Face the street as you snug in for a beer or lunch at any restaurant on the Main Street Mall. Watch the people go by. These days they’re doing it … differently.
Back, of course, is the old, familiar rumble-and-ding of the city’s long-paused trolley system. But downtown — and throughout much of the city — people now zip along perched on electric scooters, cruise on shared bikes, and pedal rolling taverns with their friends.
Photos by Karen Pulfer Focht
Walking and biking across the Harahan Bridge.
It wouldn’t be a stretch to name 2018 (so far) the Year of Transit Options.
Trolleys did, indeed, return to Memphis in April after onboard fires shut the system down in June 2014, a nearly four-year hiatus. Pedal taverns (or party bikes, or pedal pubs, or whatever you want to call them) are now common sights downtown and between Overton Square and Cooper-Young in Midtown after they launched here in 2015.
But that’s old news, ancient in the fast-paced, Memphis transit-option scene. In May, Explore Bike Share launched its 60-station, 600-bike bike share system across the city. In June, tech start-up Bird launched its dockless “system” of about 200 electric scooters on the streets of Memphis. And more options are on the way.
Explore Bike Share
After only two months, those Explore Bike Share bike share stations, their bikes, and their bike riders seem a regular, natural part of the Memphis cityscape. The system’s launch seemed fast, easy, and silky smooth.
But anyone involved in the project knows that getting to that June 5th launch event took years of planning, raising piles of cash, finding the right vendor, and hiring the right people to organize the system that keeps a fleet of 600 bicycles on the city streets. But the launching was about more than just having some two-wheeled fun.
“We believe that this endeavor enhances the quality of our city on a level with other cities cultivating more vibrant downtown areas,” says Dr. Lewis Reich, a founding funder of Explore Bike Share. “The environmental impact is also a win for our city as participants park their cars and see the city up-close from their bikes.”
To ride, all you need is a phone and a credit or debit card. Download the BCycle app. Create a user login, including your card information. (I’d suggest doing this before you get to a bike station.) The app will help you find the closest bike, get to a station where rows of bikes are parked, open the app, follow a few simple instructions, unlock a bike, and you are on your way. When you’re done, return the bike to the nearest docking station.
Explore Bike Share hit its six-month membership goal in its first month. In that first month, nearly 3,000 different riders took more than 6,500 trips over some 27,000 miles and burned more than 1 million calories.
Explore Bike Share plans to soon expand the system to 90 stations with 900 bikes.
Bird
In mid-June, about 200 Birds landed all over Memphis.
Ready to ride.
Bird is the name of the Santa-Monica-based tech company responsible for all of those electric scooters you’ve seen gliding around downtown and Midtown. A “Bird” is also what most here call the scooters, as in, “want to go grab a Bird and get some barbecue?”
The company has launched similar systems in other cities in America. Sometimes it didn’t work. In Nashville and San Francisco, the company’s “launch” was just to drop the scooters off at locations around town and deal with local regulations later. But Bird didn’t do that in Memphis.
Company officials had been in talks with Memphis City Council leaders, Mayor Jim Strickland’s office, the Downtown Memphis Commission, and the Memphis Area Transit Authority well before Bird’s official launch here on June 15th. So, all of them were able to stand shoulder to shoulder at a news conference that day, say nice things, and give away free helmets.
“Memphis is an innovative city that recognizes the importance of an equitable, affordable, and reliable transit system,” said Travis VanderZanden, Bird’s founder and CEO. “We applaud the city’s leadership for its forward-looking efforts to introduce ways for people to get around their city that don’t lead to more traffic and carbon emissions.”
Council member Kemp Conrad said Bird is a “part of the future of our transportation system.”
“We are proud to bring this alternative mode of transportation to Memphis that doesn’t involve cars, lessens traffic, is better for the environment, and puts less wear and tear on Memphis streets,” Conrad said.
By the time most Memphians wake up, Birds have been magically placed in locations all around town, charged up, and ready to go. To ride, just download the Bird app on your phone, create a user login, and the app pinpoints the nearest available scooter and guides you through the easy steps to get you rolling.
It’s $1 to unlock the scooter and 15 cents for every minute it’s in your possession. So, a 20-minute ride to pick up lunch will cost you $4. But the ride is worth the price, apparently. Not only do riders get from point A to point B, most them I’ve seen usually get a smile on their face, too.
When the ride is over, riders are supposed to post a photograph showing they have parked the scooter properly, where it’s not blocking traffic or pedestrians. But don’t expect to hop off, run into a restaurant, and find your Bird still waiting for you outside after your meal. The scooters are so popular that they are in constant use, and somebody else has probably hopped onto yours by the time you’ve ordered appetizers.
The company suggests that riders follow the same road rules for Birds as they do for bicycles. Stay off sidewalks (as much as you can). Ride as far to the right in the right lane of streets as practical. Let pedestrians know you’re coming (they have a bell on the handlebar). And, yes, wear a helmet.
News you can use: Bird will still give you a helmet. Go to the “safety” section in the app. Give them your address and — boom! — free helmet. All you pay is $2 for shipping.
Bird officials said they would not bring more scooters to Memphis unless their numbers proved Memphians were riding them. They recently expanded the fleet of 200 to 500 scooters.
Trolleys, bikes, and now scooters? It seems the old ways of transportation have become our city’s future.
