Toole Design Group to develop Philly bike share business plan

The Architect’s Newspaper blog reports that Toole Design Group has been selected to develop the business plan for Philadelphia’s bike-share program

As EOTS previously reported, bike sharing got off to a quick start after the Mayor’s Office of Transportation and Utilities announced its intention to start the program in December. A selection committee was assembled to review business model proposals, which were due on January 14. Of the six submissions, three groups – Bike Nation, Nelson Nygaard/E3 Think, and Toole Design Group – were interviewed as finalists. A formal announcement is expected later this week.

Toole Design Group will partner with Foursquare Integrated Transportation Planning to develop the business model for the city’s new bike-share program, exploring a variety of funding models and estimate costs. The city has pledged $3 million to get the bike-share program rolling, and the city estimates that it will need to secure around $6 million more in funding for the first two years. If all goes as planned, Philly’s bike-share program should hit the streets in 2014.

Toole Design Group is no stranger to bike planning work in Philadelphia: They were the lead consultants hired for the city’s recent Pedestrian & Bicycle Master Plan. Previously Toole Design Group worked on Capital Bikeshare’s expansion to Alexandria and recently completed a national study of bike sharing programs across the United Stes and developed a guide to implementation for the Federal Highway Administration. 

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