A retired engineer from the Gilman area of Issaquah developed a prototype magnetic boost system for faster bicycle travel back in the mid ‘00s. Now he’s contacting government officials about testing his system as a subscriber service in public bike lanes.

Pat McGrath’s prototype, which he calls Boost Ride, is a nondescript black box containing a powerful linear induction motor. The motor uses alternating current to direct magnetic force in one direction. When coupled with a small ski connected to the bottom of a bike frame, Boost Ride provides a nudge to forward momentum.

“You’ll feel it but not too much,” he said. “It’s kind of like Dad giving you a boost when you were learning.”

The system would move bike commuters at a clip of 20 miles per hour, but McGrath said he also envisioned Boost Ride as an equalizer among riders.

“The Highlands hill is a perfect example,” he said. “If you have people who are less fit, compared to the ‘spandex crowd,’ it allows them to do the same thing as them with less effort.”

In contrast to self-contained rechargeable electric motor systems like MIT’s Copenhagen Wheel, the Boost Ride system is infrastructural, meaning the motors must be embedded in bike lanes and draw off the power grid.

That translates to a sizable installation investment. McGrath estimated each linear induction motor to cost $2,500, with motors being installed every 30 feet. That would translate to 167 motors per mile at a cost of $417,500.

A hefty price — though the Federal Highway Administration has calculated the cost of highway construction from $1 million to $5 million per mile for the average road, all the way up to $20.6 million (in 1996 dollars) for interstate highways.

One option for offsetting the cost could be a fastpass-style subscription service costing a few dollars a day, McGrath said.

McGrath has pitched his technology to politicians like U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert and state Rep. Chad Magendanz. Most recently, he presented his concept at the June 15 Issaquah city council meeting.

Originally from New York and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah, McGrath worked as an engineer for more than 40 years, employed by companies like Tektronix, Leupold & Stevens and Boeing. He said years of working to develop new technologies have given him a thick skin for skeptics to Boost Ride.

“I’ve seen that enough not to pay attention to it,” he said. “It’s like the Wright brothers. People would tell them, ‘Mark my words, man will never fly.’ Well, they did fly.”