Longmont starting bike-sharing program through Zagster

LONGMONT — Several organizations in Longmont are helping fund a bike-sharing program that is owned and operated by Massachusetts-based Zagster Inc.

The city of Longmont, Boulder County, Oskar Blues Brewery, Longmont United Hospital and Visit Longmont are helping fund the program that will have 50 cruiser bikes and 10 stations throughout the city that has a population of 90,000.

The cost of the program is $9,000 per station, or $90,000 per year. The city is sponsoring two stations for $18,000 for the first year. Some of the bikes will carry brand logos of the sponsors.

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To access the bikes, riders pay by the hour or join the program by signing up for monthly or annual memberships. Rides for members — who must be 18 or older — are free for the first hour, and then $3 per hour after that.

Longmont’s bike share features the Zagster 8 bike and includes a basket that can handle groceries, takeout or personal belongings. Bikes have automatic lights, a bell and reflectors.

Bikes can be found via the free Zagster mobile app — available for iPhone and Android — or online at zagster.com/longmont.  Each bike has a unique number that riders enter into the app to obtain a single-use code to open the lockbox on the back of the bike. A key, stored inside and tethered to the lockbox, allows the bike to be locked and unlocked throughout a ride so that users can plan a trip around their needs and not around the location of the stations. After the rider returns the bike to a designated Zagster bike station, the rental ends, and the bike is available for the next person.

Representatives from Zagster and sponsoring organizations will have a kickoff program at 4 p.m., Thursday, April 20, at the recently completed Colorado Highway 119 Pedestrian Underpass at Hover Street and continuing at the neighboring Oskar Blues Homemade Liquids & Solids.