Pronto Cycle Share

I’m only leaving this review because there is a shocking amount of illiterate people in Seattle. it clearly tells you on the kiosk itself, as you’re going through the prompts while making the rental purchase, and on the handlebars itself, that YOU MUST DOCK THE BIKE EVERY 30 MINUTES. if you complain that they charge you more than what you were expected to pay, it’s because you’re the idiot that didn’t read.
now, besides all that, the service isn’t bad if you like to go downhill on a bike. that’s really all you’re paying for with this service: $ 8 to take a bike downhill. if you don’t want to dock the bikes every 30 minutes, then go to a real bike shop and rent one for the day.

Extremely unhappy with how unclear their instructions are 8 for a day pass, but that’s not really a day pass, it’s more like a start, you don’t have the bike for a day, you have to check in less than every 30 minutes ! Really, what is the definition of day pass then? When I try to call back, the supervisor only offers a 50% refund. Sure, I’m the dumb first time user, but you know what Pronto Cycle, I will NEVER rent from you guys again !

Never planning on using this service again. We’re broke uw students and thought we were renting a bike for a day for 8 bucks (plus 2 for a helmet which is the law so it’s kinda stupid to charge extra) but got charged 24 extra for keeping it out longer than 30 minutes. Apparently you have to stop at a dock every 30 minutes and take a new bike or you get charged extra. We were just trying to take a nice bike ride to green lake (where there are no bike docks I checked). I get if its meant to be a point a to point b service but they definitely need to make that more clear. 7 of us went through the process of renting a bike and none of us realized the catch so we all got screwed over. Also the bikes were kinda of sucky with bad shock absorption and weak breaks. But yah. Never again.

Regret renting them. Instructions on website were quite confusing a few months ago. $ 8 for 24 hours turned out to be $ 50 for 4 hours (the charge after the first 30 minutes wasn’t clear). Oh wells.

Bikes are too bulky to get up hills. Downtown streets are dangerous for cyclists. Not recommended for tourist sightseeing in Seattle.

Huge waste of money. You have to pay $ 80 just to join still loses tons of money

Can’t even self-​sustain; Seattle City Council just bailed this FAILING business at the cost of the taxpayer. BS!

I used it once. For what I got it wasn’t worth it. To use it, I had a longish walk on either end of the trip from Seattle Central to downtown. I took it down the hill — not up because I assumed I would save time, but it was really almost a push. I could have walked directly down there in a few minutes more. But I figured, what the heck, why not test it. I’d never use it again. If I decide to bike in Seattle, I’ll plan ahead a bit and use my own bike, or take the bus, or drive. The other thing about my ride down the hill is the traffic — which is the reason I don’t ride more to begin with. Until Seattle establishes separate lanes for bikes and cars all over town — like (only parts of) Broadway and 2^nd Ave, it’s just too scary to ride. No stars.

Crappy. Heavy bikes on steep hills, what a great idea.
Not worth the money.

Pathetic service that is dying. The bicycles are heavy and feel old. They are too expensive. The locations where you can pick up and drop off the bicycles are very inconvenient and you often have to climb hills to go from one location to another.

Worst idea ever. You have to pay $ 80 just to join? People here who decide to bike have already gotten nice bikes for the hills around here and proper lights and gear to go in the rain. Why would they use the Shitty bikes provided by Pronto?

My husband rented a bike for a total of 20 min to go from SLU to Westlake Center. I noticed 2 charges on my credit card statement. One for $ 8 and one for $ 83. I called them and they said that he had used it for more than 8 hours, which is not even possible because he was en route to the airport. We’re furious. NEVER AGAIN.

Yes the pricing is misleading, I paid 8 dollars for 2 bikes for the 12 hour rental. I was charged a total of 200 dollars for renting two bikes for 10 hours. I tried to get my money back but they have some bad customer service so that was a waist of time. I recommend finding another way of transportation. I don’t usually leave reviews but this one was bad enough for a review. This company is a joke made to scam people. Update– I’m glad this company is going bankrupt

On our recent visit to Seattle we were pleasantly surprised when we found the Pronto Cycles. I understand they have many locations around town. We used the one near Pike Place and found it very easy to use and very economical. There have been some comments about the high cost of the service but, you can’t beat the convenience and prices should come down in time. I still think they are a bargain when you consider the cost of other transportation. Parts of Seattle downtown are somewhat difficult to ride since there many streets that have large hills but, it is easy to navigate and you can go almost anywhere and there are also some that go down. Read the previous post by Chris G. to get more details.

Do not waste your time using this service to get around town. You’re better off spending your money on Über rides. There are not enough stations spread across all of Seattle to use the service to see the city. Also the 30 minute time limit is not enough time for a leisurely tour from bike depot to depot. Finally, the most frustrating part of my experience was the poor quality of the bike map. The location of the bike stations on the map were not always easy to determine and we even had an instance where a ‘bike trail’ on the map had stairs!!!

What a great service!
On a trip to The Gorge, I had a night to wander around Seattle. Took the light rail from the airport to downtown, and promptly found a Pronto rack. Over the course of the night I rambled around downtown, up to the Space Needle campus, over to the Amazon zone, and generally all over downtown and the near north. When you wanted to stop for food or a drink, you cliped a bike one of the dozens of stations (gps map on their app), and grabbed the bike back after. Cost only $ 11, and it’s a great way to see the sites and get a feel for the city

I wasn’t a big fan of this service! It was way too expensive. I went on a fairly brief bike ride with my wife and our total bill was almost $ 40 after tax. I just didn’t think it was worth it. I also thought the pricing was fairly confusing, if not misleading. It would be a lot more simple to just have a table of times and prices on the actual meter.
I understand that the overhead to run a business is not minimal — bike repair, permits, credit card processing, stocking and distributing bikes, staff, etc — but it is still not worth what they charge.

4.5 Stars
Nearing its 1 year anniversary, Seattle’s iteration of a Bike Share program seems to be doing pretty well. With 500 bikes in 50 stations, for the first phase of Pronto’s launch, they’ve exceeded their rental projections. Currently, Pronto is only available in Seattle’s densest neighborhoods including Downtown, Capitol Hill, South Lake Union, and the University District. Additional phases are hoping to expand the system to approximately 220 stations and 2,200 bikes and will include additional Seattle neighborhoods as well as other King County cities.
Like the majority of bike shares, they offer a 24 hour rate ($ 8), and a yearly membership ($ 85), for adults 16 years or older. You simply insert a credit card (use the same credit card throughout the entire rental period). However, unlike most bike shares, they offer a 3 day rate ($ 16), and helmets are the law in Seattle, so they offer a helmet add-​on for $ 2. Don’t worry, they’re thoroughly cleaned, inspected, wrapped in plastic, and locked in a bin that you must access with a code (just return when finished). Also, you don’t enter a code on the bike slot itself, like a lot of bike shares; each bike has a number on it, and you enter that number into the main rental kiosk– confused me for second.
Seattle does pretty well with being bike friendly, and they have ample bike lanes. Pronto does pretty well with the condition of their bikes (thus far). They also were smart in using bikes that actually have 7 gears (which is more than I’ve ever encountered for a bike share) to help navigate the hills of the city. Each bike is also equipped with a basket/​strap, led lights and adjustable seat, to accommodate a wide range of heights (I’m 6′).
All-​in-​all, Pronto was one of the best bike shares that I’ve used. I could see it being a really great thing for the city in years to come, and a contender with any other major cities program.