The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
‘EVERYONE RIDING’
City plan for bike-sharing program could get hundreds pedaling
NEW HAVEN >> Are you tired of traffic and the search for a parking space?
A proposed public-private bike-sharing program that would be available 24/7 with 30 stations and 300 bikes around the city could be your answer.
Douglas Hausladen, executive director of the city’s Department of Transportation, Traffic and Parking, put out a request for proposals for such a program a year ago and has been working with a vendor since then.
It is another initiative in this bi
FROM PAGE 1 cycle-friendly city to reduce traffic and promote other forms of transportation. While bike share systems around the country are aimed more at tourists, this one views residents as its customer base.
Hausladen and Krysia Solheim, a graduate of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and a consultant on the project, have been visiting the management teams in the city spreading the news as to how bike sharing works and getting input on where stations should be located.
Joining the city outreach since January is Michael Pinto, the new deputy director at Transportation, Traffic and Parking.
The program would be run through New Haven Smart Mobility LLC, which is a partnership between P3 Global Management and E3 Think. They are expected to bring in Noa Technologies as the company that provides the smart technology
P3 Global Management markets itself as a partner for cities looking to improve infrastructure as their populations increase. Studies have estimated that by 2020, across the U.S., an estimated $3.6 trillion will be needed to upgrade infrastructure.
It offers public-private partnerships as a sustainable way to finance some projects.
It has a number of bikeshare projects, but the Hudson Bike Share in Hoboken, N.J. is closest to the model proposed for New Haven
Pinto said the program that people are probably most familiar with is Citi Bike in New York City, which is different than what New Haven is contemplating.
Pinto said that program used old technology with the rental- and lockingfunctions part of the docking station; the newest technology puts those functions into the lock on the bike itself, which makes the program cheaper and more flexible.
Examples of the bicycles that will have this next generation of bike-share equipment are stored at the transportation department.
They have an easy step through feature and are heavy construction in order to stand up to public use. They can be locked to any bicycle infrastructure or to a nearby parking meter, if a docking station is full, Pinto said.
They have an internal hub, which means the gears are protected. They also feature GPS, which Solheim, whose consultant company is Viosimo, LLC, said will give the city a map of how people are using the bikes.
“It will point out what routes people use the most and that can help the city in the future in terms of planning cycling infrastructure,” Solheim said.
GPS will also act as a theft-deterring mechanism.
Pinto said if they determine that a bike is going 60 miles per hour down the highway, it most likely is being stolen. He said they can then notify police in other towns to retrieve it for New Haven.
Pinto said they are all expected to have saddle bags or a basket to make it easier for riders to use the bicycle to go shopping.
Solheim said it has an easily adjustable seat and will feature between three and eight gears. Since New Haven doesn’t have many hills, she said they may not need eight gears. The bicycle also has automatic lights that go on as needed and are recharged as riders pedal.
Solheim envisions people taking out the bike just for fun and exercise, as well as for short rides around to shop or go to work.
“The idea is to break down the barrier for people who don’t have bikes. Some people may not be sure they want to ride a bike. I think of it as the gateway drug to actually owning a bike,” Solheim said.
Solheim is a serious cyclist who uses her bike to get around everywhere, and like many of her friends, does not own a car.
But even for her, she said the bike-share program is great for some trips.
“If I want to go to the train station, but don’t want to leave my bike there for a week, that one-way trip through bike-share would be really great,” she said.
There will be a smart phone app and/or a website where visitors and residents can register for the program and pay for single trips or for memberships.
The vendor and the city will work on the cost of memberships and rentals with the aim of making it affordable and available to all neighborhoods, Pinto said.
A study of New Haven found 30 percent of households have no car, while 60 percent are car-light, that is more than one driver shares a vehicle. These factors could make it more amenable to a bike-share proposal.
The system also is seen as a “first and last mile mobility solution,” according to the proposal, where commuters park off-site while coming to New Haven and then bike the rest of the way to work or school.
The program needs Board of Alders approval, at which point a contract could be signed and implementation worked out.
The proposal, which depends on membership fees and ad sponsorships, rather than city funds, will the subject of a public hearing before the Community Services and Environmental Policy Committee from 6 to 8 p.m. March 21 in the Board of Alders chambers at City Hall.
Pinto said the bicycles and other equipment would have to be ordered and decisions made as to where the stations should be located after more input from residents.
He estimated it would probably be up and running in the spring of 2018.
Solheim said the fact that it would be accessible round the clock and 365 days a year would supplement bus schedules which are limited.
“We want everyone riding it, not just a subset of people,” Solheim said.
The fact that it is a private-public partnership, Solheim said “is really key as it comes to the city for zero dollars from the taxpayers.”
Ideally the city will get back a certain percentage of the profits to reinvest in the system, she said.
While Phase 1 is 30 stations and 300 bikes, “the dream is to grow upon that and get to 1,000 bikes in phase three or four and increase the spread of the stations,” Solheim said.