June brought in warm weather and two new Heartland B-cycle stations perfect for your recreation needs. The stations, which were bought used from other former BCycle systems, were over a year in the making so we are very excited to have them launched. We are pleased to now have stations at Mahoney State Park and Dodge Riverside Golf Club. 

Our station at Mahoney State Park was the first new station to go live. The station is located by the World Herald Cabins and the perfect way to explore the park. The unique placement in a state park is only part of the reason we are so excited about this location. This station is right in the middle between the BikeLNK & Heartland B-cycle systems. While you may not be able to bike share between Omaha and Lincoln just yet, this is a step toward that reality.

The second new station is located at Dodge Riverside Golf Club. Situated just past the Council Bluffs Levee Road Trail & across the street from Harrah's Stir Cove, this is our 7th station in Council Bluffs, Iowa. The station makes it even easier to explore the river as it is located between our Tom Hanafan River's Edge Park and Ameristar stations. Back to the River helped make this station possible and have been integral to making many of our riverside stations possible. If you have every enjoyed biking along the Missouri on a b-cycle, Back to the River helped make that ride possible.

We hope you enjoy these two new stations! We think they will be perfect for summer time adventures and exploring by bike. On the horizon, we have more expansion stations focused on transportation that we have been working on for some time but have seen some significant delays. We are actively working to ensure that our system fulfills the Omaha Metro's transportation needs and will make sure to provide updates on those projects as things become finalized.

Due to a software issue, we have 17 stations that have been down today, May 19th, & we are working with BCycle to get running within the next few days.

Please make sure to check the BCycle App before you ride- stations with a grey X are unavailable.

If you haven't previously downloaded the BCycle App, it is available for both iOS and Android. 

If you return a bike to an unavailable station, your trip will not close. Please contact our customer service line at 402-957-2453 and let them know where you docked the bike so they can close your trip. If your trip does not close, our system will not allow you to check out another bike. 

We hope to have this issue resolved as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience and we hope to have the system running smoothly soon!

May is Bike Month and we're celebrating with 50% off our Annual Passes! An Annual Heartland B-cycle pass is usually $100 but for the month of May you can get a pass for just $50. All you have to do is sign up with the promo code BIKEMONTH20 on our website or the BCycle App. 

“With all the changes happening in our daily lives, we are excited to be able to offer half off an annual pass so that folks can ride a bike for pleasure, exercise, or transportation,” says Benny Foltz, Executive Director of Heartland Bike Share. “Our e-bikes will put a smile on your face, and we could all use some more smiles.”

In addition to our Bike Month pass promotion, you can enter for your chance to win a custom Heartland B-cycle shirt this month. We hand printed these shirts at The Union for Contemporary Art in February. To enter, you need to fill out an initial contest form and then start riding. Each week you ride with Heartland B-cycle in May earns you one contest entry. The entry form can be found at bit.ly/HBSBikeMonthContest and can be filled out until the end of May. The t-shirt winner will be contacted by email on June 1, 2020. 

Bike share is a great way to get in healthy activity and active transportation while maintaining social distancing. We want to remind rider that they should maintain six feet from others while riding and to wash your hands well after your trip. All bike technicians are disinfecting user contact points on stations & bikes, but users are encouraged to wipe down the bike before riding like they would any public surface.

As always, make sure you're following us on Social Media for the most up to date Heartland B-cycle News! We can be found on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Heartland Bike Share is dedicated to helping healthcare workers with transportation and healthy activity. Healthcare workers can get an annual Heartland B-cycle membership for free this month.

To get their free annual pass, health care workers must email memberships@heartlandbikeshare.org from their work emails with their institution name in the subject line for information on how to sign up. Once signed up, they will have access to the entire Heartland B-cycle system for transportation and healthy activity. All free annual passes come with 365 days of unlimited 1-hour trips. All trips longer than 1-hour will cost $5 per additional hour. 

“In light of social distancing precautions, which we should be abiding by, riding a bike is a healthy and reliable form of solo exercise & transportation, especially during this time,” says Benny Foltz, Executive Director of Heartland Bike Share. “We need to care for our mental and physical health now more than ever. We are encouraging riders to practice the CDC guidelines while riding and we are increasing our cleaning efforts as well. Bike share is an ideal transportation option, and with our electric pedal-assist bikes, more people are able to ride to more places.”

Keep up with Heartland B-cycle on our social media channels! We can be found on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Due to the recent actions being taken to slow the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19) in our community, we wanted to update you on what we are doing and measures you can take to stay healthy.

To help keep our riders healthy we will be enacting the following protocols:

• Our Technicians staff will be disinfecting all user contact surfaces, including but not limited to: station touchscreens, dock buttons & RFID fob readers, bike handlebars, brake levers, seat & seatpost adjustment clamps, on a routine & scheduled basis. 

• Our Management staff will intensely monitor our various Customer Service networks, to respond in real time, to any issues or concerns of our users.

There are some simple steps you can take to protect yourself when riding bike share:

• Wipe down the bike with disinfectant, just like you would any public surface

• Wear gloves or mittens while riding as a precaution

• Wash hands thoroughly after riding and avoid touching your eyes, nose, or mouth before washing your hands

Social distancing is a useful tool to slow the spread of this disease and bike share is a great way to commute as it helps with this social distancing. When possible, opting for single occupancy transport, like bike share, can help reduce your risk as opposed to traveling in shared vehicles.  To learn more about COVID-19 and other precautions you can take, please refer to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization. 

Bike Shares across the country have been stepping up to provide alternative single-occupancy transportation to help keep our communities healthier. The Better Bike Share Partnership just published a great article that you can read about bike share and COVID-19. Check out their post, Coronavius: When All Else is Contaminated, Rely on Bike Share. It contains information on precautions to take when utilizing bike share and how this mode of transportation can help with slowing the spread of the virus.

We will be continually monitoring the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the World Health Organization (WHO), federal agencies, and local agency guidelines. Together we can help keep our communities healthier.