Photo by Peter McCradySXSW, popularity pedal bike-sharing system to record numbers
As the city of Austin settles down after another South by Southwest Music and Media Festival, bike-share program Austin B-cycle is still riding high from its boost in ridership and popularity.
"Our system got used really heavily," Austin B-cycle Executive Director Elliott McFadden said. "People really embraced it."
During SXSW, the system had almost 18,000 checkouts and averaged about 6.4 checkouts per bike per day. On the system's busiest day, March 14, McFadden said the average was 10.1 checkouts per bike per day, breaking a national record previously held by New York City, where bikes were checked out 7.2 times on average per day.
B-cycle helped accommodate almost twice as many trips during SXSW compared with the first two months and 10 days since the bike-share system's launch, McFadden said.
"The system held up extremely well," he said. "The bikes are designed to take that kind of abuse, and they held up well."
The service has grown since its launch in December from 11 stations and 110 bikes to 40 stations and about 275 bikes.
"Our usage has been quite a bit higher than we expected," McFadden said. "We always knew Austin would be a good city for bike-share and that it would be a good match, but we thought it would start a little slower than it has. So that's great news."
Looking ahead, McFadden said Austin B-cycle may expand some busier stations at the intersections of Fourth Street and Congress Avenue, the Pfluger Pedestrian Bridge and Second Street, and South Congress and Academy Drive. For more information, visit https://austin.bcycle.com.
