This Bike Share Was Designed for the Mountains – Bicycling

When most people think of bike share programs, they think of big cities. Capital Bikes in D.C., Divvy Bikes in Chicago, Citi Bikes in NYC.

Bike shares tend to make sense for urban areas, where many people dont own a car and want to maneuver the area efficiently. But Shift Bikes launched last year in Vail, Colorado, a small town population 5,000 known mainly for its posh ski resort.

The all-electric, seasonal bike share seems to be proving that even with a backdrop of mountains instead of skyscrapers, bike shares thrive.

When Vail isnt draped with snow, cycling rules. People from all around flock to the area for recreational road cycling and mountain biking. And since 2011, the town of Vail has promoted human powered commuting through their Sole Power program.

From Memorial Day in May to Indigenous Peoples' Day in October, the town challenges residents to make as many trips as possible without a gas-powered vehicle. Last year 341 people participated, reducing carbon emissions by more than 51,700 pounds.

According to Better Bike Share, because of the success of Sole Power, Beth Markham, Vails environmental sustainability manager, decided to launch an electric bike share system. Thanks to $25,000 in funding, a 12-bike system debuted in 2020.

But it wasnt big enough to cover the needs of people who wanted to use the bikes, and local bike shops felt like it was competition with them renting bikes to visitors. So Markham and her team took a year off to work with regional partners.

Returning with a new plan made much more sense for the area, the Town of Avon and the Eagle-Vail Metropolitan District agreed to join forces. And last spring the three towns launched Shift Bikes as a regional bike share system, with 90 bikes and 20 station hubs from Drop Mobility.

Using the feedback from local bike shops and community members, the new approach was intentional about ensuring different opportunities for bike share trips vs. renting a bike for recreation or all-day use.

The program is expanding this year, to include 155 bikes and 33 stations stretching from Edwards in the west to Vail in the east. The connector includes a completely paved, multiuse path, with no interaction with traffic, and allows cyclists to commute between towns. There are also plans to expand the bike share program even farther, to connect a whole string of mountain towns.

Vails story proves that bike share programs are great for all communities. Markhams advice is to communicate so that everyone can support the best plan for the area and address the specific communitys unique needs. Talk to the community, talk to bike shops build relationships so that your program is supporting what theyre doing, says Markham. There are solutions out there that can work in all environments.

Freelance Writer

Micah Ling is a freelance writer based out of Salida, Colorado. She splits her time in the mountains biking and trail running. Connect with her on Instagram and Twitter.

Read more from the original source:

This Bike Share Was Designed for the Mountains - Bicycling