Moscow, UI trek toward two wheels

The city and university come together for alternative transportation

Riley Helal | Argonaut

The City of Moscow, the University of Idaho and Gotcha Mobility Bike are pedaling toward a community-wide alternative to driving with a new bike-share program set to launch in August.

Tyler Palmer, deputy director of operations for City of Moscow Public Works, said all three entities finalized their deal, and signed their collective contract as of March 21.

Palmer said he has been working directly with Parking and Transportation Services and student leadership to make the bike-share program a city-wide program.

“There is always a lot more to it than meets the eye,” Palmer said. “People think it’s just a couple of phone calls to a company, and then bikes show up, and away we go. There is a lot more work and really the U of I has been the champion in moving this thing forward.”

Jacob Lockhart | Courtesy

Rebecca Couch, director of Parking and Transportation Services (PTS) at UI said the launch was originally slated for spring 2019 but was pushed back to early August 2019 for two reasons: the time spent between the three entities to reach an agreement and to facilitate a launch when students return from summer break.

Couch said pushing the launch closer to the time students return from summer break will be beneficial in observing the program’s success on campus and around the city.

The rollout is for a one-year pilot, Couch said.

Gotcha Bike’s system is not a free-ride. Couch said the agreed-upon rate is $75 per bike each month. With a commitment of 50 bikes, the university and city are to invest a total of $45,000 for the first year.

Couch said half of the investment, or $22,500, will come from the city funding, and that a quarter, or $11,250, will come from UI PTS while the last quarter — granted its approval — will come from student fees. Couch said the $22,500 investment from the city was approved by City Council Dec. 17 and will come from the City of Moscow Public Works.

Couch said approval over the final quarter of cost from student fees will be determined when the State Board of Education meets in April.

If approved, the charge for student fees will increase by $1.68 per year. Any UI affiliates — students, faculty and staff — are eligible for 40 minutes of free riding time daily, Couch said. Beyond that point, the rate is 10 cents per minute.

 Robert Mitchell, the parking and transportation specialist at UI, said parking the bicycles will be an easy process, but that the they will have designated parking places in some fashion.

“They’re dockless in the sense that we don’t have to purchase a docking system,” Mitchell said. “They can use regular bicycle racks. And they’re dockless in that we can paint a square on a patch of cement and call that the dock.”S

Mitchell said no exact price has been set for fees regarding improperly docked, or abandoned bikes.   

Mitchell said much of the progress toward Moscow’s partnership with Gotcha Bike has been thanks to the Students for Parking Objectives and Transportation Solutions (SPOTS) Committee within student leadership.

“Without SPOTS, it’s unlikely that we would have been able to make the amount of progress with bike-share that we have,” Mitchell said. “It’s about the students. And, in order for us to gain any traction with the folks that we’re really looking to be using the most, it had to come from their own leaders.”

Jacob Lockhart, who has been a member of the Associated Students University of Idaho (ASUI) for three years now, is in charge of the SPOTS committee. He said he has been pleased to how hard PTS has worked with student representatives.

“(PTS) have made it very easy for student voices to be heard on campus,” Lockhart said. “They’ve listened to a lot of what we’ve had to say, and having students being able to provide that input is something that they’ve really wanted, and taken.”

Lockhart said he can’t wait to see how Moscow’s partnership with Gotcha Bike works out.

“I’m really excited for it,” Lockhart said. “I think one of the biggest problems — if not the biggest problem on campus — is transportation and how that allows us to engage with our community.” 

Andrew Ward can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @WardOfTheWorlds

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