It's Spring, and the Green Bikes are Blooming

Okay, I didn't come up with the title. It was actually something that was said at the SLC Bike Share kickoff event yesterday afternoon. 

Mayor Ralph Becker, SelectHealth CEO and President, Pat Richards, and Executive Director of the Wasatch Front Regional Council, Andrew Gruber (who I took the title from) announced the official kickoff of the second year of the SLC Bike Share program.

 

Ben Bolte, director of the SLC Bike Share program

Mayor Ralph Becker

Pat Richards, President & CEO of SelectHealth

Andrew Gruber, Exec. Director of the Wasatch Front Regional Council addressing the gathered crowd

All of them talked about the great success that the bike share program has had here is Salt Lake, and they were optimistic for the coming year, even announcing some increases in their support.

After the press conference, I had a chance to ask Ben Bolte, the director of the Green Bike program about the rumors of expanding the program. He said that they are going to be adding 8 new stations, and 100 additional bikes in July. The stations would still be in the downtown area, adding density to the existing area covered. There are no plans to expand outward - such as up towards the University of Utah in the immediate future.

The pricing structure will remain the same for 2014, $5 for a 24 hour pass, up to $75 for an annual membership. New members will still get a free Bern helmet when they sign up.

Tour de GreenBike

Yesterday was such a nice day that I decided to go for a bike ride at lunch.

Who am I kidding, I go for a bike ride every day at lunch! Yesterday just was an exceptionally nice day to do so.

What made yesterday’s ride different was where I went, and what I did.

Last week, I read about this challenge that Houston B-cycle is putting on for their annual members. They’re calling it the “Houston Tour de B-Cycle”. The challenge is to bike to all 22 stations in the Houston B-cycle system in a single day, completing a loop by returning to the station you started from. The challenge runs from June 10, to July 10 (so everyone isn’t trying to do it at the same time). What do you get for completing the challenge? Bragging rights, and a t-shirt.

Salt Lake doesn’t have an official “Tour de GreenBike” yet (…hopefully this is something they will do in the future. Hint, hint any GreenBikeSLC peeps reading this) so I staged my own personal tour yesterday.

With only 10 stations to navigate through, It was fairly easy to find a route between stations that didn’t backtrack on itself too much, and it took just over an hour.

I did have one problem, one of the stations didn’t register that I returned my bike, and wouldn’t let me check another one out since it thought I still had a bike out. A quick call to the support hotline, and they had me back out on another bike – but using a 24 hour pass instead of my annual membership – so even though I did hit all the stations, I don’t have a data trail to confirm it.

there should be 4 more check-ins on this ride.

I’ll try again, just because it was fun. Plus, I want to have the trail on my account as proof.

If you have a bike share in your area, have you done the tour yet?

App of the Day: SpotCycle

Yesterday I talked about Salt Lake City’s new bike share, GreenBikeSLC.

Today, for the App of the Day, I want to introduce you to SpotCycle.

SpotCycle is a handy little app to have if you use a bike share system – and I mean almost any bike share system around the world. SpotCycle currently tracks bike share systems in 7 countries, and 23 US cities.

What do I mean by tracking? Well, imagine a scenario: You walk down to your nearest bike share station, only to find out that all the bikes are checked out from that station, or the station is currently off-line. To make matters worse, you don’t know where the next nearest station is, and you are already running late...

When you select a city, SpotCycle will tell you where the bike share stations are located, how many bikes are currently racked and how many docks are free. You can list the 10 nearest stations by distance, number of bikes, free docks, or alphabetical. You can also view a GPS based map showing the stations with the number of bikes available at each one. You can set the refresh data rate from 15 seconds to manual.

Another nice feature of the app is a rental timer. Since most bike shares work on a 30 minute rental timer, you can set the timer on the app (it defaults to 25 minutes) so you can make sure you’re to a station before your time’s up.

You can also create a route, tag points of interest along your route, and share routes with others.

SpotCycle is available for the iPhone, Android and Blackberry mobile devices. Best of all, it's free!

Definitely a must-have if you use a bike share system.

GreenBikeSLC

Salt Lake City’s bike share program “GreenBikeSLC” has been in operation just over a month now.

For those of you who haven’t tried it yet, what’s stopping you? It’s great!

There, possibly the easiest review that I have ever posted. Thanks for reading!





