Raleigh’s Office of Transportation Planning is currently working on a proposal for a city bike-sharing program similar to NC State’s student bike-borrowing programs WolfWheels and Quad Bikes.
Bike-sharing systems allow users to rent a bike for a small period of time to get from point to point, returning the bike shortly after it is borrowed. Raleigh’s bike-share proposal is similar to the Quad Bikes program currently available to students living in the Honors Quad.
This is different than the WolfWheels rental program, which allows users to rent bikes for extended periods of time.
The Raleigh bike-share proposal will likely implement a membership fee as well as an hourly fee after the first 30 minutes of a ride, according to Jennifer Baldwin, the Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator for Raleigh’s Office of Transportation Planning.
The reasoning behind the free 30 minutes is to promote shorter rides in order to differentiate the system from a standard rental program, according to Baldwin.
Baldwin said it is possible the program will also include a student membership option, which would be offered on a semester-long basis.
The Raleigh bike-share proposal is still in its planning phases. A feasibility study recently determined that a bike-share is plausible in Raleigh, which prompted the Office of Transportation Planning to build a business proposal that will be brought to city council in February, according to Baldwin.
The project is scheduled for completion sometime in the spring of 2017 and calls for 30 stations spread throughout the city and surrounding area, with each station containing 30 bicycles.
Baldwin said the program’s biggest expense would come from the operating costs of moving the bikes and keeping the system balanced, which could cost about $500,000 per year.
“For our capital expenses we are looking at about $2,000,000 for 30 stations to purchase the necessary equipment and install it,” Baldwin said.
The capital expenses would come from either the city operational budget, a federal grant or a combination of the two, according to Baldwin.
The operational costs would be obtained from a variety of sources including various prospective partners, such as NC State and other schools in the Raleigh area, as well as user fees.
NC State’s WolfWheels rental prices range from a $3 per day to $99 for the semester. Quad Bikes is free, but is only available to students within the honors program who have completed the bike-share training session. The bike-share training session is a short program during which users are educated about system etiquette.
Both the Raleigh bike-share proposal and Quad Bikes are in the relatively early stages of implementation. The Raleigh bike-share is still in the planning phase, and the Quad Bikes pilot is about two years old.
NC State’s WolfWheels program, sponsored by University Recreation, has been around since the spring semester of 2010 and offers students both short-term and long-term rental options.
Bike-share programs have become popular all over the United States with functional systems in place in cities such as New York, Boston and Seattle.
NC State’s first free bike-sharing program was introduced two years ago by NC State seniors Brian Iezzi, studying textile engineering, and Carlos Vega, studying civil engineering.
Already in its second year, the Quad Bikes pilot has been fairly popular, according to Vega.
“Students have been very receptive, and there is at least one person using the bikes every day,” Vega said.