PORTLAND,Ore.– Mayor Sam Adams and his fellow Portland City Commissioners approved a contract 4-0 today between the city’s Transportation Bureau and Alta Bicycle Share for the private sector company to begin fundraising for a system of up to 750 bicycles for public use.

“I’m very excited to say that America’s most bike-friendly city is now one step closer to offering a bike share system that’s convenient, affordable and sustainable. Alta has developed an ambitious plan and will bear the burden of fundraising to cover costs. I’m proud to have a homegrown company doing this work and confident the private sector will be successful in making this system a reality,” Mayor Sam Adams said. “Bike share is a game-changer for bicycling in Portland.”

Bike share systems let people check out bicycles to ride from one point in the city to another for a small fee. In cities across the globe, bike share systems have proven popular and successful by giving residents and visitors a fast, inexpensive and easy transportation option.

People use bike share to get to work, run errands, connect to mass transit, visit friends and family or enjoy a city as a tourist.

Alta Bicycle Share designs, deploys, and manages bicycle share programs and systems worldwide. The company currently operates bike share systems in Washington, D.C., Boston, Chattanooga, Tenn., and Melbourne, Australia, and is preparing to launch bike share in New York City, Chicago, San Francisco and Vancouver, Canada. Alta’s headquarters are in Portland.

Bike share is operating in 28 US cities. This year’s trip statistics demonstrate that when scaled appropriately, bike share can act as an extension of the public transit network, providing connections to work, school, commerce and entertainment.

Learn more: www.pdxBikeShare.com