Tulsa Bike Sharing Program Gaining Strength

Tulsa is growing; and as more businesses open and apartments are built, there is a shift from mass transit to bikeability and walkability.

Right now, Tulsa is struggling when it comes to pedestrian and cyclist access and safety; after all, there are only a few obvious bike lanes, but that isn't going to be the case for much longer.

According to Jennifer Haddaway with the Transportation Resource Center, when national consultants set their eyes on Tulsa, "They looked at the downtown area and said ‘This is just ripe.’"

A five- or six-block commute to work is far enough to make walking a bit of a push for some.

"But hopping on a bike, it’s no problem at all. You can get from point A to B with relative ease," Haddaway said.

The Tulsa Bike Share Program is gaining strength, and now Tulsa Tough plans to sign on.

5/9/2015 Related Story: Bike Share System Coming To Tulsa

The plan will be implemented in two phases, with 12 stations per phase - each consisting of 108 bikes - eventually connecting not just downtown Tulsa, but also Brookside, Cherry Street and the Gathering Place.

Tulsa is shifting to a live/work environment where people don't usually want to deal with driving or parking.

“Our downtown is burgeoning,” Haddaway said. “We've got a lot of residential coming to the area, we’ve got a lot of new businesses headquartering here.”

The Bike Share Program pairs with the Regions Bicycle and Pedestrian master plan, or the Go Plan.

8/28/2015 Related Story: Health Department Championing Plan Designed To Get Tulsans Moving

"Really focuses on expanding the network that we've already built with the trail system and connecting it to neighborhoods with things like bike lanes and cycle tracks," said James Wagner with INCOG.

And, Wagner points out that many of Tulsa's streets have room to make way for bike lanes.

“These kinds of streets are really good opportunities to do things and they don’t cost a lot. It doesn't cost a lot of money to re-stripe a street,” he said.

And that's going to be needed once this is all in place and a lot more Tulsans hit the road on two wheels rather than four.

Hundreds of thousands of dollars have already been committed to the first few phases of the bike share and Go programs, but Vision money is also being requested.