MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Explore Bike Share made final preparations Monday for the Wednesday morning launch of 60 stations around the city, including South Memphis, Midtown, Downtown and Orange Mound.
Tonya Dyson with the Memphis Slim Collaboratory, a community center for artists in Soulsville, hoped the 600 bikes available around the city would add options for her members.
“I love the way it’s connecting the neighborhoods and encouraging people to move fluidly through the neighborhoods,” Dyson said.
“The bikes have eight speeds, a friendly bell and they have lights that turn on. This is a 24/7 transportation option,” said Sara Studdard with Explore Bike Share.
The prices range from $5 for one hour to a $15 monthly subscription.
Studdard said cyclists can use a card to rent from the kiosk or call the company and use cash.
“I’m thinking that’s definitely a tourism price,” Dyson said. “Hopefully the neighborhood can grasp on to it. If not, that gives us another project to handle.”
Some who spend every day in South Memphis questioned whether the bike share was really for them.
“It might help for the people who come from out of town but no, not from around here,” one man said.
He knows it’ll help people find their way to Soulsville and Stax, but only time will tell if it helps people who want to travel the other direction.
The program launches Wednesday at 9 a.m. with a celebration at Court Square Downtown.
