Freewheelin bikeshare station at the Denver Art Museum on Tuesday morning (Photo by Ron Doyle)
The Freewheelin bikeshare project started its second day of the Democratic National Convention with nearly 10% of their bike fleet missing, according to a Humana, Inc. representative. Of 1000 bikes available, 98 were not returned by 7:00pm on Monday night.
Several bikes were returned on Tuesday morning, with apologetic riders citing issues like return policy confusion, early closures at certain locations, etc. By 9:00am more than half of the missing bikes were reported returned.
Unlike bikesharing programs of yesteryear–the Greenbike project in Boulder, CO for example–Freewheelin takes full advantage of technology to keep users accountable. Every rider must be 18 years old, register with a valid ID and credit card, and each bicycle checks out to the rider using a new handheld scanner system.
As the first trial of large scale bikesharing for a specific event, Freewheelin representatives at Humana, Inc. and the Bikes Belong Coalition anticipated the potential problems that may arise with the endeavor.
After its first day, however, the project has been declared successful, with 1300 registered users riding the bikes throughout the day. Compiled cyclocomputer statistics reported over 3000 ridden miles and one cubic ton of carbon offset by the program.
By early Tuesday afternoon several of the seven Freewheelin bikestation checked out their entire fleet, turning away several interested riders shortly after the lunch hour. As convention goers continue to gain awareness, demand seems destined to rise, peaking on Thursday night.
