City holds first public meeting for proposed bike-share

Seeds Coffee hosted the city's first public involvement meeting the evening of Feb. 25. Hosted by the Chamber of Commerce, the event was the first of two chances for residents to ask questions and share their thoughts on the program.

Maps of Homewood were hung up for residents to mark where they believe a bike docking station should go. If implemented, Homewood would have the same bike-share system that Birmingham recently introduced. Lindsey West, who is the director of Zyp BikeShare as part of REV Birmingham, said that the city's program is already outperforming its projected use.

Of the planned 40 stations and 400 bikes in Birmingham, 25 stations have been open for the past three months. West said there have been 15,000 rides so far and there are over 400 people who have purchased annual memberships.

West said the Zyp program is a "scalable system" that could be made smaller to fit Homewood's needs. The feasibility study being performed by the Regional Planning Commission of Greater Birmingham will give a more definite picture of bikesharing in Homewood, but West said 10 docking stations and 100 bikes would be a realistic possible starting point. From there, the city could add or relocate stations based on use.

The feasibility study is a crucial part to determining whether a bikeshare program could work in Homewood. It looks at economic, geographic, social and other factors to predict the reception of such a program in the city. The input from public involvement meetings will also be considered.

West and Ward 1 Representative Britt Thames said they expect the feasibility study to be completed by April or May. From there, the next step will be creating an implementation plan, which West said only takes one or two months. However, Thames said that this would not happen until the 2016-17 budget year, as the bikeshare is a major project and requires significant funding.

"This is not the type of project that you pull out of the budget mid-year," Thames said.

He added that waiting until budget negotiations are complete in September also gives the city extra time to observe Birmingham's program and refine its approach.

The cost of the program implementation will vary based on the number of stations and bikes and the size of docking stations, but West estimated that the initial capital investment and installation would cost about $50,000 per docking station. A presentation at the meeting estimated annual operating costs at $12,000-28,000 per station, again depending on size. West said the city should develop a plan with five years of operation to allow time for the program to pick up traction.

The "strong existing bike culture" in Homewood is one reason West believes bikeshare would be a good fit. The city does not have bike lanes, but West said docking stations would not be put near major roadways where cycling could be more dangerous. She also noted that the existence of a bikeshare and awareness of cycling can bring more public interest in bike lanes and similar infrastructure.

"If you wait for bike lanes, you never get bikeshare," West said. "It is not uncommon for bike lanes and infrastructure to come after you create the demand."

She added that education and safety awareness programs would be incorporated into a bikeshare program if it is created in Homewood.

There will be a second public involvement meeting on March 3, from 5 to 7 p.m. at Cahaba Cycles. Residents unable to attend the meeting can also share their thoughts on docking stations on homewoodbikeshare.com through mid-March.