Fort Collins to get bike-share system in spring
Roll out the red carpet Fort Collins because an automated bike-sharing system is coming to town this spring.
By April, FC Bikes and the Fort Collins Bike Library will launch at least a six-station system across town, city transportation manager Amy Lewin said. Details such as where the stations will be located and how many bikes will be part of the system are still unclear as the city and the contractor, Zagster, work with local bike organizations to determine those elements.
"Our goal is to expand on the bike culture and evolve the bike services in Fort Collins with the bike library to take it to the next level," said Ted Bronstein, director of sales for Zagster, a bike-sharing company based out of Massachusetts.
As with most bike-sharing systems, it will be funded largely through memberships and sponsors. Zagster, which operates 150 systems across 35 states but none in Colorado, won the $60,000 bid to be paid by the city to contract the six stations for one year, with the option for the city to renew, Lewin said.
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The system will complement the existing bike library, which rents bikes for $10 per day. The bike library is a nonprofit part of the city-managed FC Bikes Department.
"We are trying to take everything that's been proven effective and desired in the bike library to the bike-share system," Stacy Sebeczek, bike library director, said.
The collaboration with the bike library is essentially what will make the bike-sharing system unique. Most systems, notably the B-cycle systems in Denver and Boulder, are entirely automated. Even though the Fort Collins system will be automated, available 24/7, the bike library's headquarters in the Downtown Transit Center will act as a "staffed hub" for consumers to ask for help, route suggestions or places to visit, Sebeczek said.
The bike library also hopes to host events, as well as offer a fleet of unique bikes, like tandems or cargos.
"We're going to make it a destination for cycling beyond simply 'I need a bike,' " Sebeczek said. In peak summer months, bike library loans 1,000 bikes a month. That drops to about 200 to 300 a month in winter.
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The city conducted a bike-share business plan in 2014 that judged the feasibility of a sharing system in Fort Collins. The business plan from 2014 is still mostly accurate in overall ridership goals but the cost projections are off Lewin said.
According to the business plan, a bike-share system would cost a projected $1.2 million in construction and first-year operations. But Lewin said the city found a newer and less expensive model that a third-party operator, in this case Zagster, owns and operates. This system is a public-private partnership. The business plan calls to eventually have 20 stations.
Although it's currently unclear what the system will charge, most systems cost users a few dollars per day and between $50 to $100 for yearly memberships.
According to the plan, the Fort Collins system is projected to attract 1,000 members and 8,000 casual riders making 38,000 trips within its first year.
Kevin Bell, communication director for B-cycle, told the Coloradoan last year it's a "common misconception" that bike-sharing is only for tourists or those without a bike. People regularly use it as a link for "that first and final mile" before and after using public transportation, which Bell said helps people avoid lugging bikes onto crowded buses or to their destination.
Chris Johnson, executive director of Bike Fort Collins, said conversations are happening to make the system a resource for those in poverty, noting there are ways to make a bike-sharing system a tool for equity. Reasonable pricing is one, but the city is also looking into securing federal grants that would subsidize a less-than-profitable station in areas where those in need could access it.
As for FC Bikes, it will serve as a sponsor and a support system, director Tessa Greegor said. The idea is for this system to "grow organically." For there to be more bikes on the ground, there need to be more cyclists. Lewin said by implementing the system, the city is "planting a seed to grow."
"We're building something entirely special to Fort Collins," Lewin said.