Bike Share is Picking up the Pace Albuquerque’s bike share started in downtown as a pilot program called BICI, an abbreviated form of the Spanish word for bicycle – bicicleta. DowntownABQ MainStreet Initiative and the Mid-Region Council of Governments (MRCOG) started the program and used Zagster to provide the shared bikes. “The pilot program (BICI) was a hit,” says Valerie Hermanson, a planner for MRCOG in Albuquerque. “People were asking us to expand it.” MRCOG Planner Since the pilot, the program has moved Valerie Hermanson under Rio Metro Regional Transit District’s the new Pace management. Rio Metro selected Zagster through on bike. a rigorous request for proposals process as the bike share vendor and will be using Zagster’s new Pace bike share model for its expansion. Launched last December, Pace is Zagster’s new nationwide, dockless bike sharing service for cities and colleges — and Albuquerque is one of the first communities to join the network. With Pace, users will still enjoy the predictability of dedicated bike share hubs in key locations, but they will now be allowed to lock the bicycles to public bicycle racks as well. The concept behind Pace is to give riders easy access to shared bicycles in Albuquerque and other cities. Due to the overwhelming success of the pilot program, expansion is indeed on the way this Spring. Pace will balloon from the original 75 bikes and 15 parking locations across downtown Albuquerque to 250 bikes and 50 locations linking Nob Hill to Downtown. Riders logged more than 10,000 trips on those 75 original bikes between May 15, 2015 and January 2018. EMPHASIS ON BIKES Cycling is expected to play a larger role in Albuquerque’s future transportation network. The Mid-Region Metropolitan Planning Organization is putting special emphasis on bicycling as an alternative for several reasons. Bikes don’t require the huge parking lots necessary for cars, so land is available for other purposes, and biking is faster than walking. Passengers using the New Mexico Rail Runner Express to commute from other communities, for example, also may take their bikes on the train to complete their journey to classes, work, shopping, or some other destination. This expansion of Pace is being funded through Federal Transportation Alternative Program grants, Hermanson says. Rio Metro received $600,724 for federal fiscal year 2017, and an additional $598,159 for federal fiscal year 2018. The federal money is the capital necessary to install the new bikes and parking; maintenance and operations will be covered by sponsors. In all, the federal money pays for 85.44 percent of the project, and there is a 14.56 percent local match, Hermanson says. Another interesting fact discovered through BICI was that 53 percent of the riders from the Albuquerque Metropolitan Planning Area were women. That’s very different from a 2014 MRCOG travel survey that found that only 32 percent of all bike rides were made by women. “It is important to have gender parity in bicycling,” Hermanson says, “It’s also an indicator of a bicycle-friendly community.” SMART PHONE REQUIRED When the new Pace service opens this spring, one will need a smart phone and the Pace app to access the bikes. Participants also will need a credit or debit card and must be 18 or older. Pace users will be charged $1 for every 30 minutes of riding. Most bike share data suggest that bike trips are typically shorter than 3 miles. To learn more about Pace bike share by Rio Metro, visit www.riometro.org or ridepace.com
www.riometro.org | www.travelnewmex.com | SPRING 2018
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