By Trevor Godfrey and Sophia Kunthara
Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton unveiled the name of the new Phoenix Metro bike share system Monday at the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) conference. “GR:D” (pronounced grid) will begin before the end of the year and pledges to have 500 bikes in service in Phoenix by February 2014.
Service will start in the downtown Phoenix area and expand with 250 bicycles in Tempe and 250 bicycles in Mesa by spring 2014.
Stanton said the decision to host the annual NACTO conference in Phoenix was a nod to the city’s forward-thinking infrastructure plans. Stanton also emphasized that the bike share program was specifically a city-level program and an example of the expanding responsibilities of city government.
“We can’t rely on the Federal Government as we did at one time,” Stanton said. “We’ve advanced the local metro with 100 percent local dollars.”
The bike share program will be operated by CycleHop, which has received and is actively pursuing sponsorships for the program. Although the city of Phoenix is not directly funding the program, they are supporting it and providing the areas where the bike racks will be located, according to Matthew Heil, the public information officer at the City of Phoenix’s Street Transportation Department.
The actual GPS-enabled bicycles that will be used for the bike share program were designed by Social Bicycles, and the branding and design of “GR:D” were created by Eeko Studio.
Jenny Poon, the creative director of Eeko Studio, said Eeko focused on specific design elements, such as the color, logo, name and the reason behind the name.
Eeko also reached out to the community for ideas and input on the presentation and branding of the bike share program at various events as well as through its Facebook page.
Eeko began the design process in late July, beginning with around 30 ideas for designs before narrowing the designs down and having the cities of Phoenix, Tempe and Mesa vote on one, Poon said.
The final design, “GR:D,” reflects the grid system of the streets in the Phoenix metro area and the upbeat vibe of Phoenix through its name and incorporated emoticon. At the design pitch meeting, the cities of Phoenix, Tempe and Mesa unanimously agreed on the “GR:D” design, which was also the most popular in the community survey.
“This is a huge move for Phoenix, and we want the community bike share program to mirror the Phoenix culture,” Poon said.
Heil said the launch of the bike share program will make biking a more viable option for transportation in Phoenix.
“The bike share program will enable people to extend the reach of our transport system,” Heil said. “Also for tourists who want to do something more active, if they want to rent a bicycle instead of a car, it’s less expensive.”
Contact the reporters at Tegodfre@asu.edu and pkunthar@asu.edu
