Bikeshare for All

 This article was originally published by the League of American Bicyclists in the Fall 2016 issue of Bicycle Friendly America.

Bikeshare programs are intended to encourage more people to ride, a goal all of us would likely agree with. As bikeshare programs gain more traction, there is increasing talk on how to make them more inclusive. Discussions of increasing diversity in bikeshare have focused on race, gender and socio-economic background. But, so far, there has been very little discussion on making bikeshare programs more accessible to those with physical disabilities.

The vast majority of bicycles used in bikeshare programs are two-wheeled cruiser bikes, such as those used by Citi Bike, Divvy and others. Recently, bikeshare programs are originating with alternative and adaptive bikes as part of their fleets.

The largest, and perhaps most well-known, bikeshare program with adaptive bikes is at Ohio State University, which started their bikeshare last fall. “Adaptive bikes have been part of the bicycle fleet since the bikeshare program began,” said Nicole Holman, Assistant Director of Marketing and Communications at OSU. “We felt that everyone should have the opportunity to use the bikeshare program on campus.”

OSU’s program has 115 bikes, with a total of 15 alternative bikes, including trikes, handcycles, and side-by-side bikes. The most popular of the alternative bikes are the side-by-side bikes, which could be “used by a blind or visually impaired rider who wants to go for a bike ride with a friend or by riders who wish to cycle next to each other on the same bike,” Holman says. “There have been over 600 rides on these five side-by-side bicycles, or about 125 rides per bike, since the program began.”

OSU was not the first to decide to have bikes besides the typical two-wheeled cruisers in a bikeshare program. Carmel, IN launched a bikeshare program in April 2015, with regular cruiser bikes but also trikes. “When we started our discussions of bike share, we wanted to include tricycles with those first two stations so people of all abilities could enjoy our program,” said David Littlejohn, Alternative Transportation Coordinator for Carmel.

Carmel now has a total of eight tricycles as part of the bike fleet. The community has found that the trikes are popular with “a wide array of people;” in particular, the community’s senior population as well as “people who may not necessarily be in great shape but want to get out,” Littlejohn said.

One reason so few large bikeshare programs are offering adaptive bikes is that the majority of the programs have stations where the bikes are docked. A trike or adaptive bike would need a different sized station.

The majority of the bikeshare programs with trikes or adaptive bikes are using Zagster, a Cambridge, MA, Company that provides bikes, technology and other services for bikeshare programs. One thing that makes adding alternative bikes to Zagster’s bikeshare fleets easier is that docking stations are not used, Communications Manager Jon Terbush said.

Scarcity of bikeshare providers that have trikes and adaptive bikes in their fleets is a larger issue. B-Cycle, in Boulder, did an internal pilot of a trike in late 2014. Staff, however, felt the trike they used was somewhat unstable and gave them a feeling that it would be “prone to tipping,” marketing and communications director Kevin Bell said.

If the company handling the bikeshare program does not offer alternative bikes, it is very difficult for a community’s bikeshare program to offer a handcycle, for instance.

An exception to this is in Boston. The Hubway bikeshare program has more than 1,500 bikes. People can also request a recumbent tricycle, but, it is rarely used, said Najah Casimir, Program Manager at Boston Bikes. However, Casimir said, people you may have initially thought that they would need an adaptive bike have been able to use Hubway’s regular bikes. “It has been extra educational for us that people of various abilities have been able to use the upright bike,” said Vineet Gupta, Director of Policy and Planning for the Boston Transportation Department.

Still, there are people with disabilities or other issues that prevent them from using the typical bicycle used in bikeshare programs. Trikes and other adaptive bikes offer an option for them to also enjoy the benefits of bikeshare.

This year has seen the launch of several programs with alternative and adaptive bikes and the trend is likely to continue. Bikeshare programs in College Park, MD, Corvallis, OR, and Westminster, CO, have all recently launched with trikes and/or adaptive bikes.

The mBike program in the city of College Park and University of Maryland launched this May with 120 bikes and five alternative bikes, including side-by-side bikes, trikes and handcycles. “We wanted a system that was going to be a transportation alternative for the widest possible audience,” said Aaron Goldbeck, Bicycle Coordinator for the University of Maryland. They also felt that, if someone was considering buying an adaptive bike like a handcycle, that they could use the bikeshare program to demo a bike first, Goldbeck said.

The bikeshare program in Westminster has a total of 40 bikes, with eight of them alternative bikes, including three handbikes and five trikes. With one-fifth of the fleet being alternative bikes, it makes them “the most inclusive bikeshare in that region of Colorado,” Terbush said.

In August, a bikeshare program is set to launch in Rome, NY which will have one side-by-side bicycle and one trike, Terbus said. Additionally, the Portland Bureau of Transportation recently announced that it plans to launch a pilot program next spring that will allow residents to rent adaptive bicycles.

As more bikeshare programs offer trikes and adaptive bikes, more communities will see it as a viable option to make a part of future programs. More options of bikes means more people being able to use bikeshare and, hopefully, more people riding.

Gina Kenny is League Cycling Instructor (LCI) #2446. She is also a member and active volunteer with the Chicago Area Mountain Bikers (CAMBr).