At Tri-State’s April 11 Sustainable Streets forum, New Haven Director of Transportation, Traffic, and Parking Jim Travers told attendees that his city was looking into a public bike share system. Two weeks later, the New Haven Independent reports that the city has applied for a $400,000 grant to set up a 10-station bike share.

The grant—provided by Connecticut’s South Central Regional Council of Governments—would, in the words of Jim Travers, “get us up and running,” but he would hope to work with New Haven’s hospitals and universities to add even more bike share locations.

The grant proposal is good news for sustainable transportation advocates, and there’s even more good news for budget hawks: bike shares are proving extremely cost effective. In Washington D.C., for example, the bike share boasts 97% farebox recovery, and New Haven expects the same.

“The system ultimately would pay for itself,” said Travers.

In a region where municipalities of all sizes are implementing bike share programs, the city’s move comes as no surprise (especially considering its track record of support for progressive transportation policy). From Collingswood, New Jersey to New York City, bike shares are popping up, and by the end of the summer, we’ll know if we can add New Haven to that list.

The city has also applied for three other grants, all geared towards improving the transportation network. New Haven is seeking funds for downtown traffic signal replacement, a study on traffic signal timing, and a study on making some one-way streets bidirectional.