Omaha Forums

I rode by it last night on my personal bike.  Looked nice, but I would try anything but the flat trails with those bikes, they don't have any gears...  Hope it works out for them!

This is awesome. Here is the article from LiveWellNebraska that is probably pretty similar to what has already been posted.

http://www.livewellnebraska.com/article ... -return-it

Brad, I'm not sure, but these may be the kind of "automatically shifting" internal hub bikes we rented out at the Omaha Visitor's Center.

The emphasis on the AK Village and UNO corridor for this first phase would greatly lend to my vision of a greenway/bikeway connecting the two through Elmwood Park.

StreetsOfOmaha wrote:Brad, I'm not sure, but these may be the kind of "automatically shifting" internal hub bikes we rented out at the Omaha Visitor's Center.

They may have, there was some parts on the back wheel that I did not recognize.

Also, there's tons of great photos of the launch at the BCBS location at the Omaha B-Cycle Facebook page. http://www.facebook.com/omahabcycle

took a look at them over by Mojo -- they seem to have some type of shifting on the right handle.

By Mojo???

http://mojosmokehouse.com/

right next to the theater

Ah cool.

Just left the Farmers Market at Aksarben Village.  There were 2 bikes rented from the BCBS kiosk and 6 bikes rented from the Aksarben Cinema kiosk.

Not a bad Sunday morning...

Within two years this will be downtown as well I bet.  One thing I would like to see is more bike lanes.  You see them all over Portland, it's better for the cyclists and the drivers.

Tonight we added on Four Square the Omaha B Cycle locations at Wholners, BCBS, and Aksarben Cinema.

Professor Woland wrote:Within two years this will be downtown as well I bet.  One thing I would like to see is more bike lanes.  You see them all over Portland, it's better for the cyclists and the drivers.

Wow. Well, I completely agree! I believe the article quoted the manager of the Omaha system saying they intend to be in Midtown and Downtown by this time next year.

Also, are you familiar with the Bike Omaha network currently being implemented?
http://www.activateomaha.org/igsbase/ig ... &SnavID=23

It's a start, and with the way things are going, there'll be a lot more to come!

No.  Thanks for the link.

AmielR wrote:For me, bicycle sharing program is really great! I don’ think it would cause any hazardous effects to our environment. However, bike-sharing is a very good way to encourage less vehicle traffic, fight obesity and fight traffic congestion. And for you to know, the very first major bike-sharing program in a big U.S. city became available in 2008. Washington D.C.'s bike-sharing program, generally described as CaBi, may be getting more popular. After the quake last week, CaBi became unexpectedly well-liked. Some cities are hoping to begin bike sharing programs, but there is very strong opposition.

You can read this link for a proof: Bikeshare usage in D.C. spikes during natural disasters

"Very strong opposition?"  I doubt it.  Sounds like fishing for victim status.

Now, if it's taxpayer funded, that's another matter.  We waste too much tax money already.  If this is an idea supported by enough people, then the market will support it without subsidy.

Well, Eric Cantor recently went on a tirade against federal transportation funding going towards bicycle and pedestrian improvements, especially Capitol Bikeshare.  As long as these guys are convinced that biking and walking aren't "real" transportation modes, I don't have much hope.

Seth wrote:Well, Eric Cantor recently went on a tirade against federal transportation funding going towards bicycle and pedestrian improvements, especially Capitol Bikeshare.  As long as these guys are convinced that biking and walking aren't "real" transportation modes, I don't have much hope.

No.  Bad comment.   The reason that we will struggle with I29 and I680 repairs is that the highway trust fund which was conceptualized and funded to repair the INTERSTATE HIGHWAY SYSTEM keeps getting tapped for things that are only loosely related to transp and not related to the interstates.   Bikes are great.  We have lots of great ideas.  We don't have lots of money.  We end up having Congress draining these trust funds to buy votes with flashy, but ultimately not very productive "great ideas".   Bike trails and such get cool photo ops where bridge repair doesn't.  Of course, it does mean we get food and supplies delivered safely.   Bikes are great, but not very helpful if you are trying to transport 30,000 lbs of frozen meat from here to Denver.  

How would you feel if the truckers ripped off all the money from the bike taxes?   About the same as the Teamsters feel when these projects drain the taxes they pay to keep the interstates running?

Well, the biggest threat to the interstate highway trust fund is the continually-eroding gas tax; it hasn't been raised since 1993.  In the intervening years, it's purchasing power has declined by about a third due to inflation.  Until we can have a reasonable discussion on raising the tax and indexing it to inflation, this problem is only going to get worse, and a few million for bike trails won't make the difference.

Ultimately, I agree that the tax structure should be more reflective of the intended use, but realistically, there current political climate isn't going to allow it.  My problem with politicians like Cantor is they try to use misleading economic arguments to forward an ideological agenda.  His "YouCut" program makes headlines and gets the fundamentalist conservatives riled up against "big government" but doesn't amount to a fraction of a percent of the federal budget deficit.

