You’ve probably seen those red B-cycle bikes driving around town. They are part of Austin’s bike share program, which allows people to rent out a B-cycle bike for an hour at a time.
There’s just one problem with them… they’re only available at select locations throughout Austin. Bikes must be picked up and dropped off again at one of Austin B-cycle’s more than 60 stations around town.
The City of Austin is trying to expand the reach of bike share by testing out a dockless bike share pilot program. Exactly like it sounds, dockless bike share works similarly to our B-cycle program, but it allows riders to pick up and drop off bikes nearly anywhere (via a mobile app). A public forum was held earlier this week to discuss the pilot program and to begin to accept feedback from the community.
Dockless bike share programs have already been rolled out in other cities (like Dallas and Seattle), but with mixed reviews. Residents have complained that bikes tend to be left all over the place, blocking sidewalks, wheelchair ramps, etc.
In an attempt to avoid some of the same mistakes made in other cities, Austin’s Transportation Department is currently in the process of engaging the public and soliciting feedback before creating a pilot program and choosing which private dockless bike share companies to work with.
If you missed the big public forum held earlier this week and would still like to participate in this process, there’s still time.
The city is hosting a series of listening sessions on:
- Tuesday, April 10th from 6pm to 7pm at the Yarborough Library
- Monday, April 16th from 6pm to 7pm at the Willie Mae Kirk Library
- Saturday, April 21st at noon at Earth Day ATX
- Saturday, April 28th from 2:30pm to 4pm at Twin Oaks Library
