Planning for the bike-sharing program is moving forward with a $277,000 budget in place
By Katelyn Weisbrod
Bicycling could be the next form of public transportation in Iowa City.
The city is teaming up with the University of Iowa to create a bike-sharing program similar to many campuses across the country.
Several bike stations will be located around the city where anyone who pays an annual fee can take a bike, ride it to where they need to go, and return it to another station.
The project has a budget of $277,000 — the sum of a grant from the Iowa Department of Transportation, a gift from the Coca-Cola Foundation, and contributions from the UI Parking and Transportation, UI Student Government, UI Staff Council, and the city of Iowa City.
The next step in the planning process is to select a vendor for the bicycles and the stations. Once the city and the UI choose a vendor, officials will know how many stations the budget can provide.
UI Office of Sustainability intern Grant Gregory said organizers are hoping to have at least three stations but could have up to six or even more, depending on the vendor and the pricing.
“There are various services that determine how expensive each station is, like cash-only stations or stations with helmets,” Gregory said. “The vendor and the services the vendor provides will be factors for each stations’ cost.”
As far as determining where the stations will go, the city and the UI will consider factors like where people live and work.
“We want to make sure we get the most traffic out of the stations,” UI Office of Sustainability intern Willy Tan said. “We’ll be holding input sessions later this semester to get people’s input on where stations should be, but we’ve also done our own research with [geographic information system] tools to find the best locations.”
Director of the Office of Sustainability Liz Christiansen said the city and the university need to consider where they would like to see additional stations in the future as they decide where to put the first stations.
“I think the bike-share will offer an alternative to vehicle transportation. We hope that people will use it as a means of getting around town,” Christiansen said. “So hopefully it will have an impact on reducing traffic congestion and improving quality of life in Iowa City.”
Tan said the bike share would improve Iowa City by reducing the number of cars on the road.
“A lot of students try to drive in the city and park their cars, and bike-share will give them another way to get around the city,” Tan said. “It will reduce the number of bikes on bike racks, and it’ll clean up the downtown and campus look and not have it so congested with traffic.”
There is no timeframe for the project yet, but Tan said officials aim to have it installed by the spring of 2016 and have it active in the summer or fall.