A new pilot program could be the next step in making e-bikes a more convenient alternative form of transportation in Nashville — but a Metro councilmember worries the program could be held back by high rates.
The program, set to launch in the coming weeks, will be dockless and include 75 e-bikes, managed by Bird, Lime and Spin. It will encompass a large portion of the city covering South and West Nashville, excluding downtown, East Nashville and the Gulch. With bikes a popular form of urban transportation, a spotlight has been placed on Nashville’s lack of bike-centric infrastructure recently. Last month’s shutdown of multiple BCycle stations on the city’s greenways caused a stir, and programs like the city’s WalknBike Nashville plan are attempting to make Nashville more cyclist-friendly. But District 17 Councilmember Colby Sledge says infrastructure may not be the only thing holding Nashville back.
“The biggest hurdle to people using micro-mobility on a regular basis is not just availability, it’s the cost,” says Sledge. He says that compared to other cities, Nashville’s scooter and bike share programs are far more expensive, making them a much less feasible transit option. He cites a recent trip to Denver, where he says the price of scooter and e-bike rentals was half that of Nashville’s.
Nashville Department of Transportation representative Courtney Stone says the rates are being driven by the private companies involved, and that to her knowledge there has not been a conversation between NDOT and the private companies about the rates for e-bikes.
Sledge says he was surprised there was not a conversation about rates. He explains that while scooters are mainly used for shorter trips in downtown areas, e-bike trips are usually two to three times as long.
“Somebody might take an e-bike trip for the first time, get off, and they're paying 18 to 20 bucks?” says Sledge. “At that point someone would say, ‘Never again am I going to use this, I’m just going to take an Uber.’”
“If we want micromobility to be an actual, useful mode of transportation … we need to have a rate that encourages you,” he says. Although Sledge is concerned that 75 bikes is not enough to cover the size of the area for the pilot program, he sees it as an exciting opportunity to prove that e-bike share programs have the ability to become a valid alternative mode of transportation and that it should be priced appropriately.
Users of the dockless e-bikes will be required to return them to any nearby bike rack after usage, and NDOT will be installing more bike racks across the pilot area over the next 30 days to accommodate the bikes and make their usage more convenient. Stone says over the next several months NDOT will evaluate the usage of the e-bikes to assess possible expansions of the program.
