Biking biz in favor of BikeShare

AUSTIN (KXAN) - After initial hesitation by the bicycling community, the idea of a city-operated Bicycle Share program is slowly gaining support.

"I think it's long overdue. They've been doing it in other cities all over the world," said Mark Mitchell, owner of Barton Springs Bike Rentals.

Mitchell's business is booming, just opening a second location on Barton Springs Road.

"It's going to put more people on bikes, take more cars off the road. Get more people interested in cycling, which is good for people who sell bikes," he said.

"I don't know what the City has planned, but there's probably lots of ways the bicycle shops can get involved to help with the program," said Jack Murray with Jack and Adam's Bicycles .

Some bicyclists, however, are not too excited about the idea.

"Leave bicycle rental to the people who know how to work on bikes, rent bikes and shop bikes," said Sarah Nitch.

The City is still in the research stages of the project, trying to figure out funding since inital estimates put the cost at around $1.8 million. That cost would include the 300 bicycles purchased at $1,500 per bike, and the cost of installing about 30 kiosks around the downtown and University of Texas area.

Cap Metro is already starting to work with the City's Bicycle Advisory Council to possibly get some of those kiosks installed near the rail stations, so those who ride the MetroRail could have more options on better connectivity within the downtown area.

"With the current technology, there's a lot of really interesting planning data you can get from the bikes..GPS..locking system, credit card numbers, deposits," said Annick Beaudet, the City's Bicycle Program Manager.

She says, this new program will work much better then the failed Yellow Bike program an independent non-profit ran 10 years ago.

"Some things look good on paper, and the first generation of bike share was one of those that looked great on paper in concept and just failed," Beaudet said.

This City's bicycle group will continue researching the best way to fund and implement the project. Cap Metro will meet with the group on May 18th to discuss possible implementation at rail stations.