The Roaring Fork Transportation Authority (“RFTA”) is soliciting proposals from qualified proposers to develop a regional bike sharing plan. The study is intended to cover a multi-county region, including the State Highway 92 corridor from Glenwood Springs to Aspen and the I-70 Corridor from Glenwood Springs to New Castle.
RFTA intends to develop a bike share implementation and/or expansion plan for each of its member jurisdictions. The study is intended to cover a multi-county region, including the State Highway 82 corridor from Glenwood Springs to Aspen, the Brush Creek corridor to Town of Snowmass Village, and the I-70 corridor from Glenwood Springs to New Castle, recognizing that each community will have unique bike sharing goals and needs; levels of investment; levels of current implementation; and other unique policies or preferences. The individual community plans should be integrated into a Regional Bike Share Plan. The plan will need to estimate each community’s operating and capital costs and identify shared regional costs. Cost sharing agreements and a regional cost allocation plan will need to be developed by and among RFTA and the participating communities.
RFTA is committed to planning, implementing, and operating the regional bike share systems in partnership with WE-cycle, the region’s sole and established bike share provider in Aspen, Basalt, El Jebel and Snowmass Village. WE-cycle will be a vested stakeholder in the study’s process and outcome as the Regional Bike Share Plan will become its future roadmap. RFTA has been providing financial support for WE-cycle since its inception and the 2018 Destination 2040 campaign indicated that WE-cycle would operate the expanded bike share services. As a resource expert, WE-cycle will be engaged in, and collaborated with, throughout the study. By leveraging WE-cycle’s knowledge, local history and regionally-specific expertise the Regional Bike Share Plan will build upon, evolve, and enhance the eight plus years of public and private investment in WE-cycle.
In 2019, RFTA and WE-cycle invested a considerable amount of effort to determine an appropriate structure for a long-term relationship, i.e. contractual or integration of WE-cycle with RFTA. For a variety of reasons, including COVID-19, no conclusions have been reached regarding the most suitable long-term partnership structure between RFTA and WE-cycle. As such, one of the key outcome goals of this study for both RFTA and WE-cycle is to identify the appropriate planning, operating, financing, governing framework for regional bike sharing, in consultation with, and buy-in from, the participating RFTA member jurisdictions.
As this study unfolds, RFTA anticipates that discussions about other FLMM opportunities may arise, and that alternatives to bike sharing may emerge and other viable FLMM strategies could be considered. RFTA requests that respondents provide a FLMM work plan, schedule and pricing for an optional Phase II of this project; with bike share as Phase I and other FLMM measures as Phase II. For more information on the Phase II option, please see Study Options – Phase II.
RFTA believes that the Regional Bike Share Plan should include the following components. The consultant team is welcome to refine these components and create a project approach that best meets RFTA’s goals.
Statewide