INDIANAPOLIS - Indianapolis Cultural Trail, Inc. (ICT, Inc.) today announced that the organization is now incorporating bicycles to balance the Indiana Pacers Bikeshare program.  Operations team members will use the trailers, which hold three bikes each, to more efficiently move bikes between the twenty-six stations located along the Indianapolis Cultural Trail: A Legacy of Gene and Marilyn Glick.

“The bike trailers will significantly impact on our ability to manage the system more effectively” said Indianapolis Cultural Trail Executive Director, Kären Haley.  “Using bicycles to move bike share bikes allows our operations team to transport small quantities of bikes and access stations that may be difficult to get to when roads are closed, or there are special events.”

The bike trailers were custom designed and produced by Indianapolis Fabrications. Indianapolis Fabrications donated one of the bike trailers to the program. 

Pacers Bikeshare piloted a foot balancing program this summer when ICT, Inc. hosted 12 students from TeenWorks. The TeenWorks students worked in teams to move small numbers of bikes by foot in areas with the highest station density.

“The TeenWorks teams were able to balance bikes in the downtown core more efficiently then our typical balancing operations,” said Cultural Trail and Pacers Bikeshare Operations Manager, Jordan Kingdon.  “The two bike trailers will allow us to augment our typical practice of using our cargo van to transport large numbers of bikes at a time.  Our operations will be more sustainable.”

ICT, Inc. operates the Indiana Pacers Bikeshare Program 250 bikes and 26 stations, primarily located on or near the eight mile Indianapolis Cultural Trail: A Legacy of Gene and Marilyn Glick.  The bike share program, which reached 100,000 bike trips in less then a year, started in April 2014.  Annual memberships and additional information are available at pacersbikeshare.org. 

About: Indianapolis Cultural Trail, Inc. ensures that the Indianapolis Cultural Trail: A Legacy of Gene and Marilyn Glick is a beautifully maintained, vibrant community asset connecting people and places in downtown Indianapolis.

Kären Haley

Executive Director
Indianapolis Cultural Trail, Inc.

email: khaley@indyculturaltrail.org
phone: 317-672-7627
web: www.indyculturaltrail.org and: www.pacersbikeshare.org

View photos of the ride on Joel's Instagram account here: https://instagram.com/butternutsquashsoup/

I live at Seventh and Sansom, a block from Washington Square. I often start at the station at 8th and Market. The stations at 10th and Chestnut, 9th and Arch, and 5th and Market are also close. I wouldn’t object to a station in Washington Square, but I don’t want to sound spoiled. I know most people don’t have stations this close.

I moved to Philadelphia from Wichita in March and have been looking for ways to get to know the city. I joined Indego in June and have been using it regularly ever since. I’m a big fan. I have a bike, but I like the convenience of the bike share program. It’s great for short trips. I don’t have to worry about bringing my bike up to my apartment or locking it up, and you guys take care of the maintenance. I’ve been using the Indego map a lot and thought visiting and photographing all the stations would be a fun project. I’m an Instagram novice, but I like the app and am rooting for a bike-friendly Philly.

The ride took about eight hours, a little longer than I thought. I was thinking, well, one minute per station would be 73 minutes, but I knew that wasn’t realistic. Five minutes per station would be about six hours. That would be possible. In the end, it took a little extra time because I had never been to most of the stations, and I took some time to explore. I’m excited to get back to the Clark Park farmers’ market for mushrooms.

I started about ten-thirty. I wrote out the route the day before. Start close to my apartment, ride out to West Philly, cross the Schuylkill at Spring Garden and get the Art Museum, head to North Philly, wrap around Fishtown, back to Logan Circle, then South Philly, and finish up with the Center City stations near my apartment. I knew where most of those stations were located, so I thought if I could get the first sixty, I know where the last ones are located. During the ride, I used the bike2go app to fine tune the route. And, at the end, I had to stop at my apartment to recharge my phone, which I was using as my camera. Then, I went back out and got the last five stations: 9th and Arch, 12th and Filbert, 6th and Race, 2nd and Market, and Independence Hall. I numbered the photos in the order I took them. I’m thinking maybe someone else can help me with a shorter route.

I would definitely do it again. The photos turned out to be kind of a fall Philly valentine. It was a nice day, and I like photos of street scenes, interesting public spaces, brightly colored leaves, murals, the skyline, and blue bikes.

Source: http://rideindego.tumblr.com/post/132560374388/faces-of-indego-meet-the-member-that-pedaled-to

Great Rides Bike Share is proud to announce its one hundred thousandth ride! The program, the first of its kind in North Dakota, provides bicycles at stations located throughout downtown Fargo and the North Dakota State University (NDSU) campuses for short station-to-station rentals. The system launched in mid-March with 101 bikes at 11 stations.

