As cities across the country roll out bikes that people can borrow and ride to brunch or a business meeting, Dallas has largely stuck to four wheels. It is the only major Texas city without a bike-share program.

Its only attempt is a private system with two stations tucked away and rarely used in Fair Park.

Garland-based VBikes wants to change that.

In early June, the bike-share company began parking bright yellow bikes near Klyde Warren Park and a few corners of downtown Dallas. The company, founded by David Shan, sees the bikes as a solution to Dallas' struggle to make cycling a mainstream mode of transportation — especially in parts of town with congestion and limited parking.

People walk by VBikes at Klyde Warren Park in Dallas. (Jae S. Lee/The Dallas Morning News)

Shan's background is in wheels. He is founder and owner of Massimo Motor, which manufactures all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) and utility task vehicles (UTVs) in Garland. Shan said he saw bike-share programs in New York City, Chicago and Paris but felt there could be a more convenient approach.

VBikes, named for their shape, are not locked up at bike stations. Instead, an app uses GPS to pinpoint their locations and identify the closest bike. When people open the app and log into an account, they can unlock a bike with the wave of a smartphone. To end a trip, riders park near their destination and manually lock the bike's back wheel.

Other companies are also trying out the stationless approach, which is especially popular in China.

A VBike costs $1 per hour and maximum of $10 for a 24-hour period. Riders must pay a $99 refundable deposit before renting a bike by credit card or PayPal. After a ride, the app shows the trip's duration, distance, calories burned and carbon footprint saved.

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Luke Pettyjohn, who works in sales and development for VBikes, said the bikes have a few anti-theft measures: They're tracked by GPS, weigh nearly 50 pounds and have a locked back wheel when not in use. They also have a unique look that would make a stolen bike easy to spot, even if painted, he said.

Growing trend

From Copenhagen to Denver, bike-share programs have exploded in popularity. In the U.S., they've grown from four systems in 2010 to 55 systems in 2016, according to data from the National Association of City Transportation Officials.

Fort Worth has had a bike-sharing program for about four years. The system — which has about 45 stations and 350 bicycles — was used for 55,841 trips in 2016, according to the city.

New York City's Citi Bike is the largest bike-share program in the country, with about 10,000 bikes and 600 stations in New York City, across Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. The privately funded system averaged 49,136 rides a day in May, according to the most recent data available.

But paying for the bikes, stations and maintenance has proved difficult. Some cities have turned to corporate sponsors or have funded bike-share programs with a combination of private dollars and public funds.

All of Texas' major cities, except for Dallas, have gone through BCycle, a Wisconsin-based operator founded by Trek Bicycles and Humana that sells the bike systems.

The idea has languished in Dallas. For two years, Downtown Dallas Inc., a public improvement district, has tried to raise private money or a drum up a corporate sponsorship to kick off bike-sharing in the heart of the city.

But it's raised just $100,000 of $6 million in projected costs, president Kourtny Garrett said. She said there's plenty of enthusiasm for cycling among Dallas residents and city officials but too many competing priorities for city funding.

Prior to VBikes, the closest Dallas had to bike-sharing was a small program in Fair Park. The program, funded by Friends of Fair Park and $125,000 from the city, consists of 16 bikes and two stations. But bikes are intended only for the gated park that's usually abandoned except for State Fair season.

Finding an audience

Matthew Morris, who works for VBikes, said public funding isn't needed. "This can be a successful business model without taking anybody’s tax dollars," he said. "We can even provide a better service."

VBikes will move bikes, if they notice them sitting unused, he said. And he said the company expects most bikes to last about three years before needing major upkeep. It struck an agreement with Klyde Warren Park to keep about 15 bikes there in exchange for data on ridership.

VBikes plans to add new features over time, like allowing people to adjust the bike's height and keep a bike on hold when running errands or going out to eat, he said.

Local Hub owner Kristie Holt said she'd like more people to experience cycling in Dallas, whether through bike share programs or rentals. (Ben Torres / Special Contributor)

In Deep Ellum, Local Hub has been selling, renting and tuning up bikes since it opened in December 2015. Owner Kristie Holt said she wanted to open a bike shop for people who use bikes as transportation, instead of just recreation or racing. She said they rent about 30 bikes per week. They charge $12 per hour or $40 for a day.

In January, they launched a new bike rental spot with six bikes in Uptown Urban Market. By the end of July, she said, another one will open at The Lot, an East Dallas bar and restaurant that's near the Santa Fe Trail. The East Dallas location will be app-based, but bikes must return to the same location.

Holt said her business has been motivated in part by Dallas' sluggish pace. “We saw Dallas wasn’t moving forward with the bike share, so we wanted to give it a push," she said. And she said she's encouraged to see companies like VBikes give it a spin, too.

“We want to get more people on bikes," she said. "If we can get more people to try it out and like it, that’s a step in the right direction, not just for our bike shop but the community of Dallas and city of Dallas.”

Future plans

VBikes is applying for a permit to launch in Seattle. The city is becoming a marketplace for private bike-share companies, after shutting down Pronto, a bike-share system that failed to get traction.

Pettyjohn said VBikes would like to set up 2,000 bikes across Seattle later this summer. It would compete with other stationless bike-share companies, most of which are based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Dallas bike transportation manager Jared White said the private approach may be the fastest way for the city to get a bike-share program. He said he'd like to encourage experimentation and work with companies like VBikes. But he said the city will need to set up guidelines to keep bikes from being parked all over the place.

If the private approach works, he said, that could allow Dallas to focus on another part of the puzzle: adding infrastructure like protected bike lanes.