CoGo Bike Share will expand next year for the first time. City Council approved spending $201,450 last night to help pay for eight new stations and 80 additional bicycles, adding to the system the city launched in 2013 with 30 stations and 300 bikes.

CoGo Bike Share will stretch farther from Downtown next year.

The city plans to buy eight more docking stations and 80 more bicycles as it readies a plan to expand the system for the first time since it launched in 2013 with 30 stations and 300 bikes.

Locations for the new stations haven�t been finalized, but Columbus City Council approved spending $201,450 for the new equipment on Monday; that will bring the city�s total investment in its bike-sharing network to nearly $2.5 million.

�We�re trying to grow the system and look where the growth is,� said Alan McKnight, the city�s Recreation and Parks director. �Over the next couple of months, we�ll be working with CoGo folks and others to make final decisions on where we want to put these.�

The highest demand is along High Street toward Ohio State University and west of High into Harrison West and Victorian Village, said Heather Bowden, the system�s general manager.

City officials and CoGo also will look at adding stations in Franklinton, on the South Side and near Grandview Yard, she said.

CoGo solicited station suggestions on its website and received hundreds of responses that officials narrowed to 60 potential sites.

�Wherever the expansion happens is going to be good,� said Catherine Girves, executive director of Yay Bikes, an advocacy group. �There�s more need than there is resource right now. When you look at the systems in other parts of the country, it�s true (that) if you build it, they will come.�& lt; /p>

CoGo users pay $75 for annual memberships or $6 for a day pass that lets them borrow bikes from stations sprinkled around the city. Bikes must be returned to one of the docking stations every 30 minutes, or the user will be charged extra.

Most of the stations are concentrated in the immediate Downtown area. Bowden said that as more are added in neighborhoods, more commuter cyclists will use CoGo.

�As the system expands into more neighborhoods, you�ll see that bike-curious audience of people say, �Let�s give this a try,�??� Girves said.

A $2.3 million investment from the city got CoGo started. That was used to buy equipment, which the city owns, and prop up early operational costs of the system that New York-based Alta Bicycle Share runs.

Alta announced this year that it has landed a $1.25 million sponsorship deal with Medical Mutual that will help it become self-sustaining in 2015. Bowden said CoGo also is seeking sponsors of stations for $30,000 each.

Profits from the system are split with the city, which has a five-year contract with Alta.

CoGo riders have taken more than 70,000 trips on the system�s bicycles.

rrouan@dispatch.com

@RickRouan

@Crawlumbus