Regional Bikeshare Study

WE-cycle station with RFTA bus in the background

Photo credit: Craig Turpin, @risingsunphotog

Remember the fall of 2018? Roaring Fork Valley residents voted to support a property tax to secure and enhance RFTA’s transportation services into the future with its Destination 2040 Plan. Yes, the world has changed significantly since then. We’ve been forced to adapt to the times, adjust our behaviors, and find new ways of getting around. What hasn’t changed is RFTA’s commitment to expanding WE-cycle regionally as part of its enhanced service.

RFTA is currently working with WE-cycle, local jurisdictions, stakeholders, and you, the public, to explore how to expand WE-cycle and provide other first- and last-mile mobility options for communities in the Roaring Fork and Colorado River Valleys.

Bikeshare thrives as a first- and last-mile mobility service. Over the last nine years, WE-cyclers have demonstrated that WE-cycle is an easy (and fun!) way to get from one’s home or work to RFTA, or vice versa. Many of you make WE-cycle the first and the last mile of your commute while zipping past traffic on RFTA for the long mile. 50% of WE-cycle trips are to and from BRT stations and the average ride distance is .5 mile. Since we launched in 2013, we have grown to 250 bikes (including 25 e-bikes!) and 49 stations in three communities. WE-cyclers have completed over 250,000 rides eliminating an estimated 175 tons of carbon emissions from our valley. We also know that we have gaps in our existing service area with places you can’t ride to and from and that you can’t complete the first mile of your commute on WE-cycle in Carbondale, Glenwood Springs, or New Castle.

Now, it’s your time to be heard. Help us plan for our next decade of service. Please share with RFTA where you dream of bikeshare, where you would use bikeshare, and what other modes of travel can help you connect from your origin or destination to a transit stop without having to rely on your car. Think future, think technology, think effective, think safe, think WE-cycle e-bikes, shuttle services, rideshare programs, improvements to bikeways and sidewalk infrastructure.

Let Albert Einstein be our inspiration, “[He] thought of that while riding my bicycle” — that being the Theory of Relativity. So please join us today and think big!

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