Category: DNC

Mystery bike-share sponsor to go public

Thanks to a tweet from @NotJCoffeeCLT (“The Not Just Coffee Shop” at the 7th Street Market), we know that the bike-share program bike racks are installed out front of the market at 224 E. Seventh St.  Here’s a screenshot of the photo that was tweeted:

Photo courtesy of The Not Just Coffee Shop

And while the mysterious sponsor of the soon-to-be-announced bike-sharing project has not wanted to go public yet, I did receive an invitation from BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina to be at The Square (that’s Trade and Tryon uptown if you’re not from around here) at noon Thursday. The event  will announce an initiative called Get Outside North Carolina.

Here’s what the invitation says:

“Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina is launching GO NC! to help improve the health of North Carolinians by encouraging outdoor physical activity. GO NC! will launch in downtown Charlotte in collaboration with Charlotte Center City Partners (CCCP), rolling out the largest initiative under GO NC!

“Please join Brad Wilson, BCBSNC president and CEO; Mayor Anthony Foxx; former Mayor and CCCP Board Chair Harvey Gantt; as well as elected officials, Charlotte business leaders and others to learn more about this exciting new initiative.”

If you’re not sure what this is all about, read “Bike-sharing definite, says CDOT director,” and “Charlotte rolls toward N.C.’s first bike-share system.“

I don’t yet know where all the bike-share stations will be but one is supposed to be going in at the UNC Charlotte Center City Building at East Ninth and North Brevard streets.


Bike-sharing definite, says CDOT director

I chanced to sit next to Charlotte Department of Transportation chief Danny Pleasant at this afternoon’s  Charlotte City Council meeting (where the council voted against building Phase II of the streetcar, but the mayor vetoed it).

So, I asked, is Charlotte going to start a bike-sharing program or not? I was just in Paris, I said, and their program is awesome. Bicycles everywhere. What about Charlotte?

Yes, he said, we’re launching one.  My follow-up: Absolutely sure? “Absolument,” was his reply (in French).

The reason I was asking: A bike-sharing program has been in planning stages for weeks, after enthusiasts have pushed for one to open before the Democratic National Convention.  See: “Bike sharing in Charlotte – soon?” and “Charlotte rolls toward N.C.’s first bike-share system.”  But no one yet would confirm that it really was going to happen.

Why not announce it? I asked Pleasant.  He said the city is waiting for the bike-share program’s sponsor to set the publicity timetable.

Bike-sharing programs, if you’re not familiar with them, are set up to let users rent bicycles short-term – for a half-hour up to a day – from one bike-share station and return them to another. Many cities have them, from Paris (see photo at right, for a fleet of to-be-rented bikes early last Sunday in Paris) to Boston to Washington to Spartanburg. Here’s a piece on the remarkable success of the Velib bike-share program in Paris.