More bicycling #3: Bike sharing stations in parks especially because of the pandemic

Bike sharing systems are designed to support utilitarian bicycling, that is transportation, mostly to and from work, and errands.

That works in Europe and especially Asia, where mobility systems are more balanced and not designed primarily for automobility.  In the US, bicycling is still seen as primarily for recreation and bikes are seen as toys.

Given the rise in bicycling that has been reported as one of the responses to the pandemic (personally, here in Salt Lake I don't see it), and how many communities have created new spaces for pedestrians and cyclists from roadways, I think that recreational use of bicycles needs to be recognized by US bike share systems and sharing stations need to be placed in or by large parks where people may wish to cycle.  (I seem to recall the Bixi system in Montreal tends to place large stations by parks.)

The stations should be specially set for hour long use periods (normally trips are set for 30 minutes; although some systems provide 30 minute trips for occasional users and 45 minute trips for regular members).

One of the early bike share programs, Tulsa Townies, was set up not for transportational cycling but to support recreational cycling for health and other benefits, within the park and trail system along the Tulsa River.  Various systems do seem to include parks in their station footprint.

Washington Park, Albany.

For example the bike share system for Albany and Troy, New York has stations in at least 8 parks.

The parks department in Mercer County, New Jersey negotiated with Zagster to deploy bike share in three parks.

Montgomery County Maryland Parks also did a Zagster-based implementation in some of their parks.  Although I don't understand why they didn't do this through the existing Capital Bikeshare system, of which the county is already a member.

Using CoGo bikes on a trail in Greater Columbus.

The CoGo bike sharing system in Columbus, Ohio is unusual in that its website promotes destinations and attractions "that you can reach by bike," including Centennial Park in the Downton.

Balancing cost recovery versus access.  The parks department in Johnson County, Kansas, part of the Kansas City metropolitan area spanning Missouri and Kansas, has just inked an agreement with the RideKC program to add bike share stations to some of their parks.  Although to me, the pricing isn't favorable, basically $7 for one hour

Some parks agencies have special pass programs based on the ability to pay (Montgomery County, Maryland).  I'd suggest such programs be extended to bike access in parks.

Additionally, many bicycle sharing programs already have special pricing for low income residents.