Via the city of Santa Monica website.
Starting on September 7, you may notice Metro Bike Share bikes in Santa Monica and neighboring Venice. Metro is locating Metro Bike Share Stations at 13 locations in Venice and at two of their Expo Line stops: 17th Street/SMC and Downtown Santa Monica. Santa Monica Breeze Bike Share will continue to provide great service, with 500 bikes conveniently located at more than 88 hubs in Santa Monica and Venice, including all three Expo Stations.
We understand this could be confusing for users. Here are tips to ensure you have a great riding experience:
Metro Bikes are not compatible with the Breeze Bike System
- Metro Bikes will not lock to Breeze Stations. If you are riding a Metro Bike, you will need return the bike to one of the Metro Bike Share Stations.
- The systems require separate sign-up. Your memberships do not transfer across systems.
- Your TAP card can be linked to either or both accounts to unlock the bike.
Where you can ride and where you can lock
- Metro Bike share is dock-based, which means bikes can only be rented and returned to the Metro Bike Share stations including only two locations in Santa Monica.
- Breeze Bike Share can be rented at stations, or anywhere a bike is located. You can: lock a bike anywhere (fees may apply), find/reserve bikes on the web or mobile app in real time, and return and lock to a Breeze station, or a rack within 100 feet if the station is already full. The Breeze System Area still extends from San Vicente, to I-405, to Venice Blvd., to Washington Blvd. in Venice.
The systems have different fee structures
- Breeze Bike Share Pay-as-you-go members only pay for the minutes they use at a rate of $0.12/ minute. Annual ($99/year), Monthly ($25/month), and Student ($7/month) memberships give you 90 minutes of ride-time every day and only counts the minutes you uses.
- Metro Bike Share charges in 30-minute increments. Annual Members pay $40/ year +$1.75/30 minute trip, and Monthly Members pay $20/month with no additional charge for trips 30 minutes or less, but an additional $1.75 for each additional 30 minutes thereafter. Walk-up rentals are charged $3.50/ 30 minutes.
For more information about Santa Monica’s Breeze Bike Share visit breezebikeshare.com or call (310) 828-2525. For more information about Metro Bike Share visit bikeshare.metro.net or call (844) 857-2453.
Anytime you choose to ride a bike over getting in a car it’s a win for Santa Monica. Thank you for riding safely and for being a part of our new model of mobility!
