Tulsa Bike Share (2018)

[Dspike]

With its launch a few months away, thought the Bike Share effort deserved its own thread.

The nonprofit group plans to unveil its sponsors and branding campaign in late March or early April. About two months later, on May 24, the bike-share program will be open for business, with 160 BCycle bicycles spread among 25 stations.

Daniel Sperle, executive director of Tulsa Bike Share, said the organization had initially expected to begin operating last fall but chose to take a step back to assess the industry's rapidly developing technology.

It turned out to be an important decision. Tulsa Bike Share changed the way it will operate, leaving the traditional station-based system behind for the latest smart-bike technology. The switch, Sperle said, gave Tulsa Bike Share the ability to roll out Phase 1 of operations with more bikes and more stations.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/government/city-s-new-bike-share-program-to-begin-with-stations/article_63bb233a-9610-5519-b6ce-76b73e4b45a9.html

[cannon_fodder]

Sweet!  My family went to DC last year and stayed up near Howard U.  A good distance from the National Mall.  Between the subway and Bikeshare we could get everywhere we wanted to be easily.  For  many trips it was easier to grab a bike and go than to head to a subway.  Based on the usage in the neighborhood we stayed at, they were popular with commuters too.

Here is Tulsa's starting map:
http://tulsatrc.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Map-Bike-Share-stations-GO-Plan-crossover.pdf

and the webpage with more info:
http://tulsatrc.org/bike/bike-share-2/


Looking forward to it and hope it works out well.  I think a big key will be making it easy for people not familiar with biking to both get where they want to go and feel safe while doing so.

[TeeDub]

Do they still have the pink bikes at Riverparks (St. Francis I think) for free rental?

Those were fun back a few years ago.

[Dspike]

The article discusses the existing (smaller) bike share program on Riverparks:

Tulsa already has a bike-share program along Riverside Drive called Tulsa Townies. That program isn't going away, Sperle said, but will likely move to another location once Tulsa Bike Share is established at the Gathering Place and along other parts of Riverside Drive.

"We have a great relationship with them," Sperle said. "They are going to continue to operate there until we are ready to take over the River Park trails."

Tulsa Bike Share operates under St. Francis Tulsa Tough's nonprofit status. The bike-share program is funded through public and private donations and run by a 14-member board.

It has raised approximately $1.65 million, including $750,000 from a federal grant and $250,000 from the city's Improve Our Tulsa sales-tax package. The remaining funding has come from private donors.