FAYETTEVILLE -- Residents and visitors to the city could soon have a new way of getting around on two wheels.
The City Council on Tuesday will consider a contract with VeoRide, a bike-share company from West Lafayette, Ind. The city, University of Arkansas and Fayetteville's Advertising and Promotion Commission partnered to pay for the program.
The meeting
The City Council will take up the contract with VeoRide, which will establish a bike-share program, at its next meeting:
• When: 5:30 p.m. Tuesday
• Where: Room 219, City Hall, 113 W. Mountain St.
For more information, go to veoride.com.
The custom cardinal red- and cream-colored paint job proposed for the city’s bikes also is posted with the online version of this story at nwadg.com
Source: Staff report
Users can pay as they go or subscribe to a monthly or yearlong membership. A cellphone application unlocks the bikes and charges a fee to the user's credit card. Riders can go wherever they want as long as they return the bike to a bike rack or parking spot designated on VeoRide's global positioning system. The application includes a map of the acceptable parking stations.
Rates will vary depending on the user and plan selected. The city and the university would each chip in $20,000 annually, with the Advertising and Promotion Commission contributing $10,000. The $50,000 would go toward subsidizing memberships to make the cost more affordable.
The program would start will 340 bikes. Of those, 290 would be standard seven-speed bikes and 50 would be pedal-electric-assist bikes. The e-bikes use rechargeable lithium batteries to give riders a boost, which is designed to be especially helpful for going up hills.
VeoRide hopes to launch the city's program in September.
Officials have worked on bringing a bike-share program to the city for about three years. Dane Eifling, joint bike coordinator for the city and university, said options free to the city and university popped up along the way but weren't the kind of top-tier service they were looking for. VeoRide presented the kind of service they wanted, except the subscription rates for users were a little high.
The subsidy would lower the cost of the subscription plans, providing a nonmonetary return on the investment to better the city's transportation system and promote healthy living, Eifling said.
"We don't want you, every time you ride one of these bikes, to have to think about a financial transaction," he said. "We would hope that once you get that subscription, it's like an all-you-can-eat buffet."
Subscription plans would run $17 monthly or $70 annually. University and Fayetteville Public Schools students, faculty and staff would get a discounted rate of $10 per month or $35 yearly. The original rates would have been $25.99 monthly and $99.99 yearly, or $13.99 monthly and $48.99 yearly for students and faculty.
VeoRide also offers a $4.99 a monthly rate for low-income people, or $28.99 for the year. Users without a bank account can set up a VeoRide account with cash. Those without a phone can buy a card that will unlock the bikes.
Users can also pay as they go. Fifty cents gets a rider 15 minutes on a bike. It would take $1 to unlock an e-bike, with 10 cents charged per minute.
Andrew Miles, general manager with VeoRide, said the company would have staff in the city to oversee the program. VeoRide can see where every bike is at all times through GPS and can know when a bike is parked where it shouldn't be or tipped on its side.
Not complying with VeoRide's terms results in additional fees. The company plans to provide incentives in the form of credits for users who follow the rules.
Miles, a Fayetteville resident, said the program will provide a viable alternative form of transportation for the city with its growing population and more than 27,000 students at the university.
"Being able to at least propose the elimination of people bringing more cars into the city and congesting the high-traffic areas, I think, really lends credence to a bike-share program -- particularly with the advanced trail system that the city has implemented over the last decade," he said.
Lawrence, Kan., has the same program Fayetteville is considering, although it isn't subsidized. The University of Kansas implemented its program in April, with the rest of the city following suit last month. Fayetteville bike-share organizers toured Lawrence to see how the system works.
Derek Rogers, Lawrence parks director, said he was a skeptic at first. City leaders worried bikes would get strewn about or stolen, but the GPS system has prevented that, he said. So far the city hasn't fielded complaints, Rogers said. The right of way has stayed clear, and VeoRide has taken care of any stray bikes, he said.
Rogers got a subscription and rides a VeoRide bike to work nearly every day, he said. He hopes to see more riders citywide.
"For the community, I think they still need to get over the 'what is this and how does it work?' concept," Rogers said.
Molly Rawn, the city's tourism director, said the program aligns with the commission's goal to raise the city's profile.
"Bike share is a program that is attractive to tourists, and we hope our tourists enjoy using it," she said. "But beyond that, we believe having bike share will gain Fayetteville positive recognition as a place that values healthy lifestyles, alternative transportation and innovation as well as enjoyable amenities for tourists and residents."
University students can pick up and drop off the bikes anywhere in the city, not just on campus, said Adam Waddell, associate director of transit. The goal is to provide a cost-effective way for students to get around, he said.
"From my standpoint of public transit, it definitely can help with that first and last mile to and from the bus routes," Waddell said. "I think it's just a tremendous option to have available, and I really think the community's going to be excited about it."
NW News on 08/06/2018