KANcycle program launched in Concordia

Pedal power is the newest mode of public transportation now being offered in Concordia and surrounding communities.
The Concordia Chamber of Commerce hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony Monday morning at the 81 Connection bus stop on West Seventh Street to launch the KANcycle bike-sharing program.
With an initial contribution of $160,000 from Blue Cross and Blue Shield through its Blue Health Initiatives program, OCCK Transportation and Zagster, Inc. had started KANcycle in Concordia, Beloit, Belleville, Ellsworth, Lincoln, Mankato, Minneapolis and Salina. OCCK Transportation director of mobility management Claire Mullen said that it is the first rural bike-share program of its kind.
There are two racks with five bicycles each located in Concordia at the 81 Connection bus stops on West Seventh Street and on the campus of Cloud County Community College.
A total of 17 stations with 80 bicycles have been placed in the eight communities involved to use for on-demand local trips.
Riders can join the KANcycle program by signing up for annual memberships or pay-as-you-go.
Annual memberships will be $30 with trips under one hour being free. Student annual memberships will be $20 with trips under one hour being free.
The pay-as-you-go option will be $1.50 for every 30 minutes.
Bikes can be found via the free Zagster mobile app — available on iPhone and Android — or online at zagster.com.
Each bike has unique number which riders enter into the app to unlock the bike. After a rider returns the bike to a designated Zagster bike station, the rental ends and the bike is available for the next person to use.
Zagster manages all aspects of KANcycle, from the bikes and technology to maintenance and fleet rebalancing.
The bikes will be serviced every two weeks by Zagster.
The Concordia city commission approved a license agreement with OCCK Transportation in April to install and maintain the rentable bicycles for the KANcycle program.
The city will not be responsible for anything associated with the program other than providing and maintaining space for the bike racks.
Concordia city manager Amy Lange and members of the city commission took the inaugural ride on the bikes during the ribbon cutting ceremony Monday.
For more information about KANcycle go to www.kancycle.org or to the Facebook page KANcycle or contact Mullen at 785-826-1583.