Beginning early next year Buffalo may begin to implement its very own bike share system which has the potential to be on par with some of the greatest in the country. The program is envisioned to begin in some of the densest core neighborhoods including Allentown, the Buffalo-Niagara Medical Campus, and downtown central business district.
A comprehensive plan for the system has been created by students from the University of Buffalo in the undergraduate Environmental Design program. The class is under the direction of Dr. Alex Bitterman as part of a senior undergraduate environmental design studio in which students work with a real world client. Dr. Bitterman was approached by Creighton Randall of Buffalo CarShare with a proposal to bring a bike share program to Buffalo.
Social Bikes of Brooklyn devised an innovative design for the bikes that includes having all the technology on the bikes rather than utilizing a “smart” kiosk as most other systems use. They approached Randall offering their technology so that Buffalo can be the pilot city for the design.
The plan, which has been taking shape over the last ten weeks, illustrates how the students envision a bike share program tailored to Buffalo. Just like many other planning efforts, the ideas will likely be only implemented in part, but still offers a comprehensive, long-range framework for a successful program. The students proposed the name “Radial Bikes” for the bike share system, a reference to the origins of Buffalo’s street grid as laid out by Joseph Ellicott in 1804.
Students explored various options for the program, studied best practices of programs around the world, examined potential partnerships to expand and fund the system, and documented the existing conditions of bicycle infrastructure in Buffalo. After weeks of hard work the final plan is a powerhouse boasting over 200 pages and provides the blueprint for a successful system.
Join the class and members of the community for the debut of the plan on Wednesday, November 16th at the Hauptman Woodward Institute, 700 Ellicott Street at 5:30 pm. Anyone who is interested in attending is asked to RSVP to radialbikes@gmail.com