Photo credit: Bria Woods / San Antonio Report

San Antonio’s bike-share company is fully electrifying its fleet, a sign of a growing global trend toward e-bike riding.

By the end of November, BCycle, which has operated the city’s only bike-share fleet for a decade, will have converted its entire fleet of roughly 300 bikes to pedal-assist bikes that give riders a boost from a battery-powered motor.

“We’re seeing it, really, across the entire cycling industry,” J.D. Simpson, BCycle general manager, said of the growth of e-bikes worldwide.

San Antonio is one of many large U.S. cities that have seen e-bikes displacing non-motorized bikes in its bike-share program. A June NBC News analysis of bike-share data from 13 major cities found e-bike use spiked in nearly all of them during the first half of 2021.

Jeff Moore, a local cycling advocate and organizer with SATX Social Ride, said he’s a “huge fan of the electric-assist bike-share” concept, especially for downtown visitors.

“It’s going to put tourists on bikes that wouldn’t normally be on bikes, and they’re going to go farther and see more, so it’s good for the city,” Moore said.

This year is one of transition for San Antonio BCycle, which changed hands in May. A local nonprofit had run the system since its inception in 2011. It’s now owned by BCycle, a subsidiary of Wisconsin-based bicycle manufacturing giant Trek. Houston, Fort Worth, Austin and the lower Rio Grande Valley all now have bike-share programs run by BCycle.

“Pretty much, nobody’s job changed,” said Simpson, who served as the nonprofit’s director for most of the last decade and stayed on after the transition, along with most of the staff. The switch to ownership by the Trek subsidiary was crucial for the long-term sustainability of having a bike-share service in San Antonio, she added.

“We needed to convert to e-bikes, we needed to do some certain things, and the local funding just wasn’t there to do it,” Simpson said.

BCycle now operates nearly 50 stations clustered mostly near downtown. That’s a decline from recent years, a response Simpson attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic that shifted people to working at home, cutting out many regular commuters from the company’s user base, as well as construction that’s temporarily fragmented many downtown streets.

“Some of it’s driven by construction, some of it’s driven by how people use the system,” Simpson said. “We don’t have that big cluster of downtown workers like we used to have.”

Still, Simpson said use has been strong, especially among recreational users and people who haven’t used the system before.

“Suddenly people were looking for things to do, and there weren’t as many cars on the road and people were looking at alternatives and suddenly realized we had bike-share here,” she said.

Photo credit: Nick Wagner / San Antonio Report

One potential issue with moving to e-bikes is how the devices integrate with San Antonio’s greenway network. Motorized vehicles, including dockless scooters, aren’t allowed on the city’s more than 80-mile greenway trail network.

But, according to Simpson, BCycle’s electric bikes are calibrated for San Antonio’s greenways. Their battery power kicks in when pedaling, rather than relying on a simple throttle. They’re programmed to top out at 15 miles per hour, unlike commercially available e-bikes that can boost riders to speeds of 25 to 30 miles per hour.

And Bryan Martin, founder of San Antonio e-bike company Bronko Bikes, pointed out that traditional cyclists can ride as recklessly on the greenways as e-bike riders.

“We’ve all seen spandex riders trying to set a new Strava record who will hit somebody,” Martin said.

Martin’s company specializes in converting pedal-powered bikes to e-bikes, along with e-bike maintenance. He’s also a board member with Bike San Antonio, where he’s advocated for dedicated bike lanes on major downtown streets.

The lack of dedicated bike lanes is what’s holding San Antonio back from being a truly bike-friendly city, Martin said. But cyclists and advocacy groups like ActivateSA are promoting a vision of pedestrian and bike highways to better connect the greenway network to places like schools, hospitals, malls, and job centers.

Martin’s favorite example is the Flyway Project, a proposed vision for a pedestrian and bike path forming a north-south connection that roughly parallels U.S. Route 281.

“I’ll be cruising down the Flyway going 25 miles an hour on a Bronko Bike 20 years from now, saying, ‘I helped build this,’” he said.

