Ithaca’s Open Streets Get New Riders on Bikes

By meeting people in their own neighborhoods, The Center for Community Transportation in Ithaca, New York, is helping bike share reach more residents.

The trailer is the Bike Walk Tompkins Education and Outreach Trailer Mike Parker, Ops Manager of Bikeshare.

Hopping on an e-bike for the first time can be intimidating as you navigate unfamiliar technology and busy streets. With the Center for Community Transportation (CCT) in Ithaca, New York, bringing back its open streets events, they are using this opportunity to educate residents on bike share to tackle this common barrier to entry.

CCT focuses on services and activities that emphasize social equity and environmental sustainability in transportation. This is carried out by three programs, including Bike Walk Tompkins and Ithaca Bikeshare. When the Better Bike Share Partnership announced the latest mini-grant round earlier this year, CCT applied and was awarded a grant to collaborate and increase bike accessibility, safety, and confidence through education.

“There’s actually some funding to do educational work. Not just to have the bike share working, but to actually do outreach and get people on the bikes in a more hands-on, active way, versus passively advertising,” says Niki Ray-Israelsohn, program director at Bike Walk Tompkins. “We can be more effective by meeting people where they’re at in the community.”

Bike Walk Tompkins has long hosted learn-to-ride bike skills classes. The original plan was to model these classes, but with bike share. They then switched gears to incorporate local “open streets” events, where a block adjacent to a park or community organization is closed to traffic, to leverage the event to tap into potential new riders. The programming combines education with a community-focused, interactive atmosphere, allowing the organization to reach more people in a hands-on, engaging way and make the experience more accessible and fun for the community.

Ithaca Bikeshare bikes were brought to the event, where instructors then guided participants through the process of signing up for a membership and helped them learn how to operate the pedal-assist bikes as well as what to expect when they start riding.

“The number one comment from people was, ‘I’ve been wanting to do this, I just haven’t had time,’” says Ray-Israelsohn. “The bikes are out there, and these are well-intentioned people who are interested, but it’s just a matter of needing a little bit more of an interactive piece to get them to download the Ithaca Bikeshare app and then feel safe to try it because they don’t feel necessarily safe to try it on a busy street with cars. So the open street piece was really critical.”

The first open streets event was held near Washington Park in partnership with No Mas Lagrimas, a nonprofit in Ithaca that supports individuals and families facing economic and social barriers affecting their ability to meet their basic needs. No Mas Lagrimas provided free food, including barbecue and groceries, while other human services groups shared useful resources. 11 folks were signed up using a promo code allowing for three 15-minute rides throughout the weekend, with the first ride being used for an on-the-spot test ride with the instructors.

CCT has operated Ithaca Bikeshare since November 2022, filling a gap left by Lime, which departed in early 2020. As the city’s first community-owned and operated bikeshare, the newness of the system and the e-bikes themselves make education a vital component of its mission to provide affordable transportation. 

“It’s within our mission to be able to provide alternative, affordable transportation to our community. Part of that is education, says Jeff Goodmark, director of micromobility at The Center for Community Transportation. “The concept of bike share itself is still somewhat new, and the concept of an e-bike is something some are unfamiliar with. By having these educational opportunities, it allows people to have a curated ride for the first time, where they can get a walk-through on how it all works and what it’s like to ride an e-bike.”

The next open streets event is taking place Saturday, August 23, in the Northside on Madison Street. Located between Conway Park and a Section 8 housing development, the event looks to reach a denser population of families. The event will again include free Ithaca Bikeshare orientations and test rides, youth and adult learn-to-ride sessions, and a bike repair station.

In the future, Bike Walk Tompkins and Ithaca Bikeshare plan to organize a bike share-specific learn-to-ride orientation class for elected officials. The goal is for officials to experience the system firsthand, and after the class, both the community and officials are invited to join a group ride. Additionally, the organizations are exploring the possibility of hosting future open streets events in more densely populated areas to maximize community engagement.

“One thing we always say about bike share is that we’re really good at solving problems, but we don’t actually even know what the problems are yet,” says Goodmark. “So the more that we talk to our community, the more that we get feedback about what could work.”