A popular bicycle sharing program is expanding into another area community. The KANcycle bike sharing program for rural Kansas, will soon be launched in Lindsborg.
According to OCCK Transportation, the administrator of the program, KANcycle has been in existence since June of 2019, with 80 bikes and 16 stations located in Belleville, Beloit, Concordia, Ellsworth, Lincoln, Mankato, Minneapolis and Salina. KANcycle provides convenient, affordable access to bicycles as an easy, fun, healthy and eco-friendly means of transportation and recreation.
“We are so excited to expand the footprint of KANcycle by bringing bikes to Lindsborg,” said Michelle Griffin, Director of Mobility Management for North Central Kansas. “We have had great success with the bikes in our other communities. KANcycle is a great asset for North Central Kansas and provides additional transportation options to our rural communities.”
“The City is excited to partner with OCCK, BCBS, Movatic, and our community partners Bethany College and Lindsborg Community Hospital to bring the community this exceptional program,” said Jordan Jerkovich, Community Development Director for Lindsborg. “The City’s funding portion came from the COVID-19 public health crisis. It feels right that the money goes towards promoting public health and wellbeing in the community.”
A ribbon cutting for the newest locations of KANcycle will take place on Friday, June 30 at 10:00 a.m. at the station located in the Fredrickson Family Fitness Park in Lindsborg. All are welcome to attend.
The other locations in Lindsborg are at Bethany College on the Valkommen Trail and at the Lindsborg City Hall.
Movatic manages all aspects of its bike-share programs — from bikes and technology to maintenance and fleet rebalancing. Riding KANcycle bike share is easy. Bikes can be found via the free Movatic Mobile App — available for iPhone and Android. Each bike has a unique number which riders enter into the app to unlock the bike. After the rider returns the bike to a designated Movatic bike station, the rental ends and the bike is available for the next person to enjoy. Riders join the program by signing up for annual memberships or pay-as-you-go. Annual memberships are $30 with trips under 1 hour being free, student annual memberships are $20 with trips under 1 hour being free, and pay-as-you-go is $1.50 every 30 minutes.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas is the primary sponsor of KANcycle, and is making another contribution to provide the bikes and stations for Lindsborg.
For more information about KANcycle, rural bike sharing, visit www.kancycle.org.