Golden Gate Park Welcomes Bike-Share Stations Ahead of Outside Lands Music Festival

The eight new stations are operated by Bay Wheels, a bike program under the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, local governments and Lyft, according to the MTC website. Four more stations will be added over the next few weeks, Jordan Levine, a spokesperson for Lyft said in a Monday press release.

The new bike stations are the first to be added Golden Gate Park, Levine said, addressing a major pain point for Bay Wheels riders who previously couldn’t end a ride anywhere in the park.

The Golden Gate Park expansion includes classic docked bike share stations and virtual stations. The virtual stations are bike corrals that function as regular stations, so riders can dock a Bay Wheels bike with the cable lock and use the Lyft app to end their ride without being charged an “out of station fee,” Daniel Montes, San Francisco Recreation and Parks communications manager, told SFGATE.

“This new partnership with Bay Wheels allows us to add in these virtual stations, or bike corrals, facilitating the addition of electric bikeshare,” Montes said.

Both electric and regular bikes will be available at the new stations for use during Outside Lands, which is scheduled for Aug. 11 to 13 and attracts more than 220,000 festivalgoers to Golden Gate Park.

City officials hope to limit vehicular traffic near and in the park by encouraging people heading to the music festival not to drive, Montes said.

“With these added bike-share stations, it adds even more options for people to get to Outside Lands, on top of taking Muni, Outside Lands shuttles from Civic Center, and car ride shares to and from designated drop-off and pick-up locations,” Montes said.

Bay Wheels will also have bike valets at the intersection of JFK Drive and Transverse Drive from noon to 11 p.m. during the festival, a Monday news release from the mayor’s office states.

The new bike stations are available in the following locations:

Classic docked bike share stations
— Pompeii Circle at JFK Drive
— MLK Jr. Drive at 7th Ave
— JFK Drive at 8th Ave/Music Concourse Drive
— JFK Drive at Ocean Beach