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Photos: The First Bike-Share In L.A. County Launched In Santa Monica Today
It's finally here: the first bike-share program in L.A. County launched today in Santa Monica, and it started off with hundreds of people rolling out on its green smart bikes this morning.
Bike enthusiasts partook in the kickoff of the program this morning, riding the Breeze "smart bikes," which are sponsored by Hulu, down Main Street after a green ribbon-cutting ceremony in Santa Monica. Folks who registered online got the chance to take the bikes for a spin for free on its opening day.
There are now 500 Breeze bikes, along with 75 bike-share hubs installed throughout Santa Monica, and five more hubs that will soon be set up in Venice. The way it works is that you pay for rides (based on the length of the ride or through monthly or yearly plans), check out a bike from a hub, take a short trip, and then drop it off (tethered) at different locations throughout Santa Monica, not necessarily back at a Breeze hub.
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"Today is a long-awaited landmark moment for alternative transportation in our city," said Santa Monica Mayor Kevin McKeown, according to a release. "Our residents and visitors now have an easily accessible way to get around town without creating traffic or having to deal with parking. Our Breeze bikes can take you on your daily trips and connect you with other modes of transportation in a way that's convenient, fast, and fun."
Gary Kavanagh, a photographer who was at the launch, tweeted that the vendor CycleHop "reveled ability to synch membership credit card w' TAP for faster bike unlocking":
But there was one snafu:
Other than that, things seemed to run smoothly. Here are more photos of the launch today:
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Great way to start the day launching #breezebikeshare with @globalgreen and city of Santa Monica #bikeshare pic.twitter.com/y8uoeMSo4s
— ruben aronin (@rubenaronin) November 12, 2015
A beautiful day for #bikeshare! There it is; take it! pic.twitter.com/Y3qaM5KJQ9
— Carter Rubin (@CarterRubin) November 12, 2015
Bike share comes to #SoCal! @BreezeBikeShare #santamonica #bikeeverywhere pic.twitter.com/XhI5vdLFsa
— Collette Hanna (@ColletteHanna) November 12, 2015
A beautiful day for #bikeshare! There it is; take it! pic.twitter.com/Y3qaM5KJQ9
— Carter Rubin (@CarterRubin) November 12, 2015
#saybreeze pic.twitter.com/apwl5X9SPu
— mark mester (@mester_mark) November 12, 2015
Metro plans on rolling out their own bike-share program in downtown L.A. in mid-2016, with 65 kiosk stations from Union Station to USC.
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You can find out more info about Santa Monica's Breeze bikes here.
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