BY SHAWN ARRAJJ & CASSANDRA JENKINS
Also of note
Going forward
METRO’s FY 2024-25 budget also does not include plans to revive the agency’s bike share program, which went bankrupt in 2024. For the time being, the city of Houston will continue to operate without any bike share program. The previous METRO board approved a $10.5 million contract in September 2023 with Can- ada-based PBSC Urban Solutions to jumpstart the defunct bike share program by summer 2024. However, funding for that contract was not included in the 2024-25 budget, according to METRO documents. METRO is partnering with the University of Houston to study how the bike program could be structured in the future and what entity best suits the role of ownership. Jim Granato, director of UH’s Center for Public Policy, said research is in the early stages. Peter Eccles, director of policy and planning with the nonprofit Link Houston, said he hopes to see METRO bring back the bike share program.
With the FY 2024-25 budget now adopted, Brock said all METRO initiatives this year will be directly tied to increasing ridership. She emphasized that paused BRT projects will come back for consideration in future budgets. “If you have to choose between building infrastructure into the future and taking care of your existing infrastructure, those are choices that need to be made,” Brock said. “It’s hard to support both, so what we’re saying is that we need to focus on what is important to riders and to build that ridership before we move on to building additional infrastructure.” Eccles said Link Houston and METRO agree that increasing ridership should serve as the agency’s “north star.”
METRO’s bike share program would’ve included:
40 e-bikes
200 charging dock points
20 grid-connected charging stations
SOURCES: METRO, LINK HOUSTON/COMMUNITY IMPACT
“Bikes can help expand the reach in METRO’s network. It puts so much more of our region in play for you.” PETER ECCLES, DIRECTOR OF POLICY AND PLANNING, LINK HOUSTON
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