Can Memphis Share Bikes?

As Memphis continues our upward trend in the bicycling community several of us have asked the question: "What's next?" We have but to look at other cities who are years ahead of us for our answer: the bike share program.

Here's the idea: Place bikes at various locations spaced throughout a bike-friendly portion of the city. The public has use of these bicycles for free or for a small fee. You pick up (or rent) a bike at one location, ride it to another that is close to your destination and leave it there for the next person to use.

This has happened with varying degrees of success throughout the world: Austin has a (I actually think it is the oldest and free-est) system called Yellow Bike, Paris has Velib, and Emily and I used B-Cycle in Denver. The list goes on and on; even Nashville and Chattanooga have bike share programs.

For this year's Bike To Work Day Em and I had the idea of setting up three stations downtown, one in the Pinch District, one around Poplar and one in South Main (all along Main Street) with some bikes and volunteers from Revolutions. An idea which proved to be logistically daunting in such a short amount of time.

But given time, money and a bike share system, where would you put stations? Near restaurants? Cultural attractions? Stadiums? How many stations do you think Memphis can handle? Can we even handle a bike share at all?

Tell it like it is at tonight's Pizza with Planners session!

Come hear the project team from Alta Planning and Design discuss the feasibility of a Bike Share Program for the City of Memphis and give your input.

Date: Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Time: 5:30-7:00 pm

Location: Benjamin Hooks Public Library, 3030 Poplar Avenue

Thank you Alta Planning and Revolutions Community Bicycle Shop for sponsoring this event!

This event is free and open to the public. If you haven't registered yet, click on the link below to RSVP.

Register Here