Will Pittsburgh Get Bike Share Before Philly?


Steeltown’s been angling for a bike share program since 2011, when Mayor Luke Ravenstahl got inspired, zooming around a bi-ped in Minneapolis. Last month, Pittsburgh City Paper reports, Pittsburgh finally got the $3 million it wanted to start up the program, and plans on putting rubber to pavement by the summer of 2014. They’ll start with 500 bikes (mustard-colored, it seems), and take it from there.

Michael Nutter also plans on getting Philly’s 1,200 bikes installed by the summer of 2014. And he’s also requested a neat little $3 million in start-up money, with another five or six to come later. Except, unlike Pittsburgh, that money doesn’t exist yet. Come on, Philly, get it together! You can’t lose the bikeshare race to the city of coal, steel, and dirty air! They probably don’t even have proper bike lanes over there. [Pittsburgh City Paper]