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  • Austin BCycle rebranded as MetroBike

    by Pattrik Perez | Sep 25, 2020



    AUSTIN, Texas — Say goodbye to Austin BCycle and hello to MetroBike.

    The rebranding is a result of a new management partnership between the City of Austin and Capital Metro, the two announced Thursday.

    You can expect to see new colors and signage for its bikes, e-bikes and stations. The BCycle app will soon be integrated into CapMetro's app.

    In addition to the rebranding, the City of Austin and Capital Metro plan to expand the fleet and the number of bike stations and fully electrify its fleet. 

    MetroBike has several rental options, including a pay-as-you-ride option (which costs $1 to unlock the bike and $0.23 per minute after that) and daily, weekend, monthly and annual plans.

    According to the Austin Transportation Department's Shared Micromobility Transportation Data and Performance Hub, since Austin/Travis County's stay-at-home orders went into effect, people have taken 168 bicycle trips and more than 361,000 scooter trips.

    Written by Pattrik Perez 

  • Cycling in the Pandemic is the New Transportation Solution: Bike Sharing System BCycle Announces Increase in Year-Over-Year Ridership in Major Cities Across America

    by Trek Bicycle Corporation | Sep 01, 2020

    electric bike checkouts

    MADISON, Wis., Aug. 31, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- BCycle, the bike sharing system powered by Trek Bicycle, has released data from markets across the nation supporting the trending global bike boom, showing increased ridership in both traditional fleets and those with e-bikes integrated.

    Examples of key markets with increased ridership numbers in 2020 compared to the same time last year include:

    • Des Moines, Iowa: +29%
    • Fort Worth, Texas: +50%
    • Houston, Texas: +21%
    • Las Vegas, Nevada: +186%
    • Madison, Wisconsin: +20%
    • Omaha, Nebraska.: +39%
    • San Antonio, Texas: +75%

    Madison BCycle recently released a comprehensive annual report exploring overall bike sharing ridership, station performance, and the impact on the local community. Results revealed that e-bikes were driving ridership, a finding that has held true from last year into 2020. Of the cities with increased bike sharing usage, only Des Moines does not have e-bikes in their fleet. At the time, even pre-pandemic, the report also showed that about 50% of the time, e-bikes were replacing driving or carpooling for 75% of BCycle members that own their own car. During a time when social distancing is the new norm, this trend appears to be growing nationwide as people look for alternative ways of travel in place of public transportation.

    "At the beginning of 2020, we never could have predicted our current situation and the massive demand we're seeing within our bike sharing network across the nation," said Morgan Ramaker, BCycle Executive Director. "The bike boom is real for personally owned bicycles as well as bike sharing, with no signs of slowing down. BCycle's mission has always been to change the world by getting more people on bikes, and we're embracing the momentum and cultural shift as consumers seek out bike riding for essential transportation as well as for mental and physical health benefits."

    Wisconsin-based Trek Bikes launched #GoByBike in May 2020, encouraging people to choose to ride a bike at least one trip a week, replacing other modes of transportation, for the health of our planet and people. While society is still responsibly social distancing, there has never been a better time for consumers to ride bikes – whether their own or from a bike share system – to stay healthy, help fight climate change, for fun and to shape a better future for generations to come.

    BCycle offers the following tips for city-dwellers seeking out bike sharing as a transportation option:

    1. Don't Forget a Helmet – When sharing the road with cars and pedestrians, it's important to protect your head in the event of unexpected incidents. While many bikes have bells and lights, no one wants to share helmets which is why it's best to remember to bring your own.

    2. Remember the Rules of the Road – It's not illegal to ride on sidewalks in some cities, but it's encouraged to ride in the street. Cyclists should abide by all the traffic laws that cars do, and still must yield to pedestrians.

    3. BYO… Hand Sanitizer – BCycle has already increased sanitation protocols and is cleaning bikes several times a day, as well as disinfecting high touch areas at all stations. But just like it's the new norm is other areas of our lives; riders should wash their hands or use hand sanitizer before and after each ride to keep themselves and others safe and healthy.

    All BCycle bikes are designed in Waterloo, WI by Trek Bikes. To learn more about BCycle visit bcycle.com or follow BCycle on Instagram. Download the BCycle app in the App Store or Google Play Store.

