Report: County Signs Contract with Company Behind DC Bikeshare

The company that already operates the bikeshare program in the District of Columbia and Arlington and Alexandria in Virginia will run Montgomery County's bikeshare program, WTOP.com reported.

Alta Bicycle Share signed a contract with county officials Wednesday to create more than 29 docks for 200 rentable bikes in Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Silver Spring and Takoma Park, according to the radio station.

The company should be able to deliver the bikes in the next four to five months, meaning the program would be up and running in August or September of this year. 

Meanwhile, county councilmembers are discussing how to improve safety for bike riders, including adding more bike lanes and possibly employing a shared lane system, like the ones in DC and Arlington.

Sierra Club of Montgomery County hosted a group bike ride through Silver Spring and Takoma Park last weekend to highlight the need for bike safety in the county before bike share becomes a reality. 

"Montgomery County has built up a really great network [of bike lanes] except they're not connected and they're hard to find, so they're under-used," Ethan Goffman, transit chair of the Montgomery County Sierra Club, told Patch.

The organization created a bike statement that challenges county officials to create a more complete network of bike lanes that is safe and convenient for bikers.

(Locations for the bikeshare docks have not been finalized, but see a map of proposed stations at the top of this article.)