Pedestrians can find more public bicycles in convenient locations thanks to the recent addition of HIBIKE bike-share stations in Hilo and Kailua-Kona.
People for Active Transportation Hawaii, or PATH, has expanded the bike-share system with six new stations in Hilo and six new stations in Kailua-Kona that have been placed in areas where more residents can utilize the service.
The new stations were funded by $900,000 from a Transportation Alternatives Program grant through the state Department of Transportation.
“With the new station additions, we tried to put them in spots where the bikes will, hopefully, be used by more residents rather than tourists,” said Kelly Hudik, CEO of PATH. “In Hilo, we put new stations at Hawaii Community College and the University of Hawaii at Hilo for students, and near transit stations so people can utilize the free bus and free bikes.”
With the expansion of the program, PATH is continuing its partnership with the Hawaii County Mass Transit Agency under the leadership of Mass Transit Administrator Victor Kandle.
Hele-On passengers can continue to access the bike-share program for free when they ask bus drivers for a code that can be used at the HIBIKE kiosks. This provides passengers with unlimited 30-minute HIBIKE rides for up to 24 hours.
“Placing the stations near transit spots is meant to help people who are trying to get to their final locations, which may be a couple miles from a bus stop,” Hudik said. “If someone is dropped off at the Mo‘oheau Bus Station, they can use a bike from that station to go to Keaukaha if they don’t want to wait for transit. It’s also helpful to those riding the bus into town for work.”
There are now 10 bike-share stations in Hilo, with the new six located at UH-Hilo, HCC, Bayfront Trails near Ben Franklin Crafts, the Hele-On Mo‘oheau Bus Station, Onekahakaha Beach Park and Kealoha Beach Park.
In Kona, PATH placed HIBIKE stations throughout Ali‘i Drive since there has been an increase in paid parking spots. The most popular location is the Sea Ridge station, which is surrounded by condos.
According to Hudik, usage of the bike-share program has been down this year to 11,012 rides as of Friday, compared to an average of 14,000 rides a year.
“We are hopeful that the station additions will help us see a bump in usage as more people use the bikes for work, exercise or recreation,” Hudik said. “We also want to increase the number of people using the partnership with Mass Transit, because it is a big part of the county’s multimobility transportation plan.”
According to the Hele-On website, bike-share programs provide economic and health benefits to the community while providing a fun, efficient way to get around.
In the coming year, PATH hopes to continue its bike education classes taught in elementary schools. The programs helps keep people safe on the road while they are biking.
“For people who may not be comfortable using bikes on the roads with cars, we made sure to put some stations near trails, or areas that aren’t near a road,” Hudik said. “We want to give people who haven’t ridden a bike in a long time a chance to try it again and see if it’s something they can use”
According to Hudik, PATH also is working on getting insurance for electric bikes that were awarded to the county from a grant. It will be the first time in the state where electric bikes are used as part of a bike-share system.
“We have a goal of utilizing these bikes in Kona, and hopefully, starting group rides with the e-bikes from another grant,” Hudik said. “We have a proposal out to the Hawaii State Energy Office to help fund group rides, which will give people the opportunity to use these new bikes and see how easy they are to ride.
For more information about the integration of the HIBIKE bike-share system and Hawaii County Mass Transit, visit heleonbus.org/hibike. A map of all the HIBIKE locations, plus pricing and instructions on how to use the kiosks, can be found at hawaiiislandbike.com.
Email Kelsey Walling at kwalling@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