    ABOUT BCYCLE 
    Headquartered in Waterloo, Wisconsin, BCycle LLC develops and delivers best-in-class bike share systems and is committed to providing an environmentally sustainable transportation alternative for cities. BCycle believes that bike share is the bicycle's role in public transit and is on a mission to change the world by getting more people on bikes. BCycle, a fully owned subsidiary of Trek Bicycle, partners with organizations across the country like to deliver community-based bike share. For more information, visit www.bcycle.com.

    SOURCE Trek Bicycle Corporation

  • Madison's BCycle Bike Share Booming Amid Pandemic

    by Steven Elbow | Jun 25, 2020


    e-bike (copy)


    Since going electric, Trek’s BCycle is booming, and the coronavirus crisis isn’t hurting business a bit.

    In fact, company officials say, it’s fueling the bike share’s popularity.

    “Bike sharing as a whole has seen increased ridership since the COVID-19 pandemic began,” said BCycle spokesman Tyler Britz in an email, “in part because people were looking for an alternative to traditional, crowded, public transit options and ride sharing.”

    It's part of a national trend. When cabin fever from the lockdown set in and commuters began to fear contracting the COVID-19 virus on public transportation, bike sales in general exploded, causing worldwide supply shortages. According to the business analytics firm NPD, bike sales have seen double- and triple-digit increases this year.

    But not everyone wants to buy, and some think that bike share programs, and cycling in general, will gain a stronger foothold in the American transportation system because of the pandemic.   

    BCycle has taken measures to ease concerns about sharing bikes during the COVID-19 era by regularly sanitizing bikes and bike stations, "as a way to reassure riders that we were taking further precautions to keep our community safe," Britz said. 

    It was a year ago that BCycle made Madison the first of the 37 cities it serves to go all electric. BCycle users embraced the new bikes, racking up 231,000 rides in 2019, compared with 103,000 in 2018, and adding 7,000 riders for a total of 17,000.

    So far this year, the company reports nearly a threefold increase in trips  compared with last year. Britz said the company plans to meet the growing demand by adding 50 to 100 new bikes to its current fleet of nearly 300 by the end of the season.

    BCycle is also adding bike stations, which now number 46. The company recently added a new facility at the Marling Apartments in the booming East Washington Avenue corridor, and reinstalled a station on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard that had been removed because of construction. The station at Memorial Union on the UW campus is being expanded.

    Britz said other stations are in the planning stages.

    Nationally, the company plans to add Santa Barbara, California, to its list of cities by the end of the year.

    With its hilly terrain, the conversion of the fleet in Madison to e-bikes was a natural fit, Britz said, and Madison remains BCycle’s only all-electric fleet, though e-bikes have been added to traditional fleets in Austin, Houston, and Milwaukee.

    "At the end of the day, I think people are seeing the benefits that bike sharing has, electric or not, on their health, community, and environment as a whole," Britz said. "People becoming more aware of the environmental impacts they can have is definitely playing a role in increased popularity of bike sharing."

    Written by Steven Elbow - The Capital Times 

    Read more at Madison.com

  • How Bike Share Programs Might Make Cycling Safer

    by Nicholas Bakalar for The New York Times | May 20, 2020
    indego
    Credit: Indego

    Could bike share programs lead to greater cycling safety?

    In April 2015, Philadelphia introduced a bike share program. By 2019, there were more than 1,300 bikes and 400 pedal-assisted electric bicycles available. People used them for about 50,000 trips a month.

    Before the introduction of the bike share program, the rate of bicycle-car accidents had been gradually increasing. By May 2015, the month after the introduction of the program, the rate was twice that of January 2010.

    But the researchers, writing in the American Journal of Public Health, found that from that time through the end of 2018, the rate decreased by an average of 13 percent a year, despite the increases over those years in the number of bicycles on city streets, and even though Philadelphia made no major infrastructure changes, like adding many protected bike lanes.

    Read more at The New York Times
  • More People Pedal to Work in Bike-Share Cities

    by Kim Eckart-Washington for Futurity | May 20, 2020
    metrobike
    "Bike-share systems can drive a population to commute by bike,"says Dafeng Xu. (Credit: Metro - Los Angeles/Flickr)

    Before the COVID-19 pandemic, bike commuting increased 20% in cities that introduced bike share systems, according to a new study.

    Read more on Futurity.org
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