GoodBAMMSho

Fort Worth Bike Sharing Program - Clearfork Interview

Interview + Photos by: Mac M.
Additional Photos by: Taylor Prater
9/27/13

Clearfork Fest gave us the opportunity to catch up with Nick Olivier, Business Development Manager with the Fort Worth Bike Sharing Program.

GBS:
How long has the Bike Sharing Program here in Fort Worth been up and running?

Nick:
We are about, almost five months old. We launched on Earth Day, April, 22nd 2013.

GBS:
How many stations do you currently have up and running?

Nick:
This is number 33 at Clearfork here.  We just added three this week and we're going to add another ten in 2014.

GBS:
Community feedback, have you received positive comments?

Nick:
Yes, we get a lot of feedback as far as where they would like to see more stations and this part of town Hulen, Bryant Irvin and Camp Bowie have been some of the most requested [areas].  

Some of our best feedback is on the usage data. We can track everything with the software that came with the bikes and stations. Our number one most popular station by far is Trinity Park.

That was a little of a surprise for us and showed us that people are using this for more recreational purposes and for riding on the trails. We are trying to give the people what they want and respond to that demand by adding more to the trails as part of that effort.

At some point we would like to add a midway point because right now this is a little bit of our western outlier, still within a 30 minute ride of Trinity Park but we'd like to add one in between somewhere between the two points. Then eventually someday go farther west.

GBS:
As far as the usage data you receive is it something you share on your website or through social media?

Nick:
Yes, we put out our first quarterly report recently and not too long ago past 5,000 individual members which is counting annual and 24 hour members. We've had over 10,000 individual trips on the bikes so we're doing pretty good and we're on pace with similarly sized cities and what they done in their first year like San Antonio and Denver.

We're doing really great on 24 hour members, the one day walk up impulse users.  Now we're trying to get more of the annual members with people that incorporate into their daily commute since we originated from the Fort Worth Transportation Authority, the T, that's a big part of what we do.

We want people to be able to take the train or bus into town and hop on one of our bikes and go the rest of the way to work.

GBS:
How is the station doing at the T, 1600 East Lancaster?

Nick:
It's probably top 20 of our 33.  That's because there are over 100 annual members of the Bike Share that are employed by the T or McDonald Transit. They have been one of our early success stories as far as using the system particularly the Customer Service Department based out of the ITC and we were really happy to see that!

Save gas, help save the planet and make the commitment to a more healthier lifestyle! Take advantage of this great program Fort Worth and make it apart of your daily commute!