Rental bikes sit near the Sports Barn garage. The operator of Chattanooga’s public bike sharing program is switching kiosk suppliers.The operator of Chattanooga’s public bike sharing program is switching kiosk suppliers from the financially-troubled Public Bicycle System Company to 8D Technologies.
While Chattanooga’s cyclists won’t see any immediate change at the city’s 30 kiosks, 8D’s new “BSSv4” system slated to roll out later in 2014 will include better mobile support and account management, as well as an improved docking mechanism, according to a company announcement Monday.
The Chattanooga Public Bicycle System isn’t directly operated by the city, but rather is managed by Portland, Ore.-based Alta Bicycle Share. Until recently, Alta got most of the actual equipment from Bixi, a municipal agency created by the government of Montreal, Canada.
Like the Public Bicycle System Company – which goes by the name Bixi – 8D is based in the Canadian state of Quebec. 8D even developed the technology used by Bixi prior to 2012. But unlike Bixi, 8D isn’t stuck in the Canadian version of bankruptcy after software problems and delays caused customers – including Alta – to withhold millions of dollars in payments.
Public biking in North America today is made up of layers of contractors and subcontractors that include suppliers, operators, nonprofits and municipal authorities.