“Our first year overall ridership levels put us ahead of other successful and much larger bike share programs in communities such as Minneapolis, Denver, and Madison all of which had fewer rides their first season.,” said Cam Knutson, chair of the Great Rides Bike Share Board of Directors.

The program’s fast-moving success ties in to new technologies that include NDSU students. “To our knowledge, it is the first program in the nation to integrate a whole university alongside community users,” said Tom Smith, owner of Great Northern Bicycle Co. and steering committee member for the program. New card-reader technology allows NDSU students to use their student ID cards to check out bikes. Over 7,700 students have enrolled their cards for the program.

“Great Rides Bike Share has had awesome results since launching and I would rank the usage at the top for bike share systems here in the USA,” said Lee Jones, Director of Sales for BCycle, the Madison-based vendor that provides infrastructure for over two dozen bike sharing systems nationwide.

Future plans include continued growth of the program across the NDSU campuses and downtown Fargo, eventually extending across the river into sister city Moorhead, Minnesota.

“This program is another example of how our community can rally behind something and make it a much bigger success than anyone could ever have imagined,” said Mike Williams, Fargo City Commissioner and Great Rides Bike Share Board of Directors member.

“Current and future bike share operators are taking note of our success, particularly in the integration of student riders. We receive multiple calls each month inquiring about how we did it,” says Sara Watson Curry, Great Rides Director of Operations.

Coincident to the milestone, the program will expand two of the most popular stations to better accommodate riders. This week, technicians will double the number of docks at the Memorial Union Station and add several additional docks at High Rise Complex Station, both on NDSU main campus, to accommodate more bikes.

Each bike in the system, which receives regular inspection by professional mechanics, has been ridden an average of 1,000 times, said Watson Curry.

For more information: greatridesbikeshare.com; facbeook.com/GreatRidesBikeShare

Further questions, please contact:

Great Rides Bike Share is a program managed by Great Rides Fargo, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to building healthy individuals and communities by encouraging the use of bicycles for lifestyle, sport, and recreation. Great Rides Bike Share is the first technology driven bike share system in North Dakota.

Bikeshare is coming to downtown Los Angeles in 2016 with nearly 1,100 bikes at 65 stations. And you’ll be able to check out a demonstration kiosk — complete with bikes — at the following dates and times:

• Thursday, July 30, from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Arts District Farmers Market, Traction and E. Third Street (Joel Bloom Square Triangle).

• Wednesday, August 5, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Lunch Á La Park in Grand Park.

• Sunday, August 9, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m at the Metro Booth at the downtown Culver City Hub at CicLAvia: Culver City Meets Venice.

So come see how you can use a TAP card to check out a bike!

Some quick background: The Metro Board of Directors in June approved an $11-million contract to Bicycle Transit Systems (BTS) and their partners (B-Cycle, Ridescout, Tool Design Group and BikeHub) to run the countywide bikeshare program that Metro is overseeing.

The bikeshare program is set to begin in downtown L.A. with other communities around the county to follow. Metro is currently working on a fare structure and other details. Stay tuned!

The Metro Board on Thursday voted to approve Metro’s selected vendor, Bicycle Transit Systems, Inc. to launch a long-awaited regional bikeshare program in Los Angeles County. As part of a bikesharing pilot project, the firm will install almost 1,100 bikes at 65 stations in downtown Los Angeles, with an opening next spring.

Here’s the official news release:

Bikesharing Coming To Downtown L.A.

METRO BOARD ANNOUNCES ADOPTION OF L.A. COUNTY BIKESHARE PLAN, AWARDS $11 MILLION CONTRACT TO BICYCLE TRANSIT SYSTEMS, INC. TO LAUNCH BIKESHARING IN DOWNTOWN L.A. AS START OF PLANNED COUNTYWIDE SYSTEM

In an eagerly anticipated decision that brings bikesharing to the City of Los Angeles and others county-wide, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) Board today voted to award a $11 million contract to Bicycle Transit Systems, Inc., jumpstarting the first pilot bikesharing program in Downtown L.A. next year, with expansions to other municipalities to follow.

Metro will launch the bike share system in spring 2016 with nearly 1,100 bikes at 65 stations throughout Downtown L.A.

“We are building new ways for Angelenos to get around,” said Mayor Garcetti. “Riding a bike is another option people can use to commute to work or explore the region. Today marks the first step in Metro’s plan to bring bikeshare to cities across the county.”

The launch will follow an extensive public outreach process that will give local residents, business owners and other stakeholders the opportunity participate in the planning of the county’s newest form of transportation. As the community input process advances, bicycles will be available for short-term hire at a wealth of downtown locations such as Union Station, L.A. Convention Center, Staples Center, Grand Park/Music Center, 7thStreet/Metro Center , Grand Central Market, Pershing Square, the Arts District, the future Figueroa Cycle Track corridor, University of Southern California area and numerous attractions.

