Bike-sharing: A questionable investment

At a time when bike theft is epidemic, and bus service is being slashed left and right, is it wise to be spending a half million dollars to buy and operate a free shared-bicycle program in the Bay Area? The MTC program Safe Routes to Transit thinks so, and has the $500,000 courtesy of bridge tolls. But these programs have a troubled history. The bikes get vandalized or stolen. A highly-touted program in Paris has been especially hard hit. I predict a similar outcome, or worse, in Silicon Valley, where once I even spotted someone trying to steal my bike even as I watched him! Put this money instead into more bike lockers, or even shared bike cages like the innovative one now operating at Embarcadero BART.