What? I should talk more about the program and the bikes? Maybe include some pictures? Okay, whatever…

The GreenBikeSLC program is part of the B-Cycle bike sharing system, which is currently operating in 16 cities across the United States, with more coming soon. Salt Lake currently has 100 bicycles and 10 stations covering the core downtown area, as well as the intermodal hub.

The basic idea behind GreenBikeSLC – and any bike share program for that matter – is to use the bikes for short trips around town, cutting down on car trips and congestion in high density urban areas. You can check out a bike at one station, and return it to any other station, pick up another bike, etc… for as long as your membership is valid.

Speaking of memberships, there are 3 levels: 24 hour pass, 7-day, and annual memberships. The 24 hour pass and 7-day memberships are geared for those who may be visiting an area for a short period of time – such as on a vacation or business trip, where the annual membership is more for the person who works in the area. The cost of the memberships is $5 for the 24 hour, $15 for the 7-day, and $75 for the annual. Bonus! If you sign up for the annual membership, they give you a free Bern Watts helmet (custom screened in the GreenBike colorway – a $75 value)!

I’ve talked about the program and the memberships, but how easy is it to check out the bikes, and what about those bikes?

The system is very straight forward. Each station has a computer kiosk attached to it. If you are getting a 24 hour pass, or 7 day membership, you follow the on-screen instructions, slide your credit card, and select your bike. The dock holding your bike will start beeping, and will release your bike for use. When you are finished, just rack your bike in an open dock at any station. If you want to check out another bike, simply swipe the same credit card, and select another bike. If you have an annual membership*, getting a bike is even easier. You are mailed a membership card about a week after you sign up. To check out a bike, you simply select a bike, press the button on the dock next to your bike. Place your card on the dock over the RF sensor, and the dock will beep and release your bike.

*Another feature of the annual membership, you can track the number of miles ridden (each bike has a hidden gps sensor), carbon offset, calories burned, and money saved (compared to driving and parking downtown).

What if you go over the 30 minutes? Run! They will hunt you down and… just kidding! If you go over, you will be charged for the additional time. It is $2 for the next 30 minutes, and $5 for each half-hour after that. Again, the service is for short trips. It can get expensive if you keep the bike out longer.

The bikes…

What can you say about the bikes? They are perfectly suited for their job. Heavy, 3-speed cruiser bikes with a step-thru frame, front basket, fenders, and skirt guard. They also have an attached cable lock if you have to temporarily stop somewhere and there isn’t a station nearby. You aren’t going to be winning any sprints on one of these bikes. The only complaint that I have, is that they need to put a cup holder in the basket.

mmm... lunch!

some times you have to get creative...

The GreenBikeSLC program launched on April 8. During the first month of operation, there have been 160+ people who have purchased annual memberships, and 900+ daily/weekly members. All together, there has been more than 3,300 trips taken. According to Phil Sarnoff, the program manager, that has far exceeded their expectations.

Looking at the numbers, and the fact that at several times I have encountered stations without any bikes, it sounds like the program is working. Like I said at the start of this post, If you haven’t tried it yet, what’s stopping you? It’s great!

It's Like it was Meant to Be...

Today I had an epiphany. It wasn't as painful as it sounds.

What are two things that would be great together – aside from the obvious answer of frozen banana slices and dark chocolate?

Yummy, but absolutely not worth the price.

Bike Share and Bicycle Benefits!

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There are a couple of reasons that this is a potential match made in two-wheeled heaven: Most of the participating Bicycle Benefits locations (at least here in SLC) are in the downtown area – the same area that the GreenBikeSLC stations are located. And, if you purchase the annual membership, they give you a free helmet – You’re supposed to put the Bicycle Benefits sticker on your helmet.

See! It’s like it was meant to be!

Only one problem…

I went over to my favorite downtown local bike shop that is a participant in the Bicycle Benefits program, and they told me that they are out of the stickers, and have been for a while. They also said that someone else had been in recently to get a sticker (apparently, inspiration didn’t strike me first), and that person couldn’t find any stickers anywhere in the city.

I was going to put a public call-out to the Bicycle Benefits people to get some stickers back in stock, but I just got an email from them saying that they are working on reviving the program in SLC. So soon, you will be able to ride a bike share bike to your favorite downtown establishment, present your helmet, and enjoy a discount. Sounds perfect to me!

btw... I'll be writing about the GreenBikeSLC system sometime next week.