Asheville city to hold public meeting to discuss feasibility of a bike share program

Karen Chávez | The Citizen-Times

ASHEVILLE – Zipping around downtown at lunch or going for a bike ride on a whim along the French Broad River after work might get a little easier if the city moves forward with a bike share program, which are wildly growing in popularity across the country.

City staff are now undertaking a feasibility study to see if a bike share program would be a good fit for Asheville, said city transportation planner Barb Mee.

There will be an open house-style meeting June 28 for the public to learn more about such a program.

“A bike share is a low-cost way to take short trips, to get from point-to-point. If you’re going to meet friend for lunch a mile-and-a-half away, you can use a bike share and still stay within your lunch hour,” Mee said. “This isn’t for long trips. There are bike shops that rent bikes all day. That market is being well served.”

Mee said she has been hearing from residents for years about wanting a bike share system – bikes available at points around town and accessed by paying at a docking station or through a smartphone app. A bike share study steering committee formed in April, comprising local bicycle enthusiasts, bicycle and other business owners, and city staff.

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The city hired a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based firm, Alta Planning and Design, and local firm Friction Shift Projects to conduct the feasibility study for $50,000, half of which was paid for by a federal grant from the French Broad Metropolitan Planning Organization.

Mee said the report would be presented to City Council around Thanksgiving, and will then wait for direction on how to move forward based on policy direction.

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“The city supports active transportation and access to affordable transportation options, but we need to balance that with being wise stewards of the money, and this is one of the ways, to do a feasibility study first,” she said.

“We want feedback from people. We want to know where people think they will want to use the bikes, where they’d like to go?”

She will be looking to the public for direction on whether bikes are needed mostly downtown, for commuters, for tourists, or for reaching communities further out from the city center. One of the goals of a bike share system in Asheville would be equity, Mee said.

“Most bike share programs are accessed through a credit card, but some places are experimenting with buying a card at the drugstore. We want to make sure you don’t have to have a certain level of income to use the system,” she said.

Bike shares are booming

Phil Goff, senior bike share planning with Alta Planning and Design, said cities large and small are embracing the concept of a bike library.

He said there are now more than 100 cities across the country with bike share programs, including most of the largest cities, such as New York, Chicago, Washington, Boston and Miami. And many are popping up in North Carolina and surrounding states, including Winston-Salem, Charlotte, Durham, campuses at UNC Chapel Hill and Greensboro, and in Greenville, S.C., and Chattanooga, Tennessee.

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Goff said the systems have exploded recently, more than doubling in the past two years from about 50 bike shares in cities in 2016.

“It’s really a matter of time, I think, until the vast majority of cities over 100,000 people have bike share programs. As of now, 24 of 25 largest cities have bike share systems. At least 40 of 50 largest have a bike share as well,” he said. “That’s not to say it’s a guarantee or shoe in for Asheville, but part of what we’re doing is assessing the viability.”

Asheville’s latest population estimate is 92,000.

Goff said cities that do well with a bike share program tend to have high densities of residences, job clusters and eating, drinking, dining establishments, as well as a good tourist economy, and tend to have “success” if success is measured in high ridership.

Bike share success can also be measured in how well served are neighborhoods that lack good access to public transit or neighborhoods where few people have access to private automobiles or bicycles. He said cities typically try to balance the two goals.

How does a bike share work?

There are three models for bike shares: Dockless, or smart bike models, which can be accessed anywhere at any time using free-standing bikes from companies like Lime Bike or Zagster and can be implemented in four-six months; station-based, or dock-based systems that cost more up front and can take up to two years to implement; and a hybrid system of “smart bikes” that are required to be docked at stations.

Under a station-based system, users have the ability to pick up a bicycle at any self-serve bike station and return it to any other bike station located within the system's service area.

Chattanooga, population 177,000, has been using this system for six years said,

Ben Taylor, director of transportation operations for the Chattanooga Department of Transportation, said the city has 42 stations and more than 350 bikes throughout most of downtown area, but they are spreading out along the popular Tennessee Riverwalk system.

“Anyone can walk up to a kiosk or use a smartphone to rent a bike, use it for up to an hour, dock it at their final destination, or dock and get another hour to continue riding,” Taylor said.

City residents can purchase an annual pass for $50 for unlimited rides in 60-minute intervals. Visitors, or locals, can purchase a day pass for $8.

The bikes are “large, comfort designed,” with no bar, making them easy to ride in work clothes. They have soft disc brakes and seven speeds. Taylor said they are heavy, and made for short trips, not speeding around a track.

Children younger than 18 are required to wear a helmet. Other passholders can get a discount on purchasing a helmet.

And what if you’re halfway to work and blow a tire or lose a chain? It’s like AAA light – roll the bike into the nearest docking station, press a button to call a mechanic, or call an 800 number if you’re not near a station.

Taylor said by all accounts the program has been a success, serving 25,000 riders a year, the majority of whom buy day passes.

Success is also measured in the cleaner air in town, Taylor said. The primary reason for launching Bike Share was to cut down on automobile trips to reduce air pollution.

“One of credits to system is helping folks feel more comfortable biking and creating a better relationship between bikes and cars,” Taylor said.

“It’s also been very helpful to Chattanooga’s air pollution. When we got this grant ($2 million from the federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Grant) we were in non-attainment for many air pollutants. But we are now in attainment.

The program receives no direct funding from the city, but operates on money generated from the passes and from grants from three major nonprofits, Taylor said.

If you go

The city will hold an open house public meeting from 5-7 p.m. June 28 in Asheville City Hall, First Floor Conference Room North, 70 Court Plaza to discuss the possibility of a bike share program. For more, visit the City’s Bike Share Study webpage.

Get into summer cycling spirit

Asheville on Bikes hosts Summer Cycle ‘18 starting at 3:30 p.m. June 23 at New Belgium Brewing on Craven Street in the River Arts District. There will be a 1.5-mil family-friendly bike ride, a 10-mile ride for all ages and skill levels and a celebration following the ride at New Belgium.

For more information, contact Mike Sule at mike@ashevilleonbikes.com or 828-582-4705, or visit www.ashevilleonbikes.com.