Read the article from San Antonio Report

Photo credit: Chris Grassmick / Staff Photographer

As more people in Boulder hop on e-bikes as an easy and accessible mode of transportation, Boulder BCycle is determined to keep up with the growing demand and is preparing to expand its fleet.

Photo credit: Cliff Grassmick / Staff Photographer

By the end of the year, BCycle will have 300 e-bikes for people to rent and ride in Boulder and will expand its docking stations in East Boulder, said Sara Michaels, marketing and business development specialist with BCycle.

“We put 100 e-bikes into our system in March of 2021,” Michaels said. “We had more rides in less than six months than we had in the entire year prior.”

BCycle had a launch party Wednesday evening for its growing fleet of e-bikes and discussed its plans for the future to help people away from driving and toward an all-electric, sustainable form of transportation. The company recently relocated to a larger space in Boulder to allow for more storage as it multiplies its fleet and charging stations. About 50 people attended the event.

“We wanted to follow suit in the popularity of not showing up to work sweaty because you have the pedal-assist in your bike,” Michaels said. “It saves you from spending all this money on gasoline, polluting our planet every day and it’s healthy. It’s been proven that riding a bike makes you happy.”

BCycle has worked with the city for the past decade to offer bike sharing but previously offered regular pedal bikes rather than all-electric pedal-assist bikes. Nonprofit Boulder Bike Sharing formally operated the city’s bike share program in partnership with BCycle.

The bikes are available throughout the city and the cost for passes varies depending on whether someone wants a day pass versus a monthlong pass, Michaels said. Pass information can be found at boulder.bcycle.com/nav-2020/start-riding.

As part of the partnership with BCycle and Lime — which offer e-scooters in the city — 15 cents from every e-bike or scooter rental goes back to the city.

“Those funds go back to the city to pay for whatever costs there are with the program,” said Boulder Senior Transportation Planner David “DK” Kemp. “We could use most of those funds for safety education outreach, infrastructure, social equity programs and staff costs from time working on the project.”

Morgan Ramaker, executive director of BCycle, said the company is on track to hit 250,000 e-bike trips this year in Boulder — more than double any other year.

“I’m just really excited to have everyone see the shift that’s happening to the e-bikes,” she said. “They are starting to get more and more plentiful out in the field.

Read the article from Daily Camera

El Paso Electric Becomes First Title Sponsor for SunCycle Bike Share Program

EL PASO, Texas - August 26, 2021– SunCycle is delighted to announce their first title sponsorship with El Paso Electric that will help support its current bike share operation starting in 2021.

With this investment, the SunCycle bike share program will continue to provide a clean energy transportation alternative that also promotes a healthy and active lifestyle.

“The SunCycle bike sharing program mobilizes various incredibly important values for our community that we share at El Paso Electric such as equitable transportation, economic development and community engagement,” said El Paso Electric President and CEO Kelly A. Tomblin. “Our commitment as the inaugural sponsor of this program is an integral extension to our initiative to create awareness and accessibility to cleaner, sustainable forms of transportation that will overall improve the health of the families and community we proudly serve.”

“SunCycle is very excited to have El Paso Electric as SunCycle’s title sponsor” said Raymond Telles, Executive Director of the Camino Real Regional Mobility Authority, the agency that owns and operates the El Paso SunCycle bike share program. “It isn’t lost on us that El Paso Electric started as a transportation company, eventually focusing on power generation that 120 years later now supports our bike share program. We’re looking forward to a long relationship with El Paso Electric powering SunCycle, including our expanding portfolio of electric assist bikes.”

“SunCycle operations is thrilled that El Paso Electric has signed on as the first title sponsor of our program. Through this partnership SunCycle will continue to offer our community a bike share system that provides a clean and reliable transportation and recreation option and we welcome El Paso Electric to the team!” said Cesar Martinez, General Manager of SunCycle.

About the Camino Real Regional Authority:

The Camino Real Regional Mobility Authority (CRRMA) is a transportation agency of the State of Texas. Created in 2007, the CRRMA has provided a range of design, construction, and finance services which have advanced strategically important mobility projects across the Paso del Norte Region including the I-10/Loop 375 Americas Interchange, Border West Expressway, Spur 601, El Paso Streetcar Project, and SunCycle Bike Share Program. The CRRMA can construct, maintain, and operate transportation facilities across jurisdictional lines including in New Mexico and Chihuahua. For more information, visit CRRMA.org.

