Chattanooga may be known as the Choo Choo city for its railroad heritage and a growing car town as home to Volkswagen's only North American car assembly plant, but one of the fastest growing means of transportation in Chattanooga involves renting bikes.
Chattanooga was the first city in the Southeast to offer a bike share program when it launched on July 23, 2012, and Mayor Tim Kelly, a former Subaru car dealer, took time Thursday to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Bike Chattanooga.
"For a decade, bike sharing has expanded local transportation options for Chattanooga residents and visitors alike," Kelly said during a celebration Thursday at Outdoor Chattanooga. "Since its 2012 inception, more than 589,000 trips have been taken on the Bike Chattanooga system. It's a big number, and the numbers continue to grow."
During the pandemic and after Chattanooga added battery-assisted E-Bikes in 2018, ridership on Bike Chattanooga has jumped 83% to an annual total of 97,471, including daily and membership riders renting bikes in 2021.
Kelly pledged that the city program "is just getting started" and should continue to grow with the aid of a new $100,000 matching grant from the Lyndhurst Foundation to expand the number of E-Bikes and a $1 million multimodal grant from the Tennessee Department of Transportation to expand stations and other bike routes in East Chattanooga.
Ben Taylor, director of transportation operations for the city, said bike rental programs began in Europe early in the 21st century and have since become popular in many cities across the United States.
"We were the first in the Southeast, and I think we've demonstrated that these types of bike rental programs are popular with residents and visitors and, hopefully, can provide an alternative to traditional vehicular traffic on our streets," he said.
The city has 400 rental bicycles, including 55 E-Bikes, that are rented and may be returned at 42 locations around the municipality. With the new grant money, another 55 E-Bikes are being purchased, and at least four new stations are being added.
Taylor said the bikes rent for $8 a day, and local residents can buy a yearly membership for $50.
Although Chattanooga's annual membership rate is one of the lowest in the country, the fees do pay for the operation of the program, Taylor said. The bikes themselves have been purchased with federal and state grants. Taylor said the program has had few problems with discarded, damaged or stolen bikes.
Bike Chattanooga grows
Paid ridership on Bike Chattanooga has grown among both visitors and residents as the program has expanded and e-Bikes were added three years ago.2012 - 11,606 riders2013 - 45,180 riders2014 - 51,250 riders2015 - 55,904 riders2016 - 55,240 riders2017 - 57,493 riders2018 - 53,271 riders2019 - 73,638 riders2020 - 88,645 riders2021 - 97,471 riders Source: City of Chattanooga, Department of Public Works
In contrast to the designated bike stations, many cities allow scooter rentals that may be dropped off anywhere and often are left on local sidewalks or streets for recovery by the scooter operators. Chattanooga balked at plans for such "dockless" scooter rentals and in 2020 adopted an indefinite moratorium on such scooter rental businesses operating in the city.
Kelly said while he likes the bike rental program, he is not in favor of opening up streets and sidewalks in Chattanooga for dockless rental scooters.
The mayor said making Chattanooga a bike-friendly and accessible city recently helped it recruit the California-based iFixIt tool-and-training business to town. Chattanooga is the third location for the growing global company, which is based in San Luis Obispo, California, and has its only other office in Stuttgart, Germany.
Kyle Wiens, founder of iFixIt, said the company gives a free bike to all of its employees, and he wants to make sure there are bike pathways to and from their new warehouse in Onion Bottom on the edge of downtown.
During Chattanooga's pitch to the company founders to locate their 200-plus employee distribution facility center in the Scenic City, the municipality gave iFixIt leaders bicycles for three days to take all of the bike trails in and around Chattanooga. The company's new $24.2 million investment announced last week isn't getting any tax breaks, but the city has pledged to extend some bike pathways to ensure adequate bicycle access for commuters to the new facility.
"More and more Chattanooga residents and visitors are taking advantage of this great transportation option, making our community happier, healthier and more connected," Kelly said. "If there were any learnings from the pandemic, it was that getting outside and getting on a bike is better for your physical health and your mental health, so we look forward to supporting more of this in the future."
Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6340. Follow him on Twitter @dflessner1.