Following the launch in Downtown L.A., the system will expand to Pasadena in 2017 as Metro plans to bring the program to eight other communities for a total of 4,000 bicycles in ten communities in L.A. County.

Bikesharing, designed for low-cost, point-to-point short trips using a for-rent fleet of bicycles strategically located at docking stations in close proximity to one another and to transit, is a key transportation and first-mile-last-mile strategy that has already proved popular and successful in other major U.S. cities and around the globe, including New York, Chicago, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Montreal, London and Paris. The new L.A. system will fill gaps in the transit network with durable bikes at self-service stations located every few blocks in Downtown. Residents and visitors can pick up a bike at any station, ride to their destination, and drop off the bike at any open dock. The system will allow unlimited, short-term access to bikes 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Smartphone apps will give users real-time information about bike and dock availability. The system’s fares will be considered by the Metro Board at a future meeting. Metro’s Regional Bikeshare Implementation Plan, also approved by the Board, shares capital, operations and maintenance costs with cities, ensuring the program’s financial viability moving forward.

Metro conducted a rigorous, impartial and competitive procurement process to ensure that only the most experienced and capable vendor was selected to implement Metro’s Countywide Bikeshare Program.  Having just completed an on-time launch in Philadelphia, the newest of 34 systems in 42 cities with 7,000 bicycles operated througout North and South America, Bicycle Transit Systems, Inc. (BTS) and its partner BCycle, were determined to have the most industry experience and expertise, proven equipment and technology, and the greatest capability for immediate, on-time delivery of a large-scale, multi-jurisdictional bikeshare system backed by their industry-best customer service. The BTS/BCycle team also includes RideScout, BikeHub and Toole Design.

BTS/BCycle team will be able to provide the required number of bicycles and bicycle docking stations for the agency’s Downtown L.A. pilot program and program  expansion.  The firm already has one local distribution center in Ontario and a subsidary headquartered in San Diego County, and the L.A. system will create new jobs at these facilities, and more across LA county.

Metro Board members who authored earlier motions in support of Metro bikesharing include directors Eric Garcetti, Mike Bonin, Don Knabe, and former directors Zev Yaroslavsky and Pam O’Connor.

“I am tremendously excited that we are moving forward with bikeshare in L.A. and that we are focusing on developing a system that will connect our neighborhoods through interoperable systems,” said Metro Board Member Mike Bonin. “It defies logic that snowy cities around the country have had bikeshare for years, but a city like Los Angeles, with our wonderful weather and communities begging to be biked, still hasn’t gotten this done yet.”

“Bikeshare can be a key element of the first-last mile and balanced transportation solution, expanding the reach of transit and providing our transit users with another mobility option.” said Phillip A. Washington, Metro CEO. “As a proven, experienced leader in the bikeshare industry, we are confident that the BTS/Bcycle team will deliver a successful countywide bikeshare system.”

“The wheels are in motion on the region’s newest form of public transportation, and momentum continues to build for cycling on the streets of L.A. County,” said Janette Sadik-Khan, the former Commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation and a principal at Bloomberg Associates, where she advised on Metro’s bikeshare contract. “Nothing inspires a city quite like a new bikeshare system, and with by making a safe, affordable, active commute into a reality for thousands more Angelenos, this is a huge step in L.A.’s evolution from car culture to cycling capital.”

Metro’s Bikeshare Implementation Plan establishes a business plan needed to bring bikesharing to more cities within L.A. County. Under the plan, Metro will pay 50 percent of capital costs and 35 percent of net operations and maintenance costs.  The agency will manage a master operations contract with its selected bikeshare vendor to provide operations and maintenance for the entire regional system while BTS/BCycle is already working on integrating transit fare cards similar to Metro’s TAP card, bringing a convenient, unified payment system to the county’s rail, bus and bikeshare systems. Building on this board-approved funding mechanism, Metro is also seeking potential system sponsors interested in high-visibility advertising on the stations, bikes and related materials.

“Metro’s commitment to treating bikeshare as an extension of the transit system lays the foundation for Los Angeles to have one of the most equitable bikeshare systems in the country, one that is truly accessible and affordable to the communities that will benefit most. It is critically important that Angelenos’ first experience with bikeshare is seamlessly integrated throughout Los Angeles County and we encourage all agencies to collaboratively seek compatibility across multiple systems,” said Tamika Butler, Executive Director, Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition.  “We commend Metro for taking a leadership role and look forward to the successful deployment of a regional system.”

Metro, the City of L.A., and local partners will host demonstration events, open houses and workshops throughout Downtown and future service areas in the coming year. Angelenos are encouraged to attend, test out bikeshare bikes and provide feedback on how the system will best work for them.

http://thesource.metro.net/2015/06/25/metro-board-approves-bikeshare-vendor-for-los-angeles-county/