As the city of Phoenix prepares to launch its bike share program later this spring, bicycle store owners in downtown Phoenix believe the program will benefit the cycling community at large but are split over whether the city can be bike friendly.
The Grid Bike Share program is scheduled to launch in Phoenix toward the end of April before expanding to Tempe and Mesa later in the year. The program released three test racks across downtown early this year.
According to the program’s website, 1,000 bicycles will be available to rent by the hour. People can also buy annual passes to rent a bike one hour each day.
Some bicycle business owners said they don’t see Grid as competition. Chase Harkins, who works for the electric bike company HyBikes located near Seventh and Roosevelt streets, said annual sales have tripled since the store moved from Mesa last year, and he does not expect growth to stop.
“We don’t see the bike share as being any decrease in our business,” he said. “If anything, it may increase business by getting more people interested in biking, realizing that it’s so hot to bike in Phoenix that they want something … easier, like electric.”
John Romero, who in 2013 started the nonprofit Phx BikeLab located near Grant and Ninth avenues, said Grid could push people to become more active. He said he sees the bike share as a convenient way for people to become more involved in cycling.
“It’s an easy access point,” Romero said.
The city has echoed those sentiments. Phoenix Street Transportation Department bicycle coordinator Joe Perez said the bike share will help more than just bicycle businesses. He pointed to an annual report by Capital Bikeshare, the bike share service in Washington, D.C., that indicates users saved $800 on transportation costs with an annual pass. Those kinds of savings can allow people to buy their own bikes, he said.
“The cycling community is excited to see the city of Phoenix bring cycling to the region,” Perez said.
The friendliness of Phoenix streets toward bicycling might play a bigger role in business. Romero said streets are underpopulated, and more people on bikes can spark civic involvement. An initiative such as Complete Streets, which would reformat streets to accommodate drivers, cyclists, pedestrians and others, can also give cyclists a forum to express their opinions, he said.
Some businesses also see the city’s friendliness toward bicycles as a key issue. Derrick Pacheco, operator of HoodRide Bicycles, said he would rather see the city direct its attention and resources to something like Complete Streets rather than Grid. The city does not need to become involved in bicycles when it can improve other areas, he said.
“It’s an unneeded complication,” Pacheco said of the bike share.
Perez said bike racks will be situated so as not to obstruct sidewalks. Harkins said Phoenix helps cyclists with laws giving them access to streets, but the infrastructure itself does not support bikes.
“The more bike lanes that are built, the more bike paths and overpasses over the freeways — everything that is bike-friendly helps us,” he said. “And it really helps the whole community.”
Improving the infrastructure will help inform people of the relative ease of cycling as well, Harkins said.
“A lot of people have a mental hurdle when it comes to riding a bike in the road,” he said. “Because they think they shouldn’t be, even though that’s where bikes are also supposed to be.”
Contact the reporter at matthew.seeman@asu.edu.
