A new company will provide a bike and scooter renting service at the university that could be available by the end of the semester, university officials say.
Previously, Zagster provided bike services to the university but the company stopped offering its services in August. Lime will now offer the service.
“When Zagster was first brought on board, it was a cooperation between the university, City of Edinburg, City of Harlingen and the City of Brownsville and when that happened, there was a lot of controversy because the City of McAllen had procured BCycle, which is a competing type of service,” said UTRGV Transportation Services Director Gabriel Zuñiga, explaining why the company is no longer providing the service.
The Lower Rio Grande Valley Development Council, an association of local governments, serving Cameron, Hidalgo and Willacy counties, wanted a consistent vendor and decided on the change, according to Zuñiga.
Lime will offer pedal bikes, e-bikes and scooters that students can rent through the Lime application.
He said the Lime vehicles could help with parking issues in the university. Instead of students driving to get food off campus, they could rent a vehicle and not lose their parking spot, reducing parking traffic.
“I think the scooters might be helpful in terms of remote parking because if we could maybe station a couple of scooters in those remote parking lots, maybe students might be enticed to park in the remote parking lots, take the scooters to the main campus,” Zuñiga said.
Jennifer Rodriguez, a kinesiology sophomore, said the previous service was useful and that she would use the new services as well.
“I had a class all the way in [Texas Southmost College] and I only had, like, a certain amount of time to get there,” Rodriguez said. “I needed a bike and since I didn’t have one, that helped me.”
Manuel Vela, an exercise science sophomore, said the bike services will be useful for students to get to class on time. He said he would also use the new Lime services.
Those renting a bike, e-bike or scooter must download the Lime app, available on the App Store and Google Play, and create a profile. The app will show the available Lime vehicles around the area. To unlock a vehicle, customers must tap on the “ride” button at the bottom of the screen and scan the QR code using the phone’s camera, according to the Lime website, li.me.
Prices for the bikes and scooters are still to be discussed between the university and Lime, but according to the Lime website, renting a Lime Pedal Bike costs $1 to unlock and 5 cents per minute to ride. Students, faculty and staff with a valid .edu email receive a 50 percent discount. Renting an electric-assist bike or an electric scooter costs $1 to unlock and 15 cents per minute to ride, in most areas.
Between Jan. 1 and May 21, 989 Zagster trips were completed in Brownsville, 823 in Harlingen and 630 in Edinburg.
Zuñiga said the university is still working on the details of the contract between Lime and UTRGV.
He said he hopes the new services will benefit students and that they will be used more than the previous bike services.
