New Orleans residents encouraged to vote on bike share locations

On Friday June 9, the Office of the Mayor and Social Bicycles released an online map tool to evaluate some of the city’s potential station and bike racks for its upcoming bike share program. Voting will take place from June 5 to June 18, 2017.

On the polling website users can find 240 sites throughout New Orleans and leave messages about why the particular site would be useful to them. The Mayor’s Office and Social Bicycles will evaluate the comments to narrow its bike station selection.

This fall, when the bike share program launches, there will be 70 bicycle stations and over 700 bikes placed strategically across New Orleans. Though, the Office of the Mayor promised an expansion of 90 stations and 900 bicycles in the near future.

At launch, users will be able to by a monthly pass, low-income pass, or be able to pay by the hour.

• The monthly pass will be priced at $15/month, which will grant the user unlimited trips up to hour a day. Additional hours will be prorated at $8/hour.
• The low-Income pass can be purchased for $1.67/month ($20/year), which provides unlimited trips up to one hour a day. Additional hours will be prorated at $8/hour.
• All other users can pay-as-you-go for $8/hour.

In February, New Orleans launched its demo of its upcoming bike share program.

This past summer, New Orleans chose the Brooklyn-based Social Bicycles to spearhead its new public transportation program in the fall of 2017. Social Bicycles bike share program is used in over 25 cities, including Atlanta, Tampa and Orlando. In New Orleans, the bike share program will be privately sponsored.

• Social bicycle demo in New Orleans is extended until end of March [Curbed NOLA]