BRADENTON BEACH – Mobile Muttley’s owners Thomas Pechous and Tracy Thrall presented their proposed bike share service to city commissioners last week.
While no commission action was required, the commission expressed tentative support for docked bike share services, as long as all the required building permits and business licenses are properly obtained.
Mayor John Chappie said he previously spoke with Pechous and wanted the commission to hear his presentation.
Pechous said he and Thrall have been working on a docked bike share system for 10 years, and they hope to eventually make this an Island-wide endeavor that can serve as a model for other communities.
Pechous envisions a bike share and docking service that provides easy and flexible access to bikes that can be rented by the hour or for the entire day. He provided as an example, a visitor who parks his/her car at Cortez Beach – a few blocks south of Bridge Street – rents a bike from that location and rides down to Bridge Street or some other location to eat lunch or go shopping. The client can turn the bike in at that time or grab that bike or another bike after lunch and continue the pedal-powered travels through the city and/or the Island.
Pechous said the docking stations would be solar-powered and the rentals would be conducted via smartphone applications and the company would be insured.
Thrall said the smartphone technology would also help the person hired to run the daily operations to monitor supply and demand and ensure there are spaces to dock the rented bikes when users are done with them.
Pechous said Holmes Beach architect Jeff Conners is providing the designs for the docking stations.
Chappie noted that docking stations located at the county beaches would require county permission and/or permitting too.
“It looks like a great system, I like the whole idea of it,” Commissioner Jake Spooner said, noting the bike share service might lessen congestion and the need to drive around searching for a place to park.
“It would be great if we were able to have it at Cortez Beach. People can hop on a bike and come to our downtown area. It’s a fun, healthy way for people to get around and people wouldn’t have to wait on the trolley or the Monkey Bus,” Spooner said.
At the recommendation of City Attorney Patricia Petruff, the Holmes Beach City Commission, on Sept. 25, imposed a six-month moratorium on bike and scooter sharing services. This was done to allow the city time to develop regulations for a business model not currently addressed by city ordinances or regulations.
During that same meeting, Holmes Beach commission chair Judy Titsworth said efforts would be made to push through regulations for docked bike sharing systems. The commission’s main concern is that the dockless systems present safety concerns and concerns about bikes and scooters being left in roadways and on private properties.
When addressing the Bradenton Beach commission, Pechous said he was confident the Holmes Beach moratorium would soon be resolved. He agrees that dockless bike and scooter sharing services can create the types of nuisances that he and Thrall want to avoid.
After the meeting, Thrall estimated the bike share service would cost approximately $5 an hour and $15-$20 a day. He said they did not yet know when the bike share service would become operational or how many docking stations would be needed.
Related coverage
