Photo by Walker Evans.

The next wave of new CoGo stations are scheduled to be installed this summer, expanding the bike share system’s network farther from the Downtown core and into Bexley, Grandview Heights and Upper Arlington for the first time.

Thirteen of the 26 new stations will be located in Columbus, including new docks in Clintonville, Milo-Grogan, the University District and the Near East Side. Another station could be added on the south side, but that one hasn’t been confirmed yet.

“We’ve located some pretty good sites, it’s exciting,” said Brad Westall, the city’s Greenways Planner. “We have a lot of folks in that UA-Grandview corridor who have wanted to join the system for a while, and Bexley as well was really eager to get involved.”

Westall said that the numbers have been good lately for CoGo (2017 saw users ride an average of 4,000 miles a week, a 14 percent increase from 2016), but the new expansion could cause an even bigger jump in ridership.

“I think it’ll have a significant impact,” he said, “when you look at the reception we’ve seen over the last five years, especially given how limited our service area was to start out.”

CoGo launched in 2013 with 30 stations and 300 bikes, gradually expanding in small increments to reach the current mark of 41 stations and 365 bikes.

Most of the cost of the new stations will be funded through a federal grant secured by the Mid Ohio Regional Planning Commission. The million dollar grant will cover about 80 percent of the cost, with each of the four jurisdictions paying the rest.

For more information on CoGo, including the full map showing new station locations, see www.columbus.gov.