SAN FRANCISCO —The Bay Wheels regional bikeshare program will add 2,000 next-generation e-bikes and 55 additional docking stations in San Francisco, San Jose, Oakland, Berkeley and Emeryville to increase ridership and lower operating costs.

The improvements will be accompanied by a drop in annual membership prices and in e-bike usage fees, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and Lyft announced Friday.

The expansion of the e-bike fleet will begin this week in San Francisco and San Jose, the MTC and Lyft said. E-bikes will be added to Bay Wheels locations in Oakland, Berkeley and Emeryville in the coming months.

The cost of an annual Bay Wheels membership has been dropped to $150 from $169, and use of an e-bike has been reduced to 15 cents a minute from 20 cents a minute. 

E-bikes are used three times as often as conventional pedal bikes by Bay Wheels riders. The next generation of e-bikes will have longer battery life, a more powerful motor for going uphill, and better theft deterrents, according to the MTC and Lyft.

The MTC will launch a pilot program next year to provide reduced-cost annual memberships for Bay Area college students.

MTC is the transportation planning, financing and coordinating agency for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area. Lyft operates the Bay Wheels program under a contract managed by MTC.