more city bike news from the cle:
Cleveland's bike share system could have hundreds of bicycles by spring
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Max Goldberg, Fleet Manager for Zagster, organizes brand-new bicycles at their bike station in the alley between the Market Garden Brewery and the West Side Market in Ohio City on Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2014. Zagster, a company that runs a bike-share program, will eventually set up six different bike stations within Ohio City. Bicyclists can rent a bicycle through an app, which gives riders a code to unlock the bike to use throughout the city. The seven-speed bikes have a basket in the front and also a bell. Different area businesses have sponsored the bike-share effort that rolls out tomorrow at noon.
September 28, 2015 at 1:15 PM, updated September 28, 2015 at 3:56 PM
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cleveland is moving closer to getting a large bike sharing network, with invitations going out to 12 vendors today, seeking bids on setting up a system of hundreds of rental bikes by May 31.
Last year's pilot launch of bike sharing in Cleveland was led and underwritten by local businesses and so far has resulted in 70 bikes at 14 stations. Users check out bikes at any station and return them to any other station in the network. (See here for details on how it works.)
The expansion getting underway now comes with $446,000 in seed money, a combination of federal grants and local match dollars, with the goal of bringing 300 to 400 rental bikes to Cleveland by spring.
And vendors are being asked to come up with a fundraising strategy to grow even further, to 700 bikes docked at 70 stations, concentrated downtown and in University Circle, followed by an extension to other parts of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County over five years.
The near-term goal is to get a bigger bike share network in place by the time tens of thousands of delegates and others arrive in Cleveland next summer for Republicans' selection of a presidential nominee.
But while the GOP convention is a catalyst for a brisk rollout, that's not the big picture going forward. Proponents want to weave bike sharing into the fabric of the city, for short trips, fitness, recreation and exploration.
"What we're hoping will happen is this is going to create a whole new form of public transportation," said Jacob Van Sickle, executive director of Bike Cleveland.
Bike Cleveland partnered with Cuyahoga County's Department of Sustainability to secure the federal funding through the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency. They'll consider a variety of ownership and operations models from bidders. The request for proposals is going to companies that have a proven record of operating systems in other cities
Cleveland's pilot program, for example, operated by Zagster, uses light-framed "Breezer" bikes at low, fairly conventional bike racks. Networks in Washington D.C., Manhattan and Columbus, Ohio, use heavier bikes and have more elaborate checkout systems with kiosks.
A Zagster spokesman could not be immediately reached to find out how rentals are going so far in Cleveland. Van Sickle said he didn't have the numbers. But the track record of bike shares in Columbus, Dayton, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, plus the feasibility study commissioned by the city of Cleveland in 2013, show the Cleveland expansion will fly, he said.
It won't be clear until Bike Cleveland and the county decide on an operator exactly how many bikes will be positioned around town next year. Bike share companies have until Oct. 19 to submit proposals, with the vendor selection coming by Oct. 30. The goal is to have a network that can operate without public dollars after five years.
"This puts a team on the ground, helps them start to purchase equipment and do fundraising going forward," said Mike Foley, the county's sustainability director.
Bike sharing adds an inexpensive, pollution-free, healthy form of transportation to the urban mix, he said.
University Circle and downtown Cleveland are being targeted first because of their density of jobs, housing, entertainment spots and schools.
But the focus won't be limited to thriving commercial centers. Expanding bike sharing to residential neighborhoods, including disadvantaged parts of the city, is part of the plan.
"We want to make sure it's open to people of all income levels," Van Sickle said. That push includes having bike share companies propose check-out systems that accept not just credit cards but also library cards, bus passes and university IDs.
A sampling of other specifications includes:
A requirement for data security, especially for financial data, user names and
addresses.
High durability of all system components, including
use of corrosion- and graffiti-resistant material. Making sure the system functions well in Midwest weather conditions.
A plan for making bike share an extension of Cleveland's public transit network.
Creating a system that is financially sustainable, transparently operated and accountable to the public. The vendor must cover all operating expenses without assistance by using a range of private, state and federal funding sources.
http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index...county_article