A new Veo e-bike. Photo courtesy of Veo. Seattle’s bike share program gives residents and visitors a healthy, climate-friendly, and active transportation option. Building on the program’s previous successes, we have approved Veo to become the newest bike share provider to operate in the city of Seattle.
The Veo bicycles coming to Seattle are electric-assist bikes, which are designed for people with a wide range of physical abilities, and provide a comfortable, easy-to-use mobility option. By allowing riders to use the bicycle pedals and the hand-activated electric power assist feature via the handlebars to get some extra help accelerating, these bikes can be especially useful in navigating Seattle’s numerous hills and inclines.
We’re excited for Veo to join Lime, the other bike share company currently operating in Seattle, which also offers electric-assist bikes.
What is bike share?
Bike share allows you to use a bike for things like a quick errand, a trip to a nearby light rail station or bus stop, an all-day adventure, and everything in between. You can pick up the bike share bicycle closest to you, ride it to your destination in the city, and leave the bike for the next person to ride.
Together, our bike share and scooter share programs provide people with a variety of car-free options to actively travel around the city. Since 2019, there have been nearly 2.9 million bike share trips and approximately 9.8 million miles traveled on bike share in Seattle. We estimate there have also been more than 2.2 million miles traveled through our scooter share program to date. All combined, that’s approximately 12 million total miles traveled! That’s like traveling around the Earth 482 times, or from Earth to the moon 50 times! Nice work, Seattle.
We’re always building new bike lanes, so check out our bike map before your next trip to find the most efficient route. Take advantage of one of the city’s new protected bike lanes, like the ones recently installed around Green Lake or on 4th Ave in downtown Seattle.
We need your help to make sure bike share works for everyone in Seattle.
Improperly parked bikes can cause serious problems for people getting around on our sidewalks. They also create barriers for people with disabilities or limited vision. Please do your part: when you end your ride, park the bike according to our rules, which are listed in detail further below.
Here are bike share parking rules within the City of Seattle. These will help you know where to park your bike, and where to avoid parking.
- Park the bike in the outer edge of the sidewalk (the part of the sidewalk with trees, poles, and other fixtures), or in a public bike parking space or bike rack.
- Leave at least six feet clear for pedestrians to pass.
- Do not park on corners, driveways, or curb ramps.
- Do not block access to buildings, benches, parking pay stations, bus stops, hydrants, etc.
- Park the bike upright.
- Do the right thing – please do not park the bike in someone else’s way, and do not park it somewhere that would be difficult for the next rider to find.
Here’s what we’ve been doing to help address parking challenges.
Over the past few years, we have installed 3,000 new bike and scooter parking spaces since 2014, implemented a rider parking education and enforcement program including a parking quiz, tested out a parking hub and tracking strategy in West Seattle, and made it easier for people to report improper parking.
We also partnered with Rooted in Rights, a non-profit organization that works to advance and protect the rights of people with disabilities, to create a video highlighting the importance of parking bike share bikes correctly and help people with disabilities move around the city.
This 90-second video is titled ‘Bike Share Parking: Do the Right Thing!’ and is embedded below. Please watch the video before your next ride and share it with others who may be planning to use bike share, for their awareness.
While these efforts have led to improvements in parking behavior over time, we are still concerned about improper parking. In order for the bike and scooter share programs to be successful, they need to support safer, easier, more comfortable mobility options for everyone, and not block sidewalk routes. We appreciate you helping do your part to make this a reality by safely and legally parking bike share and scooter share equipment at the end of your ride. Thank you!
Veo is providing discounted pricing rates to people with lower incomes through the Veo Access program, in support of their mission to provide mobility services to all. To learn more, please visit www.veoride.com/veo-access/ for additional details, including what information to provide to confirm your eligibility. If you have any questions about the program, you can reach Veo by phone (toll-free) at 1-855-836-2256.
Bike share companies pay the City of Seattle for permits to operate within the city, and we invest that money back into programs that make it easier for all people to travel more safely.
For example, we use bike share proceeds to pay for programs to give people with disabilities new opportunities to ride customized adaptive cycles that meet their specific needs.
This past summer, we continued our partnership with the Outdoors for All Foundation to bring free adaptive cycling rentals for people of all ages and abilities at Magnuson Park and at events at other local parks in the city. This is the largest program of its kind in North America, allowing more people to experience the joy of a bike ride, using a fleet of more than 200 adaptive cycles built to meet a wide range of access needs.
Check out this recent Seattle Channel video on YouTube to learn more about the program and how it supports people to enjoy the experience of cycling. The video is also embedded below.
Ready to ride? Sign up today at veoride.com or visit our bike share program web page to learn more about bike share in Seattle.