Pronto Bike Share service ends on Friday

Just over a year since the City Council voted to purchase the ailing bike program, the Pronto bike share system will shut down forever this Friday, March 31. Equipment will be removed over the next two weeks.

The program was axed during the city budgeting process in January.

The equipment, reports the Seattle Times, will be sold to another city—and with bike shares booming in popularity everywhere besides here, there are many options. In the meantime, the equipment will be put into storage.

For now, parking will be restored at sites where stations took over a portion of the street.

Those in the middle of a membership year will get the remainder reimbursed. Riders whose membership expired after the budget cutoff were offered a $10 extension for the service’s short lifespan.

Pronto as a whole didn’t have the best time in Seattle: Membership had fallen steadily for the past couple of years, more than 20 percent between July 2015 and 2016. It never expanded far past the city’s core, leaving many, especially in lower-income neighborhoods, without access to the service.

The city was mulling replacing Pronto with an electric bike share system, which could be better for Seattle’s hills, but funding for that program was ultimately ended, as well.

Seattle’s Pronto bike share program ending in March [CS]

Seattle City Council Votes to Buy Pronto & Expand Bike Share Service [CS]

Seattle’s Pronto bike share shutting down on Friday [Seattle Times]

Might Seattle’s troubled Pronto bike-share system go all-electric? [Seattle Times]

Seattle ends funding for electric bike-share program [KIRO 7]