Following up on movement on a C-U area wide dockless bike sharing program with the University of Illinois, Champaign, and preliminary moves from Urbana: Urbana will be voting tonight to join Champaign's earlier vote in support. From today's News-Gazette:
Urbana council set to vote on deal to allow dockless bike sharingFull article with more details here.
The city council will vote tonight on an intergovernmental agreement to allow dockless bike sharing throughout town.
The agreement is between Urbana, Champaign and the University of Illinois.
If approved, dockless bike share companies will have to follow regulations for operating in each area.
Dockless bike share companies provide rental bike rides.
When riders are finished, they park the bike in certain areas around town — instead of on specific docking infrastructure that would need to be installed.
Each company has a smart phone app that riders use to locate a bike, unlock it and pay for a ride.
Each bike is equipped with a GPS tracker and locking mechanism on the back wheel.
People without smart phones can call the company — a phone number will be displayed on the bike — and have an employee sent over to unlock the bike in person.
The Champaign city council already approved dockless bike sharing at the end of last year.
Urbana Mayor Diane Marlin said the plan is to have it set up in each city by the start of the upcoming school year. When Urbana council members first discussed the activity in April, there were some concerns.
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