A bike-share system that allows people to rent bicycles for commuting or recreation may be coming to the Bangor region.
Tandem Mobility, a Michigan-based company that partners with communities to offer local bike-share programs across the country, contacted local groups, businesses and city staff to explore bringing the amenity to Bangor and surrounding communities.
Justin Folger, a Tandem Mobility sponsorship manager, said he hopes to bring the program to Bangor, Brewer, Old Town, Veazie and Orono, including the University of Maine campus.
The company is now seeking private sponsors to bring the project to life.
Bangor has just one marked bicycle lane: a 0.7-mile section of State Street that was added last fall.
While communities and the company are still in the early stages of planning and fundraising, Folger said he hopes the bike-share launches by the end of the year.
Bike-share programs work by creating stations around a host city with both standard pedal bicycles and e-bikes that can be rented. Riders pay by the minute and can borrow and return a bike to any station. The programs also offer memberships for more regular riders.
Tandem Mobility has helped install programs in roughly 50 communities across the country, including two locations in Maine, according to Fogler. The Bangor region, however, would be the second metropolitan area in New England to host Tandem Mobility projects.
In August 2022, Tandem Mobility and the city of Portland launched a citywide bike-share program with about 200 bikes across 40 stations.
Bangor could host five or six different stations downtown, along the waterfront, near Husson University and in a few neighborhood parks, said Anne Krieg, Bangor’s development director. At least some of those docks would hold e-bikes to help riders navigate Bangor’s hills.
“There’s no way to get in or out of downtown without going up a hill,” Kreig said.
The area’s bikes and docks would likely “hibernate,” meaning they’re removed from their sites, from roughly November to March, like they do in Portland, Folger said.
Southern Maine Health Care also partnered with Tandem Mobility to offer a bike-share program for employees on its Biddeford campus, according to the company website.
A bike-share program would add another transportation option for Bangor residents and visitors to explore, run errands or commute to work, which is noted in the city’s 2022 Comprehensive Plan. Giving residents a cheaper and more environmentally friendly alternative to driving could also reduce residents’ dependence on vehicles and ease traffic congestion, Kreig said.
“A bike-share program helps us give more options for people to get around the city,” Kreig said. “One thing we learned during COVID is that more people want to get outside as part of their day. Bicycling increased nationally during that time, and I think it’s here to stay.”
Bangor city councilors voiced support of the initiative on Monday during a Business and Economic Development Committee meeting. Some councilors, including Dan Tremble and Dina Yacoubagha said they hope a bike-share program would spur more development of designated bicycle lanes on city streets and make residents more cautious of cyclists.
Krieg said the city is exploring adding bicycle lanes or expanding road shoulders to accommodate cyclists with each new road paving and construction project it performs.
This summer, the city plans to widen a portion of Ohio Street between 18th Street and Crestwood Place to add a 5-foot shoulder to accommodate bicycles and a 5- to 6-foot-wide sidewalk that complies with the ADA. That stretch is about 22 feet wide with no sidewalk or shoulder available to pedestrians, John Theriault, Bangor city engineer, told the Bangor Daily News last month.
The city also plans to build a pedestrian and bicycle trail along 14th Street Extension to Valley Avenue and split the cost with the Maine DOT, Theriault said.