A nonprofit formed four years ago to promote a bike-share network in Portland will dissolve.

Portland Bike Share said the owner-operator model of shared bicycles it anticipated launching in the city is “untenable at this time” based on the experience of similar groups elsewhere.

“Several long-standing nonprofit bike-share systems in the U.S. have faced severe budget cuts, have pivoted in extreme ways so they no longer own or operate the system, or have had to shut down completely,” the group said in a statement Sunday.

A representative of the group could not be reached Sunday night. Portland Bike Share formed in 2016.

Two years ago the group said it was raising up $400,000 to set up the first phase of a bike-share system with 50 bicycles. Around the same time, two bike-share companies said they were interested in operating in Portland.

The city created regulations for bike-share companies early this year and solicited bids to implement a system. Jump, a subsidiary of ride-hailing giant Uber, was the only company to respond to the request and so far no bicycles have been deployed in Portland.

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The city has not signed a deal with Jump, City Hall spokeswoman Jessica Grondin said Sunday night.

In its statement, Portland Bike Share said it took a “wait-and-see approach” to determine how it should proceed in the disruption caused by dockless bike share, electric-assist bicycles and electric scooters.

“Portland Bike Share has always had, and continues to have, the best interests of Portland in mind,” the group said.

“It is our hope that the city and regional government and transit providers look to incorporate bike share into the public transportation services in the area. We remain hopeful about the future of bike sharing, and know successful models continue to emerge and evolve.”


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