Guest Post by Carey Rogers

For over a decade, BCycle has helped bolster Nashville’s multi-modal transportation system with a docked bikeshare system. While the system isn’t perfect, it’s a valuable resource for our city — and one with an uncertain future. Those of us who support making Nashville a more bike-friendly city and value bikes as an important part of a multi-modal transportation system should be concerned.

The Nashville Department of Transportation recently ended a yearlong bidding process by failing to reach a contract agreement with the BCycle bike share system, a long-time presence in our city. Bicycle Transit Systems, the owner of BCycle, will continue to operate without a contract for the time being. A new request for proposal will be issued that may attract more bidders for the contract to compete with BTS — which will allow other companies, some larger with more resources, to apply. The failed contract negotiation is just the latest hurdle impacting BCycle’s ability to grow its program in Nashville.

Background

While scooter operators Bird, Spin, and Lime have combined to bring around 400 bikes to our streets, BCycle has around 200 bikes today. That’s fewer than they did 10 years ago.

By comparison, progressive cities like Seattle, Denver, Portland, and Washington, D.C. provide far larger bikeshare programs than Nashville. Denver’s system provides over 1,000 dockless e-bikes and 4,000 scooters. Portland operates a station-based system of more than 1,100. Even Chattanooga has more bikes than Nashville with 465 bikes at 43 stations.

Docked bikeshare began in Nashville with the BCycle program in 2012 funded by $1.2 million from the federal government. By the time BCycle shut down during the pandemic, there were over thirty stations and 250 bikes, all traditional pedal bicycles.

BCycle Post-Pandemic

BCycle returned to operation in 2021 and, like most bikeshare programs, shifted to e-bikes with a new fleet of about 200 vehicles. With several BCycle stations located in parks, the shift to electric drew the attention of greenways officials.

State law made it very clear that e-bikes were not motorized vehicles and thus were allowed on greenways and trails. However, officials from Metro Nashville Parks and Recreation and Greenways for Nashville opposed e-bikes and convinced Metro Council to require a parks department study, hoping to ban them on greenways.

Parks eventually published a report which showed both that most cities allowed e-bikes and that a majority of Nashvillians were supportive. The attempted ban fizzled out after Walk Bike Nashville and other advocates made it clear there would be a fight.

The Parks Department subsequently evicted BCycle stations from operating within Metro parks rather than banning the bikes themselves. NDOT, to their credit, placed most stations in the public right of way and as close to parks as possible, but there was a negative effect on the program. The BCycle stations in parks were among the most popular in the city, and the relocation added a barrier for users. This makes sense: If there are no bikes near a park, there will be fewer people riding bikes in that park. There was no criticism or action from Mayor John Cooper’s administration or the Metro Council to reverse the decision, and taxpayers paid to move the stations from Metro Parks property to NDOT right-of-way.

Why it Matters

Since 2022, BCycle has maintained its Nashville program without the confidence to expand. Bikeshare systems are a small but important part of a multi-modal transit system that provides alternatives to cars. Nashvillians have proven they want more transportation options, with two-thirds of voters supporting November’s transit referendum. The city must do more to ensure BCycle, or another bikeshare provider, can succeed here.

As advocates, we understand that last year’s focus was getting the transit referendum passed. But we really believed that BCycle would receive the support it deserves as a long time operator in the city. Nashville deserves a bikeshare operation that is an integral part of that transit system.

If you see bikeshare as an important part of micro-mobility, reach out to Mayor Freddie O’Connell, Vice-Mayor Angie Henderson and Metro Council members to urge them to continue a bikeshare program in our city. The failure of the administration to complete this contract after more than a year should convince us to speak up and voice support for a robust bikeshare program.

Carey Rogers is a member of Metro Nashville’s Transportation and Licensing Commission, which approves the city’s bikeshare contracts; the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission, and a former Walk Bike Nashville board member. He was awarded the Kibby Clayton Award, Walk Bike Nashville’s lifetime achievement award, in 2023.