BCycle will replace Zagster as the new vendor for the BikeShare Rio Grande Valley program to start by late summer.
On Oct. 22, 2018, The Rider reported the end of the two-year interlocal cooperation contract with Zagster, which stopped offering its services on Aug. 29, 2018.
At that time, the Lower Rio Grande Valley Development Council announced Lime as the new service provider for the BikeShare RGV program.
Ron Garza, executive director for the Lower Rio Grande Valley Development Council, said preparations for the end of the contract started in early 2018, with studies and presentations from different vendors.
“We wanted to look at truly regional sustainable solutions for bike share across the entire Valley,” Garza said.
However, by the time Lime was selected as the new vendor, the bike share industry changed drastically from dockless bikes to dockless scooters, he said.
“One thing that is really important is, not only did we want to explore this alternative as a means of transportation, called multimodal transportation, but one of our main priorities also was making sure we addressed the obesity issue in the Rio Grande Valley,” he said. “The problem with scooters, it actually moves away from the exercise component.”
Rodney Gomez, UTRGV executive director of Parking and Transportation, said the council decided to not move forward with Lime. Instead, the plan is to expand the bike share program with BCycle, the company the City of McAllen currently uses.
“The region decided that we weren’t ready for the electric products yet,” Gomez said. “We had originally wanted just the continuation of bikes, because, that’s what it was. It was a bike share program.”
He said the current campus is not suitable for electronic products and safety was a concern.
“A lot of other campuses that have those products on their grounds have, like, dedicated lanes,” he said. “They have policies and procedures in place to handle scooters.”
The council was awarded two grants: $408,000 from the Hidalgo County Metropolitan Planning Organization, for use only in Hidalgo County, and $250,000 from the Valley Baptist Legacy Foundation, which will go toward Cameron County.
“Also, a lot of the cities are also participating into providing matching funds,” Garza said. “So, they’ll also be putting more money into the pot, so to speak.”
In the City of McAllen, BCycle currently charges $2 an hour for renting a bike. However, a local advisory committee will eventually set the rates for the rides for the entire RGV, Garza said.
“Our goal is to encourage people to have efficient, cheap means of using the system,” he said.
Similar to Zagster, the process of renting a bike will be through a mobile phone by downloading an app.
BCycle is “a family and employee-owned business with over 40 years of experience driving innovation in the bicycle industry,” according to its website.
“It’s been a long journey, but ultimately, doing this route, it’s going to be a sustainable model ’cause we actually own the equipment locally,” Garza said. “No. 2, it actually addresses, not only transportation needs, but it also addresses health and wellness and the exercise component.”
For more information about BikeShare Rio Grande Valley, visit facebook.com/BikeShare-Rio-Grande-Valley.
