As of late August, the College Park area has been replacing mBike with a new bike and scooter share system.
After evaluating available options, City staff and our bike share partners chose VeoRide to recommend as the preferred vendor for the new system. VeoRide serves cities and university campuses across the country with programs that offer a mix of vehicles types, including pedal bikes, e-bikes, fat-tire bikes, cargo bikes, ADA-compliant bikes and electric scooters, depending on the community’s needs.
VeoRide would launch within the footprint of the existing mBike system and serve the City, UMD campus, and Town of University Park. Current mBike stations to be replaced by VeoRide hubs that co-locate bike and scooter parking in familiar locations. After the initial launch, more hubs can be added where the need for expanded service has already been identified. Soft launch building to an initial fleet of 70 pedal bikes, 150 e-bikes, and 70 scooters Pedal and electric bikes can be parked at any bike rack, promoting flexibility.
The system is being provided free to the area, but the rentals are not. Vehicles are available from 5am to 9pm.
College Park Mayor Patrick Wojahn said the time restriction allows for the electric scooter and bike batteries to be charged overnight and also mitigates some safety hazards.
“In terms of using the scooters late at night, you might not be paying as much attention,” Wojahn said. “We were concerned that people would be using them after going out drinking to get home so [we worked] with VeoRide to limit the use at night.”
The devices cost $1 to unlock, plus a fee: 15 cents per minute for electric bikes and scooters and five cents per minute for pedal bikes.
The company set the scooters’ speed limit at 15 miles per hour in the city, according to city council documents.
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