San Diego County Bike Coalition\u2019s project goals are offering affordable mobility; increasing transit connectivity; reducing congestion and emissions; producing better health outcomes and enabling housing development with fewer parking spaces, which they contend will improve housing affordability.<\/p>\n
The program is also intended to establish a more comprehensive regional system for the e-bikes, would lead to the installation of numerous docking stations County-wide for riders to drop off and pick up their e-bikes instead of leaving them on the street. The number of and locations for stations in La Jolla have not yet been decided, and would be up to the operator and the city of San Diego.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/LJL-L-TT-1-01.jpeg\")
A rendering in San Diego County Bike Coalition\u2019s Sept. 15 presentation shows what docked e-bike sharing could look like in the Gaslamp District in downtown San Diego. (Noah Lyons)<\/p>\n
The projected cost of the network is roughly $34 million, and would include the fleet of electric bikes, stations and associated infrastructure. San Diego County Bike Coalition advocacy and community manager Ian Hembree, who\u2019s helping lead the campaign, said there could be bikes on the ground as soon as 2028.<\/p>\n
Funding sources for the roll-out could include corporate sponsorship, grants, advertising revenue, user fees, public subsidies and \u2014 while not San Diego County Bike Coalition\u2019s preference \u2014 a sales-tax measure that the Metropolitan Transit System may put on the November 2028 ballot.<\/p>\n
During the course of board member deliberations, T&T trustee Mike McCormack said he had \u201cmany, many questions\u201d about the proposal.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think you\u2019re going to have to be accommodating to a lot of the suggestions that come in from interested parties,\u201d McCormack said. \u201cThere is a lot of road rage against cyclists. It\u2019s dangerous out there. Safety\u2019s an issue. Where do these things dock? How are they maintained?\u201d<\/p>\n
Attendees also weighed in on the proposal and its implications.<\/p>\n
La Jolla resident Kathleen Neil said that she would be more comfortable supporting the program if the applicants had a draft map they could present to the community.<\/p>\n
However, the applicant team noted the proposal was in its early stages and specific details were not immediately available.<\/p>\n
Fellow attendee and La Jolla cycling advocate Harry Bubbins said he supports the proposal and reminded those in attendance that the T&T meeting isn\u2019t the final time they can hear about it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the community today says yes and the full board says yes, that doesn\u2019t mean tomorrow that\u2019s happening,\u201d Bubbins said. \u201cIt means that there\u2019s support to explore this in a very thoughtful manner.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also praised the docked e-bike sharing system, which would be a first for La Jolla.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe physical dock share element, I think, is very compelling,\u201d Bubbins said. \u201cYou take a bike here, you bring it there. If you don\u2019t put it there, you have to spend a lot of money and people won\u2019t do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Because the effort to bring bike-sharing back to San Diego is currently in an exploratory phase, advocates are currently reaching out to local groups for letters of support.<\/p>\n
So far, they\u2019ve secured support from the city of San Diego\u2019s Parks and Recreation Board, as well as the city\u2019s mobility advisory board and climate advisory board. Local groups Circulate Action Campaign, Families for Safe Streets, San Diego 350 and RideSD also signed letters of support.<\/p>\n
Joining them, the T&T Board unanimously endorsed the bike-sharing program.<\/p>\n
San Diego\u2019s previous bike-sharing network launched in 2015 \u2014 and only used conventional bicycles \u2014 but it was privately run with no subsidies. A second phase couldn\u2019t get off the ground as operators ran out of money.<\/p>\n
That previous network, called DecoBike and then DiscoverBike before it ceased operating in 2019, faced strong competition shortly after it was launched from rival bike operators.<\/p>\n
Dock-less bike operators were harshly criticized for blocking sidewalks with their bikes, which were often vandalized or thrown into empty lots and other places that worsened blight in some areas.<\/p>\n
Dock-less bike operators gradually switched most of its fleets from bikes to electric scooters, which dominated parts of San Diego for a few years before vanishing in late 2023 when new city operating rules prompted all the operators to leave.<\/p>\n
Next meeting:<\/p>\n