I'm all for separating tax funds, but it's pretty clear that if discrete mass transit, pedestrian infrastructure, and bike infrastructure funding systems were created, they would quickly get axed by those who don't believe anything but cars are "real" transportation.  Practically, that's why a "complete streets" approach is the best, because it reflects the fact that streets are, at their core, a means to transport people and goods.  To discriminate exclusively for one mode is simply biased, and not economical in the long run.  The city were I attended college was spending hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to add sidewalks in early postwar subdivisions so children could safely walk to school.  If we don't have a forward-thinking balanced approach to new projects now, we'll be doing this over and over.

North Downtown's Facebook page posted this photo.



Looks like a good sign!

A very good sign!

Afterall, they said they would be in Downtown and Midtown by next year...

Has anyone noticed if the bikes are still out? Or have they taken them out for the season?

Bike Share Program Launches

OMAHA, Neb. -- Thursday's spring-like weather had many getting outside, and now using Omaha's trails is a little easier thanks to a new bike share program.

There are 35 bikes available at five stations across town. They're ready for anyone to use with just the swipe of a credit card.

A one-day rental is only $6. Access to the bikes for an entire month is $30. You can use them all year for a $60 fee.
Last year, during the program's trial period, more than 400 people purchased memberships.
"You don't have to go out and buy a $1,000 bike. For a $60 a year membership, you can have a bike to ride at any time and hit some destinations in the city," said

Andy Williams, of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Nebraska, a sponsor of the program.
The bikes can be left at any of the five stations:

UNO Campus
67th and Pine streets
Near the soccer fields on Aksarben Drive
67th and Frances streets
66th and Center streets



Read more: http://www.ketv.com/news/30583835/detai ... z1nyVTC31E

Hopefully the above photo is pointing towards a b-cycle expansion that happens sooner rather than later. I think it was borderline counter productive to roll it out last year with only 5 stations. Downtown, midtown, UNMC, Dundee roll out with at least 15+ stations please.

I think that one of these stands on both sides of the pedestrian bridge would be great for out of town visitors.

I think one side would suffice. But I agree that the ped bridge would be a great location for one.

Noticed this little bit.

http://www.omahabydesign.org/2012/05/tw ... ivic-leaf/

Martin said the CBPO and Live Well Omaha are meeting with potential new sponsors and intend to add 100 additional bikes and 20 stations to Omaha’s system within the next year.

B Cycle's facebook activity has gone up the past month or so and today they mentioned they are still working to expand into downtown in 2013.

A couple shots of the Bke share racks in Washing DC from when I was there a couple weks ago.




Wash DC -466 by nebugeater, on Flickr



Wash DC -478 by nebugeater, on Flickr

I have never rode one of these.  What does someone do if a tire pops or a chain falls off for someone that can't fix it?

Linkin5 wrote:I have never rode one of these.  What does someone do if a tire pops or a chain falls off for someone that can't fix it?

In cities with larger networks you return the bike to the nearest station and press a button that indicates it needs a repair on the docking station.  The bike then can't be checked out by someone else until it has been checked on by an employee.  This obviously works better in a city like Minneapolis where there is a station every two blocks.
https://secure.niceridemn.org/map/

The bikes are back in the racks at A/V.

This is pretty excellent I would say this is very nice idea because it contents a lot of advantage. Moreover, you can gain a lot of benefits Omaha Bikes is a helping for promoting the advocates for using bicycle as part for giving more experience to the community. However, How does it affect to the society?

They are doing a two rack "demo" for the CWS in North Downtown.  Really hope it is just a glimpse of a downtown/riverfront system eventually.

There is a station by 22Floors apartments and one at the Omaha Chamber of Commerce Plaza.  These need to get downtown permanently, hopefully this exposure will help.

Saw a fair amount of these bikes out and about during the CWS. Hope the demo was a success in terms of ridership.

They have just rolled something like this out in NYC (CitiBike). It covers lower and mid Manhattan and a few parts of Brooklyn. The people I talked to who used it liked it, but it's getting mixed reviews in the press.

Omaha B-cycle wrote:We had 10 new B-cycles show up today. That probably means exciting news is on the way.

Bike Sharing Pilot Downtown Expansion news conference scheduled for noon next Wednesday.  

This is sweet!! I had high hopes that if they started offering rentable bikes that they would have enough demand that they could expand the program. A pretty damn cheap alternative to big time public transportation and can only lead to a more vibrant downtown area!

Good. Last time I checked, they only had several stations around UNO.

I have a ton of hope for b-cycle to take off in Omaha because I love biking and have very much enjoyed using bike sharing in other cities while travelling.

Unfortunately with a dysfunctional transit system there is no way that b-cycle can be as effective as in a city with real transit where it can both function as an attractive option for short trips and as a transit stop range extender.

It seems like it would make a lot more sense to put 1 of the racks in UNMC, Aksarben Village <-> UNMC is about 15min by bike. Aksarben Village <-> 18th & Farnam is around 30min.

At least this will allow people to b-cycle between Aksarben Village and Downtown.