Tonawanda, N.Y. (WBEN) - Access to biking along Western New York's most popular trails is getting a lot more robust with Reddy Bikeshare's first station expansion into Tonawanda.
This week, Reddy Bikeshare, in partnership with Independent Health and with support from the City of Tonawanda and the Niagara River Greenway Commission, installed two new stations at two popular biking destinations:
- The Intermodal Hub & Trail, 36 Young Street
- Niawanda Park, across from Niagara and Franklin Street
This expansion is the company's first footprint outside the city limits of Buffalo and Niagara Falls. These locations stand out, because they are the meeting points of the Tonawanda Rail-Trail and the Empire State Trail.
"These two areas are huge destinations for biking. This is where a lot of people love to be near the water, near the trails, near the scenery, near the businesses," said Simon Husted, marketing and communications coordinator with Reddy Bikeshare. "We wanted to bring accessible, low cost Bikeshare and e-Bikeshare to that area. We're really happy about the partners helping us out, the Niagara River Greenway Commission, as well as our the City of Tonawanda in making these stations happen."
Husted says the company had noticed how many people were taking the Tonawanda loop, thus making it more attractive to expand its foothold into the city. In addition, Reddy is receiving new record numbers for trips with their bikes.
"People are loving having more friends and family members join them in biking, or doing more on a bike," Husted said in an interview with WBEN. "We have now more bikes out than we've ever had in the past. This year, we actually launched our first wave of e-bikes we're calling Reddy+. We're building upon successes, and really a lot of that has to do thanks to our partnership with Independent Health, who keep supporting us so that the users themselves are not paying the real cost of Bikeshare."
The service for bikes in the City of Tonawanda will remain mostly within the city limits, but there is still plenty of opportunity to cross the service area. Husted says one can't just end a trip outside the service area.
"You can even lock up and put your bike on hold outside. But if you end your trip and you don't return the bike by the end of the day, or the next day to the service area of the City of Tonawanda, there is a fee," he said. "We always will work with users on refunding them if they can get the bike back. This isn't something that would be punitive, it is something more of a cost control measure."
For anyone looking to rent a Reddy bike in Tonawanda, or also in the cities of Buffalo and Niagara Falls, Husted reminds folks it's a real simple process.
"You just approach one of the bikes, there's a QR code on the rear. If you've never used bikeshare before, you just scan the QR code, download the app, and from there, it's going to show you what the costs are like," Husted noted. "If you did pas as you go, it's $.10 a minute. If you do a membership, like an annual pass, it's $40, and it's only a penny a minutes. So people don't really need to worry about the cost so much if they do an annual pass, and basically just scan to unlock the bike when you're ready. And then you lock it up with the T-bar to end the trip, and it's no longer your problem."
Husted adds for anyone that has used bikeshare in other cities, they're all starting to become more similar in a way.
This expansion is part of Reddy Bikeshare's overall vision of creating a culture of health in Western New York by supporting recreation and exercise through bicycling. In the last year, the organization has added 10 stations across the region, including:
- Buffalo Harbor State Park
- West Side Bazaar
- Buffalo History Museum
- Devil's Hole State Park
- Four stations throughout Niagara Falls State Park
- DeVaux Woods State Park
- Whirlpool State Park
However, the plan for the folks at Reddy Bikeshare is to continue expanding to other areas of the region, and also expanding in other parts of its current footprint.
"With our partnership with Independent Health, as well as we actually also receive grants from the state, we're really excited to be expanding our footprint on the East Side of Buffalo," Husted noted. "Right now, we have about 15 stations East of Main Street. We are going to be about doubling that footprint of stations in the next coming couple of years, thanks to a grant we received through NYSERDA. It's going to really help a lot to also bring more e-bikes both into the East Side, as well as generally into our system."
Reddy was scheduled to host a public meet up for a special group bike ride on Wednesday, but the ride has since been postponed due to inclement weather. The special ride is expected to be rescheduled for another Wednesday in August.
