BUFFALO, N.Y. — Reddy Bikeshare is rolling out changes to the fleet of bicycles before April 8’s eclipse, adding both e-bikes and a discount for East Side residents.
Simon Husted is the marketing & communications coordinator for Reddy Bikeshare, and as you could imagine, he has a favorite mode of transportation.
Starting April 1, Reddy Bikeshare is back for its ninth year in the city and is in the process of rolling out even more bikes, so that you can join Simon on the road too.
“Bikeshare isn’t just for visitors, it’s also for people who live in the community,” Simon said.
All March, the company has been returning its traditional bicycles to the streets, but new for 2024 are electric “Reddy+” bikes built to make pedaling more efficient.
“We are all about still making that motion of pedaling, being safe, they do have a speed limiter on them as well,” Simon said.
These bikes will be slightly more expensive than the traditional bikes.
After paying an activation fee (either paid per use or for the year with the ‘annual pass’), the e-bikes will cost $0.25 per minute to ‘Pay-As-You-Go’ or drop to $0.10 per minute with the annual pass.
The traditional bikes cost $0.10 cents per minute to ‘Pay-As-You-Go’ or $0.01 with the annual pass.
These expansions to the bikes aren’t just adding to the number of bicycles but also offering a cheaper option for East Side residents.
“Invite the community, the people living on the East Side, to use bikeshare,” Simon said.
Also new for 2024 is the East Side Forward Pass, a discounted bikeshare pass that will lower the cost of the annual pass just for East Side residents.
“Any adult who lives on the East Side can register for an annual pass at like 95% of a discount,” Simon said. “Normally, people pay $40, [people with the pass will] pay $3.”
Simon hopes these new bikes can get people around town starting Monday.
By next week, he hopes to help everybody avoid that expected eclipse day traffic.
“Think creatively about how to get around, use bike share,” Simon said. “Not everywhere you need to go needs to involve a car.”
