Located throughout San Antonio, from Mission Espada to the Witte Museum, these grey bikes are available for anyone in the community to use. Our city has seen an impact since their arrival in 2011, and we’ll get to that in a minute, but first…the problem.
San Antonio B-Cycle faces the problem of a nonprofit city service in a growing-but-not-yet-grown city: funding.
(Read more: “San Antonio Could Lose Bikeshare, Too” – Rivard Report)
SA2020 knows our community is good at working together to solve problems, and we believe this is an important one. Bikeshare is not just about a fun way to get around downtown. This inexpensive and easy alternative mode of transportation is hugely important to San Antonio as we evolve into a healthier, more sustainable city with a young and thriving urban core.
Just look at the facts.
Our community has clearly prioritized getting healthier – it’s a major part of the SA2020 vision, and we’ve already made a lot of progress. The San Antonio community said they wanted to reduce obesity and diabetic rates. In fact, the SA2020 Health/Diabetes Dividend shows that if San Antonio decreases its diabetic population by 1% (or 1,700 fewer people being treated for diabetes in San Antonio), medical and other costs in San Antonio metro region could decrease by $16.1 million.
The BCycle program has helped us make great strides, contributing to San Antonio losing over 10,000 pounds of fat, pedaling 818,000 miles and burning over 36 million calories.
B-Cycle also supports the SA2020 vision for Transportation. According to Bike Sharing in the United States: State of the Practice and Guide to Implementation, bike sharing programs can contribute to reduced traffic congestion, reduced use of fossil fuels and reduced pressures on motor vehicle parking and increased the used of transit.
Additionally, our SA2020 Green Dividend shows that if everyone drove one mile less per day, San Antonio metro region total annual driving expenses could decrease by $453 million.
If we truly want “an environmentally-friendly transportation system where everyone is able to walk, ride, drive or wheel in a safe, convenient, and affordable manner,” (the community’s vision for Transportation in the year 2020) then that means we have to actively do things that will get us closer to that goal.
The bold goals we created together for the future of our city will take innovative, creative solutions. As we look to a future even further down the road, we know that one million more people will be moving to our city – consider us a City On The Ris(ing) Population. It is incumbent upon us to support organizations and programs who are actively working to make our city the very best it can be.
