METRO in Houston wanted to start a bike share program, but what happened and where is it?

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) – Houston has never been known as a bike-friendly city, but that doesn’t mean there’s no longer a demand for bike share programs.

“It’s just a way for people to get around town,” said Charles Sechrengost as he walked through Montrose on Wednesday afternoon.

Mofa Ali repeated these thoughts shortly afterwards to ABC13.

“It would be better if you could move around on two wheels,” said Ali.

There is currently no bike share program in the city, but how it got to this point requires a little history lesson.

Houston BCycle was launched in May 2012 thanks to a grant from the City of Houston.

The company announced in September 2023 that it would close for financial reasons, but thanks to the City of Houston, that didn’t happen then. It wasn’t until September 27, 2023 that the City Council approved the transfer of $540,000 to BCycle.

Then-Mayor Sylvester Turner called it interim funding to allow bike-sharing users to stay on the streets until METRO launched its own program.

“We don’t want (customers) to lose the benefit of the service,” Turner said at the time.

Today, this service is no longer available. BCycle closed almost two months ago and METRO’s program no longer exists.

Houston City Councilwoman Abbie Kamin was one of the council members who voted to send money to BCycle in 2023.

So, what does she think about the current situation?

“It’s very worrying,” she said.

Kamin said she approved the funding on the understanding that METRO would soon offer bikes as a transportation option. In fact, one day after the city voted to keep BCycle in operation, METRO’s board voted unanimously to continue the program.

Their plan called for a $10.6 million contract to fund and maintain the program over several years.

According to METRO representatives last fall, work was supposed to start this summer, but in the months that followed, there were numerous leadership changes within the organization.

A METRO spokesperson told ABC13 that the bike share program is being reviewed by current management, but it is not a priority.

He added that no contract to launch the program had ever been signed.

“I appreciate everything METRO does,” Kamin said. “But we have to push forward with the things that METRO as a board has announced they will take action on.”

METRO said it will provide an update on its plans for a bike sharing program over the next month.

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