Bike sharing is a new way of getting around your neighborhood, city and county. It’s affordable, clean, and simple. It’s good for your health, your pocket, and the environment.

Imagine a network of bike stations located within a few blocks of one another throughout your community. As a columbike member, you can unlock any of the 79 specially designed bikes at any station and ride it to any other bike station. Fast, simple, inexpensive. It’s no wonder bike sharing has exploded in popularity all over the world!

columbike is a next-next-generation bike-sharing program. It is a zero-hassle, zero-emissions way to get around town. It’s a bike-sharing program that meets the transportation, health, and environmental needs of our communities. One that adapts to any size city, corporation, or campus. It’s free and spontaneous, but also practical.

columbike is the future of bike sharing, and it’s available now.

Imagine a bike that is always ready to ride, where and when you want to ride it. The tires are always inflated and the chain is never rusty. A bike with a basket to carry your knapsack. A bike with front and rear lights and a bell that fits people tall and short. A bike that’s there whenever you need it, and gone when you don’t. And it’s powered by the ultimate alternative fuel: you.

columbike relies on the integration of hardware and software to keep track of members and bikes, and all the interactions between users and bikes. Proprietary GPS (global positioning system) and RFID (radio frequency identification) technologies make it possible for bike sharing to be so smart that it is simple for users.

All rides are tracked by the system and associated with members. Data such as distance, duration, calories burned, and carbon offset are captured and uploaded to personal web pages at Bcycle.com.

Bike rental is generally intended for longer term use - several hours or days at a time - like traditional car rental. Bike sharing, on the other hand, is more similar to a taxi cab ride – short, point-to-point trips across town. Bikes in a bike-share system are available when you need them and safe and secure when you don’t! You can return them 24 hours a day and are encouraged to join as a member to receive the best rates.

Designed for durability and long life, the bikes weigh approximately 45 lbs.

Call Customer Service.

Membership fees are non-refundable, but if you wish to suspend your account to prevent any new usage fees, call Customer Service or manage your account on your personal columbike web page.

When registering, members can choose whether they want to receive text notifications. Members can change that preference anytime thereafter by logging into their personal columbike web page and managing their account settings.

Return a damaged bike to a B-station, if possible, or if that is not possible, securely lock it and contact Customer Service. Do not ride a bike with damage that affects its safety features.

Members are financially liable for damages to bikes under their care. Refer to Terms and Conditions for your system.

The cost of replacing a lost key is $10.

Contact Customer Service. Under the Terms and Conditions agreed to upon registering for membership, members may be liable up to a specified limit if a bicycle is stolen or lost while under their care. Refer to the Terms and Conditions posted on your system’s website.

Information about each member’s use of columbike is posted to that member’s personal columbikeweb page. Members must log in to view the information, which includes such information as the date and duration of each trip, the station from which the bike was checked out and the station to which the bike was returned, the distance pedaled, the usage fee (if any), the associated calories burned, and carbon offset.

Bikes are equipped with an internal GPS device that tracks the bike’s trips. Other technology associates each trip with the member who checked out the bike. After this information is transferred to the server, algorithms translate the trip information into estimates of the number of calories burned and carbon emissions avoided (as compared to the use of an average automobile for the same trip). If there are technical errors with the data collection or transfer, an estimate will be applied and clearly noted as such.