About El Paso Electric:

El Paso Electric is a regional electric utility providing generation, transmission, and distribution service to approximately 444,300 retail and wholesale customers in a 10,000-square mile area of the Rio Grande valley in West Texas and Southern New Mexico.

About BCycle LLC:

Headquartered in Waterloo, WI, BCycle LLC develops and delivers best-in-class bike share systems and is committed to providing an environmentally sustainable transportation alternative for cities. BCycle believes that bike share is the bicycle’s role in public transit and is on a mission to change the world by getting more people on bikes. BCycle, a fully owned subsidiary of Trek Bicycle, partners with organizations across the country to deliver community-based bike share. For more information, visit bcycle.com.

City of Boulder selects BCycle LLC, long-time partner of Boulder Bike Sharing, as exclusive bike share provider

BOULDER, CO – August 16, 2021 – The City of Boulder, in partnership with the University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder County, the Boulder Chamber, has selected BCycle to continue as the exclusive bike share provider in Boulder. As part of this new contract, BCycle LLC, a subsidiary of Trek Bicycle, will convert the bike share fleet to all pedal assist e-bikes and acquire the local nonprofit Boulder Bike Sharing (BBS).

For the past decade, BCycle LLC has partnered with BBS to provide reliable and affordable bike share trips to the community and its visitors. Previously, BBS leased its software and purchased its equipment from BCycle. Going forward, BCycle will directly own and operate Boulder BCycle. Members of the nonprofit staff will retain their positions as part of the Boulder BCycle team.

“The Boulder Bike Sharing Board of Directors thanks the Boulder community for supporting more than a decade of local nonprofit bike sharing, and we’re excited for where the Boulder BCycle system is headed under BCycle,” said Michael-Ryan McCarty, BBS Board Co-Chair.         

“BCycle is thrilled to build upon the solid foundation that Boulder Bike Sharing has developed in the community over the past decade,” said Morgan Ramaker, Executive Director of BCycle. “With an all e-bike fleet, we’re eager to take that service to the community to the next level, providing a meaningful transportation alternative to get more people on bikes and out of cars.”

As part of the transition, Boulder BCycle will convert its bike fleet to all pedal-assist e-bikes. E-bikes were first introduced in the Boulder BCycle system earlier this year, and ridership for 2021 is on track to be more than double any previous year. Additionally, Boulder BCycle will expand the current system to provide convenient access to shared e-bikes for more community members, including new stations in key areas and underserved neighborhoods.  

Boulder BCycle will operate as part of the City’s new Shared Micrombility Program for Boulder, in partnership with the City of Boulder, the University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder County, the Boulder Chamber, and Lime. The new program will provide important mobility options that can replace single-occupant vehicle trips and enable first- and final-mile trips to and from transit stops. Boulder’s Transportation Master Plan (TMP) and Climate Commitment seeks to reduce vehicle trips and related emissions and shared micromobility devices are a key component of the city’s multimodal system.  

“We’re excited to launch this Shared Micromobility Program and provide more options for our community members to get where they need to go, whether for work, school or errands,” said Transportation and Mobility Department Director Erika Vandenbrande. “Transportation is one of the leading emitters of greenhouse gases and shared electric bikes and scooters make it easier - and more fun! - to skip a car trip and get around in a greener way.”

About BCycle
Headquartered in Waterloo, WI, BCycle LLC develops and delivers best-in-class bike share systems and is committed to providing an environmentally sustainable transportation alternative for cities. BCycle believes that bike share is the bicycle’s role in public transit and is on a mission to change the world by getting more people on bikes. BCycle, a fully owned subsidiary of Trek Bicycle, operates bike share systems in Boulder, CO, Broward County, FL, Greenville, SC, Madison, WI, Nashville, TN, San Antonio, TX, and Santa Barbara, CA, and partners with organizations across the country to deliver community-based bike share. For more information, visit bcycle.com.