Pacers Bikeshare Program Expanding
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowAs the Pacers Bikeshare celebrates five years, plans are being announced to expand the program beyond downtown Indianapolis. The program launched in April 2014 and riders have since taken nearly 502,000 trips.
“When we launched the Pacers Bikeshare in 2014, our goal was to make the Cultural Trail, and our downtown, more accessible and easier for people to travel and explore by bicycle” said Kären Haley, Indianapolis Cultural Trail Executive Director. “Five years later, we’ve grown the original system downtown on the Indianapolis Cultural Trail and are excited to expand Pacers Bikeshare outside of downtown to neighborhoods and destinations that are connected by greenways, trails and bike lanes."
Late this summer, the program will add about 275 more bikes and 23 additional bike stations. The expansion will increase the density of downtown stations, while expanding to downtown neighborhoods and more stations along the Monon Trail, White River Trail, Central Canal Towpath, as well as Garfield Park.
“One of our intentions with expansion Pacers Bikeshare is to put bike share stations in neighborhoods instead of only downtown. This is directly related to the mission of our Everybody Rides program whose mission is to ensure that Pacers Bikeshare is available to everybody, regardless of age, race, ethnicity, gender or income level,” said Haley. “By expanding our geographic footprint, more people will have access to affordable transportation and active, healthy recreation, too.”
The City of Indianapolis received a nearly $1 million grant from the Federal Highway Administration Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality for the expansion. A portion of the grant’s local match is being provided by the Herbert Simon Family Foundation, and the expansion also has a business partnership program for property owners who wish to have a Pacers Bikeshare station near their place of business. More information on the program can be found here.