Owner Puget Sound Bike Share Website prontocycleshare.com | Number of vehicles 500 Number of stations 50 | |
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Chief executive Holly Houser, Executive Director Began operation October 13, 2014 (2014-10-13) | ||
Pronto Cycle Share, branded as Pronto!, is a bicycle sharing system in Seattle, Washington. The system began operations on October 13, 2014, with 500 bicycles available in 50 stations covering Downtown, South Lake Union, Belltown, Capitol Hill, First Hill, Eastlake, Uptown and the University District. It is operated by Motivate (formerly Alta Bike Share) and owned by the non-profit Puget Sound Bike Share, a private-public partnership controlled by a 13-member board that includes representatives from local transportation and transit agencies as well as corporate sponsors. The bicycles were manufactured by Arcade Cycles in La Roche-sur-Yon, France and are branded with the logo of Alaska Airlines, the presenting sponsor of the program.
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The system ran into funding issues in 2015, when it was revealed to be insolvent, and was bought by the City of Seattle for $1.4 million on March 14, 2016. The city plans to shut down the program on March 31, 2017. It was originally planned to be replaced with a new bikeshare system using a vendor with electric bicycles, but the new system was cancelled in January 2017.
Membership and fees
Participation is based on either annual memberships ($85) or short-term passes of either 24 hours ($8) or 3 days ($16).
Helmet law compliance
Pronto Cycle Share is the first public bicycle sharing system in the United States to operate where a bicycle helmet law applies to cyclists of all ages. To address this, the system has installed helmet dispensers at each kiosk. At the system's launch in October 2014 the helmets were available for free on the honor system. A rental system was put into effect starting in Spring 2015.
Sponsorship
Primary sponsorship for the system is provided by Seattle-based Alaska Airlines, who paid $2.5 million for a 5-year sponsorship that includes their logo on the bikes themselves. Seattle Children's Hospital, Group Health, REI, Vulcan Real Estate and Fred Hutch are secondary sponsors.
Technology
The Pronto bike share system technology, both hardware and software, is provided by 8D Technologies, who also supply the server technology for BIXI Montréal, Citi Bike in New York City, Santander Cycles in London, Capital Bikeshare in Washington DC, and others.