Earlier this month, the Houston BCycle bike sharing service announced that it would be closing on June 30. As that day approaches, the City of Houston has begun the process of collecting all the bikes.
The service started back in 2012, when the City of Houston began a contractual agreement with Houston Bike Share. The bikes were funded by a grant from former Houston Mayor Annise Parker’s Office of Sustainability through the Environmental Protection Agency.
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The program started with just 18 bicycles across three stations in Downtown Houston, and eventually grew to over 150 stations. Despite such rapid expansion, the company announced plans to shut down back in September of 2023. Houston City Council approved a $500,000 lifeline to keep the company afloat for nine months, but it was still unable to overcome its financial woes.
“Going forward, the city will work with Houston Bike Share to remove stations and bikes over the next couple of months. The city owns much of the equipment, which will be sold to other bike share systems or through the city’s public surplus auction process,” City of Houston communications manager Elise Marrion tells KPRC 2, in reference to a recent news release.