Zagster bicycles may soon be a common sight in downtown Corpus Christi now that the city council has agreed to help fund the program. A second vote is necessary before the money can be released to Downtown Management District, the entity charged with managing the program. Courtesy Photo
A bike sharing program will soon be available in downtown Corpus Christi, maybe as soon as Labor Day weekend. City council approved on first reading an ordinance to support the program with $30,000 a year for three years.
Bike sharing will cost $3 an hour after the first 59 minutes of use, DMD executive director Terry Sweeney told the council at a meeting July 27. Monthly and yearly memberships will be available that will allow for longer free periods.
The equipment, bike racks, web site and mobile app are provided by the bike share company, Zagster, which is headquartered in East Cambridge, Massachusetts.
“Zagster’s turnkey service is very achievable for us,” Sweeney said. “A capital project would be $1 million. This will be $76,000 annually and we can set our own pricing.”
Initially, the program begins with 40 bikes distributed between seven stations in the downtown area. Mechanics sign up much like drivers for a ride-share company to be on call to come fix broken bikes and flat tires around the clock. Their mobile phones are tracked to make sure stranded cyclists are rescued in a timely manner.
“Our mission at Zagster is to make biking the most loved form of transportation,” said co-founder and CEO Tim Ericsson in a Q & A on the company website. “We do that by making access to bicycles really easy, streamlined and cost effective.”
Similar programs have worked well in small-to-medium size cities like Albuquerque, New Mexico and Fort Collins, Colorado. Zagster specializes in providing this size market with bike sharing programs.
Council members voted unanimously (Michael Hunter was absent) to join the DMD and the RTA in funding the program. The city’s portion will be funded from the city’s parking improvement fund and money from the downtown tax increment reinvestment zone.
“This will bring us into the 21st century,” said Mayor Nelda Martinez after Sweeney’s presentation. “This is a great program and it goes along with our bicycle mobility plant, it complements that well.”
