You’ve probably seen the Carolina blue bikes riding around campus with the UNC logo emblazoned on the side. Those Tar Heel Bikes are part of a current bike share program at UNC, where people cant rent the bike for a limited time.
The contract for that program, however, is expiring in May of 2022.
To take its place, Carrboro, Chapel Hill and UNC are envisioning a bigger bike share program to cover all three areas.
At a Carrboro Town Council Meeting earlier this month, discussion of the future bike share program highlighted some of the goals of the new program.
Carrboro Transportation Planner Zachary Hallock said the goals of the new program are to provide accessibility for all community members.
“We want to provide consistent geographic access through the lens of racial equity, so making sure no neighborhood is left out or overlooked for service,” Hallock said. “Ensuring vehicle types are available for community members of all abilities and then multiple different payment methods so that you’re not required to have a smartphone to use the bike share system.”
To help achieve the accessibility goal, Hallock said he hopes a majority of the vehicles in the new bike share program are electric assist bicycles, or e-bikes. The possibility of three and four-wheeled vehicles was also discussed for those with limited mobility and senior citizens .
Hallock said while UNC is the main force behind this project, the inputs of Carrboro are still important as one of the major stakeholders.
Carrboro Council Member and mayoral candidate Damon Seils said he believes it is important to move in unison with the university and Chapel Hill.
“Since we are entering into this as a partnership, we should be trying to be consistent with approach,” Seils said.
Council members discussed the importance of advertisements on the bikes in generating revenue, desired amount of bikes in the program and maximum service area.
Seils said he believes it is important this new program takes steps to ensure it is actually beneficial to the community.
“Keeping on top of the vendor, properly maintaining the equipment and the stations, keep things out of the way of pedestrians, etc.,” he said. “These are things we have seen being experienced in other communities in the Triangle so that we are not creating problems for other users .”
According to a draft of the bike share proposal, companies must prevent vehicles from blocking sidewalks, rights of way, greenways, bus stops and other access points. The draft also said the three parties want at least 100 vehicles operable at all times.
Hallock said bikes would be placed at hubs near prominent locations around town such as transit stops the future site of the 203 Project, Carrboro Town Hall and the Orange County Public Library.
The draft proposal said the provider company will collect ridership data and expand to additional hubs as they or the town sees fit.
Hallock said none of the stakeholders would need to subsidize the bike share program because it is entirely funded by user fees and possible advertisements, which would help offset operations costs for the vendor.
“There’s no expectation of us paying anything to this vendor,” Hallock said. “They’re coming in and providing a service.”
Meetings between Carrboro, Chapel Hill and UNC will take place later this month to discuss the proposal drafts. An official proposal is expected to be issued to possible vendors by January 2022.
Photo via Tar Heel Bikes.
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