10/11/11 - Mayor Edwin M. Lee today launched a program to provide park users the opportunity to bike around and between parks in the City. Justin Herman Plaza, Union Square, Marina Green and two locations in Golden Gate Park are now part of the ParkWide Bike Rental concession that provides a full range of bicycles including tandems and surreys and for the first time allow visitors to rent a bike in one park and drop it off in another park location. This new amenity provides a greener, healthier and more convenient way for visitors to see the City and its parks.

“The launch of ParkWide Bike Rentals in our City will benefit San Francisco small businesses, our Recreation and Park Department and the millions of people who visit our parks every year,” said Mayor Lee. “San Francisco is truly a bike-friendly town, and our partnership with ParkWide helps create more opportunities for our citizens to get out, get active and see our world class parks.”

“ParkWide Bike Rentals is a new park amenity that offers residents and visitors alike the opportunity to explore our City parks via bicycle,” said Recreation and Park Department General Manager Phil Ginsburg. “It’s easy, convenient and fun and I encourage all of our park users to get out and ride.”

ParkWide was formed specifically to offer bicycle rentals in San Francisco Parks and is comprised of Bike and Roll, Blazing Saddles and Bay City Bike. These well respected bike concessionaires have 30 years of bike rental experience between them. The three organizations have direct experience running rental and tour companies in San Francisco, serving more than 17 million visitors annually, and have regularly partnered with San Francisco on community programs such Sunday Streets, Bike to Work Day, Bike to School Day and Spare the Air Days.

“We are excited to bring our decades of bicycle rentals to the City’s Parks” said Jeanne Orellana of ParkWide Bike Rentals. “With this new program, it will finally be just as easy for tourists to tour San Francisco’s neighborhoods and parks on bike as it is to take a trip over the Golden Gate Bridge.”

ParkWide Bike Rentals Rollout Schedule

ParkWide Bike Rentals complements a citywide bike share program being implemented in spring of 2012 that will include approximately 50 bike share stations and 500 bikes in San Francisco’s downtown core. The bike sharing program, led by the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), is part of a regional initiative to implement bike share stations along the CalTrain corridor in San Francisco, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Redwood City and San Jose.

“As more San Franciscans choose to bicycle in the City, ParkWide Bike Rentals will give us even more opportunities to explore our wonderful parks on two wheels and help the City meet its official goal of 20 percent of trips by bicycle by 2020,” said San Francisco Bicycle Coalition Executive Director Leah Shahum.