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.
This weekend, November 30th-December 2nd, Heartland B-cycle will be holding a 50% off an Annual Membership deal in conjunction with Small Business Saturday. Between November 30th-December 2nd use the code RIDELOCAL19 on the BCycle App or our website to get an Annual Heartland Pass for just $40. If you have a current Heartland B-cycle pass and purchase a pass during the deal, your new pass will start once your current pass expires. If you're reading this blog post on mobile, you can just click right here to download/open the BCycle App with the promo code already filled in. We hope you take advantage of this amazing deal because, if you haven't heard, we are increasing prices starting January 1, 2020. The last time we increased prices was six years prior in 2013. At the time of the last increase in 2013, the Heartland B-cycle system consisted of 9 station locations and riders took a mere 1,972 trips for the year. Today, we have 72 station locations in both Omaha and Council Bluffs and Heartland B-cycle riders took 2,710 just in the month of October. Heartland B-cycle also debuted their electric pedal-assist bikes this past Spring which have been extremely popular with riders. The Heartland B-cycle system has seen over 33,400 trips in 2019, smashing their previous best year on record in 2017 where users took 19,271 trips. This increase in use carries large operational costs, which prompted the pricing change for 2020.
As of January 1, 2020 all Heartland B-cycle pass types will increase in price. FUN! Passes, which include 24-hours of access to the system, will increase to $8 from the current price of $6. Monthly Memberships will increase to $13 per month, they are currently $10. Annual Memberships will increase to $100 per year, they are currently $80. All passes will continue to include unlimited 1-hr trips, but each additional hour beyond a rider’s initial 60 minutes will now cost $5 instead of $4. If you have a current Heartland B-cycle pass, you should log into your account to double check if you have auto-renew turned off and check your pass expiration date. Then you should grab a $40 annual pass this weekend with the promo code RIDELOCAL19 on the BCycle App or our website. Don't delay- this deal is only until December 2, 2019 and then it's gone!