KC Bike share

[kcjak]

Was in St Louis last week and my friend showed me some sort of bike endeavor where a small storefront opened downtown (I think there are several) and bikers can pay monthly fee, bike to the shop, shower, change into biz clothing, have access to a locker and leave your bike. My friend said it's very well-received by workers biking in from significant distances. Anyone ever try it in StL or other cities?

[KCPowercat]

So is this on track for summer or are there still hurdles?

[DaveKCMO]

city to authorize public-private partnership between BikeShareKC and Blue Cross Blue Shield of KC:

https://twitter.com/#!/kclightrail/stat ... 8464830465

[DaveKCMO]

thursday is the big announcement!

http://bikesharekc.com/january26

[KCPowercat]

Email just received...

With Blue KC’s support we plan to start the system in the Greater Downtown area by June of this year. 200 bikes will be spread across 20 bike share stations from the River to Crown Center.

While 20 stations downtown is AWESOME, I'm pretty bummed there won't be racks at Westport and Plaza.

[pash]

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[earthling]

This is great. I wasn't expecting 20 stations to start with. Is this the same system as Denver that was demoed at First Fridays?

[kboish]

thats awesome. would've thought they would have started in westport/plaza, but hopefully they know what they're doing. So this will be installed before the All-Start game? Should get some heavy use around then.

Great for 1st friday's gallery cruising as well.

[TheBigChuckbowski]

If this, the streetcar, and make grand grand all come online, downtown will look very different in 5-10 years.

I don't really understand how this is a solution for the final leg of trips, though, unless they plan on adding a crapton of stations. 20 would really only cover the major bus stops, right, and I'm not going to pay to keep a bike overnight, so I don't really see why this would be used for that.

[KCPowercat]

City today is also committing to adding bike lanes to compliment this.

Its great for tourists and downtown residents. Ill sign up for an annual pass probably and try to make myself use it. Typically I would walk anywhere the stations would cover though. I could see using it to zip down to city market or east crossroads or say rieger. Those are walkable for me but might want to get there quicker.

Excited to see this happen.

[KCPowercat]

I can't even come up with 20 locations. Here is my thoughts. North to south.

Riverfront park
Columbus park
City market
Garment district (case park?)
Library
Illus Davis park
Barney Allis plaza
Power & light
Westside
Kauffman
East crossroads
Crossroads (sw Blvd)
Union station
Crown center
Penn valley park

[bobbyhawks]

I can't even come up with 20 locations. Here is my thoughts. North to south.

Riverfront park
Columbus park
City market
Garment district (case park?)
Library
Illus Davis park
Barney Allis plaza
Power & light
Westside
Kauffman
East crossroads
Crossroads (sw Blvd)
Union station
Crown center
Penn valley park

I'd also add:
8th and Grand (Courthouse Lofts)
Summit and SW BLVD

P&L could be split into at least two:
14th and Grand
13th and Main

Central Crossroads could be split into many:
20th or 19th and Main
22nd and Wyandotte (Freighthouse)
16th and Grand

I'd have to plot these out to visualize the coverage compared to things like where pedestrian traffic exists and where we would like to encourage more pedestrian traffic.

[earthling]

Hospital Hill to MAX stop in Crown Center.

Hopefully every MAX stop will have a station eventually.

[pash]

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[FangKC]

http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/n ... a=e_du_pub

[KCMax]

http://www.kansascity.com/2012/01/26/33 ... ntown.html

[KCPowercat]

I think there should be a lot of bike safety education behind this. Laws etc. Going to be a lot of first time or inexperienced bike riders (myself included) using this that wont know the rules of the road.

Also, do these stations have a map of the area ? Where the other stations are, preferred routes, where the bike lanes are? I assume they do.

Lastly. Helmets. How is that handled ?

[aknowledgeableperson]

You forgot shower facilities for after biking around on hot summer days.

[kboish]

It sounded like there is going to be a mobile app that will inform you how many bikes are available at each station. I'd imagine this will also include a map or at least locations you could use to know where the stations are.

I hope the council comes through on their "commitment" to create bike lanes to connect CC and RM by this summer. They really need to make this a priority to support this effort. If this doesn't happen for a year or two then they will have totally missed the opportunity to get behind this initiative.

[earthling]

Yes, there is a mobile app (iPhone/Android) to track open slots in stations. Here is Denver's website that shows each station and the number of slots open by clicking on each station. Though it's closed during winter.

http://denver.bcycle.com/

Does anyone know if the KC system will be the same as Denver or Minneapolis system? I think they are different companies that run them. When they did a demo at First Friday's, I'm pretty sure it was the same as Denver's.

As far as bike lanes, I'm frankly not a big fan of them in the city on major roads. I have no issue biking around downtown/midtown on less busy streets (less car traffic that is). I avoid busy streets and it's not an issue. Bike lanes on major roads can give a false sense of security.