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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Seattle mayor nixes bike-share program

Associated Press

SEATTLE – The Seattle bike-sharing system will hit a dead end in March.

Seattle Mayor Ed Murray said in a news release Friday that $3 million slated for relaunching the struggling program will be rerouted to other improvements for bicyclists and pedestrians in the city.

Murray said the shift in funding priorities will allow for what he called critical improvements to be made especially for students walking and biking to school.

The city spent $1.4 million last March to buy the then-failing bike-share program. Over 3,300 people signed up for the system in its first year of operation, but the number of members dropped in May to about 1,800.

Seattlepi.com reported data released last year indicated that Seattle’s hills may have been a factor in the program’s lack of popularity.