In Indy, bike sharing is a balancing act

Jake Watson was reviewing data points on a computer screen, when he noticed an anomaly.

The city's bike-sharing station at Massachusetts Avenue and Alabama Street was completely filled at 6 p.m. And the station at Bankers Life Fieldhouse a few blocks away was empty.

Something was clearly out of balance, so Watson pondered his next move.

An affable millennial, Watson "balances" the bike stations for the Indiana Pacers Bikeshare program. That means, at a moment's notice, he's apt to climb into a panel van and stock stations or move bikes from stations with too many.

"Balancing is a bit of an art," said Watson, 27, who favors backward caps and hipster glasses. "There is a science to it but a lot of it is intuition."

It's a job mostly hidden from the public. But it's increasingly being considered as essential as keeping the buses running or trash collection on time, especially where bike commuting is flourishing.

There are 1,600 yearly Indianapolis bike-share pass holders, many of whom commute, and another 28,000 people who bought day passes last year. They combined for 108,000 trips between 26 stations around Downtown Indianapolis.

Those bikes weren't available all of the time at all of those stations by accident. It wasn't magic. Somebody had to make sure they were there.

That was Watson and a crew of five who kept the system rolling out of a small garage at the corner of Capitol Avenue and Walnut Street. The combination office and bike repair shop is headquarters for the Indianapolis Cultural Trail Inc., which manages the bike-sharing program.

Watson, who also repairs the bikes, said his job is important and rewarding, especially considering where he came from; his previous gigs included delivering sandwiches by bicycle and working in a pizza restaurant.

"It sure beats up-selling breadsticks," he said. "I get to work outside, dealing with customers and the public in a real way."

On this night, sensors at the docking stations allowed Watson to track how many bicycles were available minute-by-minute. The stations were color-coded on a laptop map: Green, yellow, red meant plenty, low and empty, respectively. A click on the station gave the number.

Because an empty station can fill up fast, and visa versa, Watson was careful not to overreact.

"Sometimes, you just wait and it works itself out," he said.

But sometimes the unpredictable happens, as with the two stations Watson was watching.

He could surmise that the Mass Ave. and Alabama station was full because it was a nice night and people were at the bars on Mass Ave. The problem was that more bicycle renters might be pedaling there and would find nowhere to dock.

But the empty Bankers Life station was a mystery.

It could have been barren, because there wasn't an event at the fieldhouse or because the bars on Georgia Street were dead. Watson didn't know. But often, he said, a large group of tourists will rent several bikes together and throw things out of whack.

At 6:20 p.m., still nothing had changed at the two stations, so Watson got into the van and drove to them.

At the Mass Ave. station, he unlocked five of the 17 bikes parked there. As he did, he looked them over for mechanical flaws or low tire pressure. On one, he turned the brake's barrel adjuster to tighten it. In two others he found items in the front baskets — a bracelet and water bottle.

They would go into a lost-and-found bin. Most things people leave behind are inexpensive, he said, although someone once left behind a computer.

Watson then drove to the Bankers Life station, which also had 17 parking spots, all still bare, and walked the five bikes to five slots there.

Later that night, another worker would visit the bike-sharing stations to make sure they were balanced and in the morning, still another would reset what late-night renters had disrupted.

Cultural Trail Executive Director Kärin Haley said station balancing evolves as the system matures and preferences change.

In fact, it started before the first station was even built, when the proposed stations were revealed at public meetings.

"Many people filled out comment cards saying we needed one at Meridian and Washington, which wasn't in our original plan," Haley said. "And now that is now one of our busiest stations."

Part of balancing requires knowing what's happening Downtown. If there's a game at Victory Field or a big conference at the Indiana Convention Center, stations there will be watched and rebalanced.

But much of the rest is anticipating rush hour commuter patterns and balancing the stations in the morning and night.

The stations on the outskirts of the system — like Fountain Square — get fully stocked for the morning. And those in the Downtown core — like Meridian and Washington streets — need plenty of open docks for arrivals.

The next step forward for station balancing will be the acquisition of a trailer with tree bike hitches that can hauled by bicycle.

"When traffic is at a standstill Downtown because of a Final Four or something we will be able to move through and move the bikes fast," Watson said.

Call Star reporter John Tuohy at (317) 444-6418 and follow on Twitter @john_tuohy.