Denver B-cycle wrapped up its inaugural season Monday, undamaged by the claim of gubernatorial candidate Dan Maes that the program “could threaten our personal freedom” by converting the city “into a United Nations community.”
“If anything, that just raised our profile in a positive way,” said Parry Burnap, executive director of Denver Bike Sharing, the nonprofit that owns and operates B-cycle and its fleet of 500 red bikes. “A lot of our friends came forward to support and clarify what we do.”
The nation’s first large-scale, city-based bike-sharing program, Denver B-cycle did have some explaining to do — not about potential links to the U.N. but about how, exactly, it worked.
Word spread. People grasped the economic and environmental benefits. More and more red bikes began to pop up on the city streets as people rode to work, to Rockies games, and along the Cherry Creek bike path.
In the seven months since it launched April 22, Denver B-cycle hit nearly 103,000 rides, selling 1,784 annual memberships and more than 32,900 short-term memberships.
But now the bikes are taking a winter vacation, going out of service until March 1.
The decision to take a break in service came after much debate.
“This week I’m still riding my bike from home,” said Burnap. “We still have a lot of great days in Denver, and we’re very aware that if you’re changing behavior, you don’t want to yank the bike while people are forming new habits.”
Winter weather did factor in the decision, the question of whether people would — or could — ride on ice and snow, and whether salt would damage the bikes. A more weighty influence, however, was the need to “tweak and regroup,” Burnap said.
“We’ll be looking at the fee structure, which was extremely confusing to people, and at station configuration, because some weren’t as well used as others,” Burnap said.
Plans to improve the technology are also afoot, beginning with the kiosk touch screens, which weren’t very responsive to touch.
“This year was like the early days of cellphones, when calls were being dropped, because of connectivity between kiosks and servers,” she said.
On Tuesday, Phillip Marino was one of the B-cycle workers out picking up the bikes for the winter, running three to four loads a day, with about 10 bikes packed on a truck and 10 on an attached trailer.
“We’re telling people we’re taking the bikes in for an overhaul, to clean them completely so they’re ready for March 1,” he said. “They said they’re looking forward to getting them back out on the streets.”
Colleen O’Connor: 303-954-1083 or coconnor@denverpost.com
How much has it saved?
Based on a survey that suggested 43.16 percent of Denver B-cycle rides replaced car trips, the program resulted in some big environmental and economic benefits:
312,121
pounds of carbon emissions avoided
9,613
pounds of toxic air pollutants avoided
15,868
gallons of gasoline not used (at a savings of $41,256)
$311,126
Estimated savings on car parking
