Portland Issues RFI for Citywide Bike Sharing System

PORTLAND, Maine – The City of Portland’s Planning & Urban Development department is issuing a Request for Information (RFI) for bike share vendors interested in working with the City to help bring a citywide bike sharing system to town. The City is interested in gathering information and non-binding cost estimates for launching a bike share program that would serve all of the members of the Portland community, including residents, employees, commuters, tourists and other visitors, businesses, and students.

Building on its earlier work on the issue, the City would like to move the process forward in an efficient and deliberate way. As the bike sharing industry grows and changes, options for technology, organizational structures, and business models have become more varied. This RFI seeks to clarify the options for bringing a bike share system to fruition in the city of Portland.

The intent of this RFI is to collect company information, estimates for capital and operations costs,
and to evaluate options for business and organizational bike share models. All information gathered will aid in the future development of a realistic budget, obtainment of funding sources, and the operation of an organizational structure to support a bike share system in the near term. It does not select a final vendor for a system, which would have to be selected through a future procurement process. The selected firm would not receive any direct compensation for their work, but would be able to help shape a new system.

“As we worked on this issue and spoke to companies and other cities pursuing bike sharing, two things became clear,” said Planning & Urban Development Director Jeff Levine. “One is that the City is not going to be able to fund or implement a system on its own, and will need regional partners like the Bicycle Coalition of Maine and private companies to bring a system to town. The second is that many successful communities have brought on an industry partner in a similar fashion, early on in their program development, to help develop a business plan and funding strategy.”

The Portland region has some limited previous experience with bike sharing. The Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority contracted with the company Zagster in 2013 to build a station outside of the Portland Transportation Center’s Amtrak & bus terminal. The City was not formally involved in this instance, and the arrangement was not intended to serve as a citywide bike share system. It only includes one station of 10 bikes, which requires round trip rides and only allows rentals by the day.

The City began the initial planning stages for a bike share system in 2013 when the Environmental Protection Agency conducted and funded a bike share planning process. The study, which included a public workshop as well as an all-day technical session, produced a “next steps memorandum” that addressed the local context, system planning, business and operations planning, next steps, and laid out a potential implementation schedule.

Information is due by 4:00 PM on Monday, November 24, 2014. The full RFI can be viewed here: http://www.portlandmaine.gov/DocumentCenter/View/7118