Two bicycle shops planned for Automobile Alley

[okclee]

I seem to recall that there was some type of bicycle grant that the City received to set up bike rack rental stations in various places throughout downtown. Does anyone else remember this as part of Project 180?

If so that would be good, but I also like the idea of "the lone bicycle store" in downtown to have rentals too. There are many people that would rather rent a bike from a bicycle store than would rent from a bike kiosk or the like.

I ride my bike, just for recreation, all over downtown, midtown, bricktown, deep deuce, and all along the Ok river trails. It is very enjoyable to ride as is but, it will be awesome once Project 180 is complete and there are actual bicycle lanes for this type of recreation.

[BoulderSooner]

I seem to recall that there was some type of bicycle grant that the City received to set up bike rack rental stations in various places throughout downtown. Does anyone else remember this as part of Project 180?

If so that would be good, but I also like the idea of "the lone bicycle store" in downtown to have rentals too. There are many people that would rather rent a bike from a bicycle store than would rent from a bike kiosk or the like.

I ride my bike, just for recreation, all over downtown, midtown, bricktown, deep deuce, and all along the Ok river trails. It is very enjoyable to ride as is but, it will be awesome once Project 180 is complete and there are actual bicycle lanes for this type of recreation.

that project is coming .. they are looking at partnering with OCU to run the system .. but it should be here this summer they had a report about it 2 or 3 council meetings ago

[OKCTalker]

There are at least three approaches to this that I know of. The first is bike rentals to the public via vending racks, but they are problematic due to vandalism and theft. The Paris Velib system uses sturdy bikes that cost $500 apiece. They announced 20,000 bikes and initially rolled out 15,000, of which more than half quickly disappeared. Some were simply stolen, others were discarded in canals, and some ended up on YouTube videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afE44...9/4087228.html The head of the program stated that replacement and maintenance costs are "so high that a private business cannot handle it alone." How would OKC citizens feel about a public subsidy of bike rentals?

The second type of rentals exist today - contact Schlegel Bikes and arrange to rent one. I rode with a guy 10 days ago from Southern California who was in town for a few days, and he rented a bike from Schlegel. I don't think that it's much of a money-maker, and it would take a lot of time for paperwork, bike fitting, equipment checkout, etc., and there is the personal injury liability aspect - the bike shop's liability coverage could easily eat any profit they'd make. That said, I'm planning a trip to NYC later this year, and I'll be renting a performance road bike while I'm there (the airlines are too expensive and unreliable for me to ship my own bike). But NYC has the bike rental demand that OKC does not.

The third type of rental is a semi-public one as run by UCO in Edmond, in conjunction with Al's Bicycles and Flat Tire Burgers. I understand that the bikes are owned and managed by UCO, sold and maintained by Al's, sponsored by Flat Tire, and available to university students and employees. I don't know the latest on that program, but it's been underway for about three years.

[Tedski]

The Chesapeake boathouse offers bicycle rentals

[okclee]

The Chesapeake boathouse offers bicycle rentals

Nice to know, but that is a little out of the way for people in the downtown area, and right now it is very difficult to bicycle from the boathouse area over into Bricktown or downtown.

[BoulderSooner]

Can you PM me contact info for the people working on it?

i will look through the council min and see what i can find

[BoulderSooner]

the Feb 8, 2011 council min .. ITEM X ...c bike share program .. http://okc.gov/AgendaPub/meet.aspx middle of page .. then at bottom of council min

[BoulderSooner]

I am just getting directed to the meeting schedule main page

right scroll down to the FEB 8, 2011 City council min click on the agenda .. and go to ITEM X letter C

[BoulderSooner]

Oh sheesh. Thanks!

no problem