BROKEN ARROW, Okla. — Broken Arrow is about to welcome a new bike share. The City Council has approved a pilot program for the Rose District sometime this summer.
Kaylee Pate grew up in Broken Arrow and she's excited to hear about the new bike share program in her hometown.
“I think it’s worked out really well for the Tulsa area and anything that we can do to make Broken Arrow a more welcoming place for the community and a more exciting place to grow up, I think it’s great," says Pate.
She and other Broken Arrow residents will soon see white and pink bikes in the Rose District.
The City says This Machine approached them about bringing their bike program to town. After careful consideration, they agreed on a pilot study paid with a $38,000 incog grant.
“This Machine provided some of the information about how the bicycles that they provided within the City of Tulsa had spurred some development and showed where those nodes are and how to make those connections," says Larry Curtis, Community Development Director for the City of Broken Arrow.
Curtis says only two to three percent of Broken Arrow residents use a bike, but he hopes this pilot program will change that.
As part of the rental process, users download an app that tracks the time of use and transportation patterns. This data will give the City a better snapshot of economic development opportunities and be useful in transportation studies.
“Bike lanes have been in this city for years and so this really isn’t anything different or anything new," says Curtis. "They may see a little bit more traffic associated with that, but so far, we have been very blessed that our cyclist and drivers have been in, pretty much in harmony, and so we expect that hopefully, that will continue”
Right now, from Kenosha to Houston, bikes and cars share the road from Houston to Washington, cyclists have dedicated lanes.
This Machine says safety is a top priority.
“Safety is always very important to us and so that’s why we are starting in that area. There’s already a designation on the roads for bikes and so it’s a slow introduction and then we’ll expand out from there," explains Katie Sawicki, executive director at This Machine.
The pilot program will start with 40 bikes in phase one and plan on adding 40 more in phases two and three. The program is expected to last up to three years and then they'll evaluate whether to continue.
“We’re really kind of excited to see how well it works, but also understand that if it doesn’t work out, then we move on and try something else.”
Curtis says they're still trying to determine the exact location of the bike stations.
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