Biketown bicycles will be available for rent around central Portland.
Portland's bike share program got a big boost Thursday, when Nike announced a $10 million title sponsorship of the program.
The bike share program will be called Biketown, and will feature 1,000 Nike-branded bikes for rental at kiosks around central Portland. For a nominal fee, people can borrow bikes for short-term rentals and return them to kiosks in a designated home area.
Bikes could be available for rent this summer.
The project has been in development for more than five years, and received its biggest initial boost in 2011, when Metro used its regional flexible funds to give the program $2 million.
Regional flexible funds come from the federal government, and are allocated by metropolitan governments to address local and regional needs. This year, Metro is studying what to do with the next round of federal funds to spend on local projects as well as region-wide priorities. About $125 million is expected to be available overall.
Portland joins cities like New York, Washington, Chicago, Boston, Seattle and Toronto in having bike share programs managed by Motivate.
“More choices to get around means less time in traffic and more access to opportunity,” said Metro Councilor Sam Chase. “I’m excited to see bike share become yet another great option for people in this region, particularly with this system’s commitment to affordability and equity.”