Chambana Sun

At its March 7 meeting, Champaign City Council discussed its work with VeoRide to provide a dockless bike transportation network to the community, a program that started out as a connection for students and expanded citywide.

The city has worked with VeoRide since 2018, and the company has placed some its e-bikes, which can be operated without the rider pedaling, to spark utilization of the program and provide more accessibility at a reasonable level of ability. 

Eric VanBuskirk, Champaign’s associate planner, noted that there were 200,000 trips last year with VeoRide.

“Obviously [you see] a peak in September, 46,000 trips during that month,” he said. "Both the Halo and the Cosmo (e-bike models) have pretty similar trip counts. One thing to point out is that we see increasing ridership during the summer of the Cosmo, which shows that there is overall greater community adoption.”

Several residents expressed their support for the program and said how much they use it to replace their typical commutes to traverse the city without a vehicle, which Vanbuskirk said could be seen in the number of miles the bikes were ridden.

“The other impact these bikes have on our community in total miles ridden,” VanBuskirk said. “The Cosmo’s can travel much farther with minimal effort.”

VanBuskirk added that in September the bikes traveled about 46,000 miles

“Just a huge impact: a reduction in car miles traveled and less wear and tear on our infrastructure, as well as supporting our city plans for sustainability,” he said.

Residents said that the program provides access to the city from lower-income areas.

VanBuskirk said it was suggested that the program be continued for another three years, though staff would consider any changes council may want to make to the program. They also suggested the city end the intergovernmental agreement with the university. He noted that the IGA has become too cumbersome.

VanBuskirk also said that a proposed change would see the fleet increased to 1,000 bicycles, with each unit clearly numbered and local ordinances would be updated to match state laws, along with some adjustments to user fees and applications.

While council didn’t take any action because the discussion was part of a study session, it said it would review an official ordinance later and expressed support for the proposed changes.