The City of Eugene’s bike share system, PeaceHealth Rides, is launching on Thursday, April 19, with a community celebration from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the EWEB River Edge Public Plaza. The launch party will include food trucks, live music from Samba Ja, bike safety giveaways, community booths and more.
Bike share is an innovative transportation solution that allows people to check out a bicycle for short urban trips that might otherwise be made by car. The City is interested in transportation solutions like bike share because it provides a transportation option that utilizes existing infrastructure, reduces the burning of fossil fuels for urban trips, and implements city plans and policies including the Climate Recovery Ordinance and the Transportation Systems Plan.
The public system will consist of 35 stations and 300 bikes with an additional station and a few bikes at PeaceHealth RiverBend campus for internal use. The system area for the initial launch corresponds to places where people are likely to use bikes most frequently including downtown Eugene, the University of Oregon campus, and portions of the Whiteaker neighborhood. If the program is successful, it may expand into additional neighborhoods in the future.
System pricing provides multiple options for users to choose a plan that works best for them. This includes a per trip fee of $1/15 minutes or monthly membership for $15/month which includes 60 minutes of ride time per day. Users only get charged for active ride time and any additional time needed is prorated at 10 cents per minute. Pricing varies by user group, with incentives to large employers and University of Oregon students.
Stations will be located on a combination of public plazas, wide sidewalks, and city streets. Bikes can be checked out and dropped off at any station within the system. While some stations will feature a credit card kiosk to take payment, the system can also be accessed by downloading a mobile app or through the website PeaceHealthRides.com.
See PeaceHealthRides.com for a station map, pricing information, and complete details about the new program.