After a couple delays, The Grid Bike Share system will have it’s grand opening on Tuesday, November 25th at 9:00 am. The ribbon cutting ceremony will take place in the Orpheum Theater Plaza near City Hall at 3rd Ave and Washington. If you haven’t heard, Grid Bike Share is a program that will offer easy bike rentals in downtown Phoenix, Tempe and Mesa areas.
How Does The Grid Bike Share Work:
Step One: How to get your Grid Bike… you will need a credit or debit card.
Option 1: Reserve a bike using their mobile app or on their website at app.socialbicycles.com.
Option 2: Get a bike directly at one of the many Grid bike locks.
Step Two: Unlock the Grid bike.
You’ll be given a Pin Code when you order your bike. Just use it on the bile’s keypad to unlock.
Step Three: Ride the Grid bike
Step Four: Stopping for coffee or shopping?
Press the “HOLD” button and lock the bike to a rack. Just enter your 4-digit PIN to unlock and continue riding.
Step Five: Returning your Grid Bike Share Bike
At the end your trip, just lock your bike at one of the Grid Bike Share hub locations or at any regular bike rack for a small additional fee.
Why Grid Bike Share?
A recent KSAZ article summed it up pretty well..
The idea is to make it easier for people to get around using public transportation without having to worry about parking and traffic.
“You arrive; you grab a bike, and it is yours for the afternoon if you choose. You wouldn’t put it on the light-rail, you would park the bike, get on the train, go to Tempe, and potentially grab another bike”
From our standpoint, we think Grid Bike Share just makes sense. Bikes and light rail in a downtown college town is simply right… like hot fudge with really good French vanilla ice creme.
In addition, Grid is offering business owners an opportunity to participate in the system by hosting bike racks at their business location… a great win-win idea. This will be an important factor in usage too… the more bike racks at places we want to go the better likelihood we’ll use them. Wasn’t that a rocket science statement?
Time will tell if Phoenix has truly reached the point of using a bike share system. There were a lot of doubters about Light Rail in the beginning and it has proven to be a success. I am sure there will be tweaks to the system after they get feedback and usage will climb over time.
For details on the use of their app, bikes, pricing and locations, we suggest you go to the Grid Bike Share website. You can also check them out on Face Book at https://www.facebook.com/Gridbikes .
Happy Riding…
Gene Urban and Ron Urban
The Urban Team at Realty Executives
602-234-5777