B-cycle rolls up big numbers during SXSW

Austin B-cycle broke a new record during South by Southwest by shouldering 23,526 trips across Central Austin during the 10-day festival. That was nearly a 50 percent increase compared to last year’s festival (which saw a fair share of rain and, briefly, the appearance of rogue dockless bike-sharing companies) and 10 percent higher than the station-based bike-share outfit’s previous best year in 2015. In addition to benefiting from this year’s generally solid weather, B-cycle also operated a valet station in the Rainey district, which expanded from two to three the number of fully staffed drop-off points where riders didn’t have to worry about full docks. Whether B-cycle can hit those big numbers again next year is far from guaranteed. The Transportation Department is currently preparing a dockless bike-sharing pilot program that could launch later this spring or early summer. ATD has scheduled a community forum focused on the development of that program on the morning of April 4 at the new Central Library. The event will also be streamed live on ATD’s Facebook page.