike Nation hopes to have the kiosks installed by the weekend of July 21. The kiosks and bicycles are part of a one year pilot program between the City of Anaheim and Bike Nation.
View Bike Nation Kiosk Locations as presented to Anaheim City Council, 7/10/2012 in a larger map
At first glance, it looks as though the kiosks are placed at some of the major trip generators (sports stadiums, Disnelyand/Convention Center, The Grove of Anaheim) with stops at two large city buildings (City Hall and the power utilties building) and one heavy residential area. The six stops on Katella Steet are a little cramped in some areas, but once the system is completely built out, it might not be as noticeable.
As more information becomes available on the Anaheim Bike Share system, we'll continue to report it on Streetsblog. After all, what happens in Anaheim is probably the best foretelling of what Bike Nation's privately owned bike share system could look like in Los Angeles. If you're more familiar with Anaheim than I am, please feel free to leave your thoughts on Phase I of Bike Nation's plan for the city in the comments section.
