Encinitas residents and visitors will have a new bicycle transportation option starting Wednesday, Jan. 5, with the launch of a city partnership with BCycle.

The BCycle bike-share company will place a fleet of electric bicycles, often called e-bikes, and docking stations throughout Encinitas, the city and company announced in December. The public is invited to a launch event on Jan 5. from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Moonlight Beach Park.

Encinitas is the second California city to have a BCycle program. Santa Barbara added BCycle to its streets a year ago this month.

Encinitas and company officials touted the benefits of the partnership in a news release.

“We see this as an opportunity to allow more Encinitas residents and visitors to try an e-bike, avoid emitting transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions, and help the City meet its Climate Action Plan goals,” city Sustainability Manager Crystal Najera said.

Najera added that a bike-share program provides an additional, more affordable way to provide bikes to more people.

“The new system is going to make a positive impact in the community by providing an accessible form of transportation while improving community members’ health and quality of life,” Encinitas BCycle Manager Tim Pirkey said.

BCycle has three pricing plans for access, according to the news release:

Single Ride Pass — $7 per 30 minutes;
Monthly Pass — $30;
Annual Pass — $150.

The monthly and annual passes allow for unlimited 30-minute trips. Passes can be purchased online at encinitas.bcycle.com.

BCycle — a Waterloo, Wisconsin-based subsidiary of Trek Bicycle — rolled out a similar electric bicycle-share program in Santa Barbara in January, 2021. Other communities have also launched BCycle programs: Boulder, Colorado; Madison, Wisconsin; San Antonio, Texas; Nashville, Tennessee; Greenville, South Carolina; and Broward, Florida.

BCycle’s introduction to Santa Barbara was met by some community resistance in 2021. In June, the California Coastal Commission voted unanimously to allow an expansion of the BCycle program to the city’s waterfront after a resident watchdog sought to have it stopped.

According to press reports, Santa Barbara resident Anna Marie Gott said BCycle’s docks intruded on public enjoyment of ocean views. She also said that residents were not given adequate opportunity to comment on placement of the docks.

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