Action 2: Restore Bikesharing Services
Let’s bring back an affordable bikeshare and micromobility* option to Ithaca and make biking more accessible to everyone.
*Micro-what? Micromobility refers to shared-use light weight vehicles such as scooters, bicycles, ebikes, electric skateboards, and other small vehicles that typically stay below 15mph.
GIAC Seniors and friends pose at a BWT event supported by Lime and Ithaca Bike Rental to try out bikeshare, adaptive bikes, and electric scooters at Stewart Park. (Photo: Edna Brown)
About This Action
Lime, Ithaca’s bikeshare operator from 2018 to 2020, changed the way people throughout Ithaca moved around by making an affordable mode of transportation accessible with a few taps on a phone. In 2019 alone, the bikeshare system logged over 100,000 rides and was used by 1 in 5 residents in and around Ithaca. Bikes were conveniently located across the City of Ithaca, designed to meet the needs of a casual bicycle rider, and could be dropped off wherever the rider needed to go. The availability of an affordable, convenient, and approachable bikeshare service should be restored and expanded to include all of the areas across Ithaca.
Municipalities and large institutions throughout Ithaca should work together to bring bikeshare back to Ithaca and expand its availability beyond the core, so that residents in all neighborhoods can benefit from this transportation option. At its peak, Lime staged their bikes in denser areas of downtown Ithaca, Collegetown, and adjacent neighborhoods. Once Ithaca’s next bikeshare system is established, an expansion of the bikeshare system into suburban areas should be considered, and municipalities should work with the bikeshare operator to make this expansion feasible and sustainable.
Dockless bikesharing in Ithaca can expand the reach of other shared mobility providers such as TCAT (public transit) and Ithaca Carshare by being a useful first-mile/last-mile solution. (Photo: Bike Walk Tompkins)
Focus on Equity
With its relatively inexpensive per-use pricing and broad availability in Ithaca when it was operational, dockless bikeshare was a bicycling service with a very low barrier to entry. The cost, ease of use, and supportive programming developed by Bike Walk Tompkins and Lime all played a role in how over 20% of Ithacans used Lime during its existence. A 2019 bikeshare user survey conducted by Bike Walk Tompkins and the Ithaca-Tompkins County Transportation Council also revealed that bikeshare riders in Ithaca tended to be more racially and economically diverse compared to non-riders of the system. The same reasons why bikeshare had such wide appeal (i.e. cheap, easy) made it appealing to underserved groups. Anecdotally, we also heard that the fun and “informal” look of the Lime fleet plus the comfort of being able to use your own smartphone to unlock and transact with the service made it more approachable to underserved people, particularly those who are more wary of the more “institutional-looking” traditional bikeshare systems.
As Ithaca searches for its next bikesharing or micromobility provider, the provider should strive to be available to people with low incomes and people with disabilities. Any future bikeshare operator should consistently offer a discounted rate plan so that cost is not a barrier to a system that will improve the lives of transportation-disadvantaged people. Initiatives to bring adaptive bicycles, electric scooters, and other shared personal mobility vehicles into the mix are at the forefront of the bikeshare and micromobility industry. These options can help people who cannot use a traditional bicycle benefit from the convenience of a publicly available shared micromobility system. Our community should support the local viability of a bikeshare system and efforts to broaden its ridership base so that it can be as inclusive and equitable as it can be.
Local stakeholders riding bikes at Lime’s launch event in April 2018 during Streets Alive! Ithaca. We hope to host another launch event with Ithaca’s next bikeshare provider soon. (Photo: Edna Brown)
Let’s Make It Happen
Currently, the biggest barrier to restoring bikesharing services is a source of consistent operational funding. Successful bikeshare systems are similar to public transit in that they provide a high quality public service at a low cost with the help of subsidies. Federal and state funding for bikeshare and micromobility systems is limited. In most cases, successful systems are organized as public-private partnerships that receive private industry support to subsidize operational expenses. These subsidies often come in the form of multi-year title sponsorships (i.e. NYC’s Citibike is sponsored by Citibank, Buffalo’s Reddy Bikeshare is sponsored by Independent Health, an HMO) and advertising.
Are you a business or organization interested in helping bring bikeshare back to Ithaca? Contact us for more details about our bikeshare search.
Are you a community leader or elected official interested in bringing bikeshare to your municipality or area? Reach out to us to be part of a bikeshare search committee.
All Equity & Access Actions
