Put the fun between your legs!
  • Pronto! Cycle Share
  • Put the fun between your legs!
Yesterday was the first day annual memberships for Seattle's bike share program, Pronto! Cycle Share, went on sale. For $85, you get unlimited 30-minute bike trips on the city's new fleet of 500 green and blue bicycles (see above), soon to be available at 50 different stations spread over Downtown, South Lake Union, Capitol Hill, and the U-District, as we've been reporting for months. These bikes will be on the streets when the program finally launches on October 13, at which point you can get a 24-hour day pass for $8 or a three-day pass for $16.

But if you're truly committed, you have to go with the annual pass. And early birds get some treats, too: The first 600 people buying the annual memberships get a free T-shirt and a special Founding Member key fob to unlock bikes, along with, of course, bragging rights in very limited circles. You can even pay more for an extra-sweet package, with a handful of shareable day passes and a tote bag. You'll be able to get these annual memberships year-round, but not this initial Founding Member version. (Some big ol' nerds were already bragging on Twitter yesterday. I fully expect to see people flashing their Founding Member key fobs in bars to try to pick up dates. In this town, it'll probably work.)

So how many people actually signed up? Well, they had some website trouble in the middle of the day, but by late afternoon, Pronto tells us they'd had around 260 annual members sign up.

Who was the first member? Why, our very own Mayor Ed Murray, which either warms your heart or fills your cold, cold War-on-Cars heart with rage:

Mayor Murray signs up for bike share.
  • Courtesy of Pronto Cycle Share
  • Mayor Murray signs up for bike share.

You can check out Pronto's website here, which will give you all the pricing info, a map of the stations, an FAQ page, info about corporate memberships, and a heads up on helmet rentals—a notable feature of Seattle's bike share program. Since we've been watching and waiting for the better part of a year, we're pretty damn excited to see what happens with all this. One interesting thing: Scott Kubly, Murray's nominee for city transportation director, said in a great interview Ansel posted yesterday: "I think bike share is one of the smartest investments a city can make in transportation."

What say you, Slog? Are you in?