Omaha, Nebraska, Has Free Bike Share!

Heartland Bike Share in Omaha, NE, launched its Free Rides program, providing free annual access to bike share for Greater Omaha residents.

On April 20th, Heartland Bike Share announced its Free Rides program, which provides unlimited 60-minute trips on its fully electric bike share fleet to people living in the Heartland service area, which includes Omaha, Papillion, Bellevue, Ralston, La Vista, and Council Bluffs, Iowa, amounting to over 1 million residents. This day also marked the inaugural “Bike Share Day” in Nebraska, as declared via proclamation by the Governor’s office.

We had the opportunity to attend the big announcement and be a part of the energy! It was a celebration of accessible public transportation, a celebration of the community and bike culture that Heartland Bike Share is helping to build in Omaha, and a celebration of Heartland’s staff and their Executive Director, Benny Foltz, who has built a bike share program that stands out as a best practice for how to lead with equity.  

“Just as you can go to the library, check out a book for free, then return it, you can now check out a bike for free and return it,” says Foltz.

BBSP has followed and supported Heartland Bike Share for many years, so it was an honor to participate in their event. Thank you to Benny Foltz and ROAM Share Director of Development Logan Spackman for inviting us!

Before being led by Joyce Vondrasek on a group ride, we heard from Foltz, Omaha Mayor John Ewing Jr., Congressman Earl Blumenauer (OR), Metro Transit CEO Lauren Cencic, and Nebraska State Poet Jewel Rogers, who shared a stunning original poem on bicycling. 

Our time in Omaha was also spent touring the North Omaha Trail on Heartland Bike Share e-bikes with the planner who put the trail into motion, Manne Cook. We rode the sturdy bike share bikes along the completed Phase I of the trail, through Adams Park’s urban natural surface trail system and bike park, and along where Phase II of the trail will be. This past Friday, on April 17th, Spark CDI held the groundbreaking for Phase II of the North Omaha Trail. Check out our story on the North Omaha Trail from earlier this year, which highlights this powerful example of community-led design in a neighborhood previously cut off by discriminatory planning projects that led to further disinvestment. 

Heartland Bike Share is working collaboratively with transportation stakeholders such as City of Omaha, Metro Regional Transit, Bike Walk Nebraska, Metropolitan Area Planning Agency, and Park Omaha to ensure station expansion tied to this free rides program fills existing transportation gaps and supports ridership among communities that need it most including spreading awareness among Omaha Public Schools students, parents and families with the program open to riders aged 16 and older.

The industry can learn a lot from the work of Heartland Bike Share and its supporters on how to advocate for bike share as a vital service, find opportunities, and build relationships with local governance. Sometimes it starts by inviting someone on a bike ride. 

Our time in Omaha made clear some of what we already know: that bike share contributes to positive health outcomes, autonomy, economic mobility, and environmental justice. Thank you, Omaha friends, for an unforgettable trip!