Myles Standish: Expensive bike sharing

Regarding the Feb. 15 editorial “Raleigh should try bike share”: I am an advocate of the BikeShare proposal before the Raleigh City Council.

The proposal calls for 300 bikes to be provided for rent at 30 stations. The upfront costs are largely paid for by a federal grant.

The City Council, however, is rightly concerned about funding an estimated $653,000 in annual operating costs.

Rather than rejecting the proposal because of these costs, I think the city council should be looking at ways to lower the annual operating costs. The city’s cost estimate is the equivalent of $2,177 per bike.

Surely the city can find a way to run the program in a more cost-effective way.

This story was originally published February 16, 2016 at 5:43 PM with the headline "Myles Standish: Expensive bike sharing."