Salt Lake City has once again expanded its bike-share program to include more stations, more bikes and more options.
More than 6,000 people rode GREENbikes, 26,000 times in the program’s inaugural year. It began in April 2013 with 10 stations and 55 bikes. Now officials are hoping to get more people on two wheels by doubling the number of stations and bikes across the city. Salt Lake City Councilor Erin Mendenhall says that’s crucial.
“What our city’s bike program can accomplish is in direct proportion to the number of stations that we have and how many bikes we have in our system,” Mendenhall says.
In addition, annual members now have access to unlimited 1-hour bike trips instead of 30-minute trips.
The goal of GREENbike is to eliminate short-distance car trips and provide connections between public transit stops—all efforts to improve air quality and encourage sustainable living. John Dahlstrom is executive director of Wasatch Property Management. His company sponsored a new GREENbike stations. Dahlstrom says the bikes improve the quality of life for downtown residents.
“More and more the population is looking for opportunities to live in an urban environment and these GREENbikes help them to make that decision,” Dahlstrom says. “It helps our businesses grow and it helps our economy grow to have this type of amenity downtown.”
Fifteen of the 20 stations are sponsored by private organizations including Key Bank, Harmon’s and Squatters.
The city’s long-term goal is to have 100 bike-share stations city-wide.
