Category Archives: General

Biking to the Chiefs victory parade and celebration with RideKC Bike

That was some game, huh? 🥳🥳🥳 Now let’s make some parade plans! If you plan on biking to the the Super Bowl parade on Wednesday, we have some tips.

How to navigate the parade with RideKC Bike:

Park your car outside the the parade zone. We suggest using your RideKC Bike app to choose an area with plenty of bikes available (Country Club Plaza, Midtown, North KC, or KCK are good bets)
Use the app to find a bike near you and check its battery level.
When you pedal up to the crowd, lock up the bike at a public bike rack, street sign, or other fixed object. Please do not lock the bike to a bus stop or street car stop, handrail, or private property, and make sure your bike isn’t blocking a sidewalk, stairway, doorway, or other access point.

Don’t panic if you can’t get a signal:
Parade organizers are warning that cell phone service may be spotty with so many people downtown. This could impact the reliability of our app and your ability to start/end trips.

If you are unable to end your trip and upload a photo, please contact customer support through the app. We will reply and reverse any overage fees within 24 hours.
We recommend using a credit card instead of a debit card if possible, to avoid tying up your funds and to allow for a faster refund if needed.
After the parade you may need to wait for crowds to disperse and cell service to return before you can unlock a bike.

Missouri classic pedal bikes retiring in 2022

Thanks to new investment from the City of North Kansas City, the pedal bikes in that community will be replaced with new e-bikes!

Starting January 17, RideKC Bike will discontinue the legacy pedal bike fleet in Missouri, which is now ten years old and at the end of its useful life. The pedal bikes in the Johnson County Parks District will remain in service and are not impacted by this transition.

We will be closing the pedal bike hub at Longview Lake, but we are working with Jackson County Parks+Rec to identify opportunities to add a new e-bike hub in the future. In the meantime, your RideKC Bike membership continues to be valid anywhere in the metro area. You can use your RideKC Bike app to find similar trail-based hubs located along the Trolley Track Trail in Kansas City, MO and several parks and trails in Johnson County.

Retired pedal bikes will be donated to Des Moines B-cycle. They will be upcycled for use as replacements for the bike share system in that city.

Get to work with Mobility KC

How do you get to work every day? Subscribe to the Mobility KC newsletter to keep up on transportation and jobs access news in the Kansas City region. Published by the MidAmerica Regional Council's RideshareKC program with support from the Ride KC family of transportation services including RideKC Transit, Rideshare KC, KC Streetcar, RideKC Bike, and RideKC Vanpool, Mobility KC seeks to connect employers with cleaner, greener, and more efficient ways to get their employees to work.

It's time to mobilize, Kansas City!

Ten years of bike share in the KC metro

Can you believe it? RideKC Bike is celebrating our 10th Anniversary this month!

Kansas Citians were SO excited to see bike share come to town in 2012. BikeWalkKC launched one of the first bike share systems in the United States, and one of only two non-profit systems. Old-timers will remember that back then, we called ourselves Kansas City BCycle. We knew easy bike rental could be a game changer for our city, and we had big dreams of providing inexpensive, green transportation for residents and visitors.

Bikes were pedal-only, and required docking at designated hubs. We started with just a few locations in the downtown and midtown areas of Kansas City, Missouri, and the bikes were an instant hit.

David J. tried out our bikes at a 2011 First Fridays pop up before we officially opened in 2012.

Now we're RideKC Bike, sponsored by the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority and part of the RideKC family of transit options. We are still operated by BikeWalkKC, and our team of customer service agents and bike techs is still local. Our bikes are lighter, faster (thanks to electric-assist), and available across Kansas City, Missouri, North Kansas City, Kansas City, Kansas, Lenexa, Kansas, select Johnson County parks, and Longview Lake in Jackson County. Stay tuned on social media (@ridekcbike on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter) and subscribe to our newsletter for more blasts from the past and sneak peaks at the future of bike share in the KC metro.

Take 30% off an Annual Membership with code YEAR10KC on the RideKC Bike app.

How to get 30% off an Annual RKCB Membership:

1. Download the RideKC Bike app from your Apple or Google app store and create an account.

2. Redeem the code in "Coupons and Credits" before you select pricing and membership. Redeeming the code will automatically select an Annual Membership and activate the 30% discount.

3. Confirm your purchase and enjoy your ride!

This offer is valid July 1-31 and is good for new and renewing members only. It does not apply to current members. Need more details? Read our Ride With Us guide.

Club Woodside and Kansas City Freight House are RideKC Bike’s newest hub sponsors

Two local businesses make private investments in public good

Club Woodside in Westwood, Kansas and Kansas City Freight House in the Crossroads District in Kansas City, Missouri are RideKC Bike's newest hub sponsors, with each offering distinct amenities.

Club Woodside, located between hubs in KCMO's Country Club Plaza and KCK's Rosedale, provides bike share access in an area previously not served by RideKC Bike. They purchased custom, Woodside-branded racks for both personal bicycles and RideKC bikes, and they are also sponsoring free annual RideKC Bike memberships for all club members.

Kansas City Freight House is also sponsoring a RideKC Bike hub, and has installed custom-branded racks for up to 30 bicycles, as well as established a scooter parking zone. Home to over 2000 residents, plus art studios, small grocers, shops, and restaurants, the Crossroads District is a neighborhood and a destination. Freight House’s investment in bicycle and scooter parking complements the Crossroads’s emphasis on people-centered spaces and community connection.

"RideKC Bike has made working closely with the local business community a priority, and these projects are great examples of the community’s ongoing support,” says Eric Vaughan, Director of Bike Share at RideKC Bike.

Research shows that people who walk and bicycle for transportation visit local businesses more often, and spend more money over time, than drivers do. And infrastructure improvements like good sidewalks, bike lanes, and multi-modal parking zones slow car traffic and improve community health and safety for residents, employees, and visitors. RideKC Bike and BikeWalkKC offer low-cost, high-quality bike racks, wellness program consulting services, and more to help your business welcome employees and customers who arrive by bike. Get in touch and let us help you become a bike-friendly business!

Free rides for your selfies!

With smartphones in our pockets, we are all artists in this modern world, documenting perfect days for posterity. We want to see your perfect day on a RideKC Bike, and if we use it in our marketing, we’ll send you a code for a free RideKC Bike ride! It’s as simple as…

Snap a selfie with a RideKC Bike
Tag @ridekcbike in a public post on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter
Get a code for a free ride if we use your picture

Show us your favorite scenic routes, local businesses, and parks and tell us how you use RideKC Bike.

Classic Bikes are going dockless, joining new RideKC Bike and Scooter app

Love our classic pedal bikes? Get ready for some big improvements! In the coming week we are updating the system:

1. A brand new, unified RideKC Bike and Scooter app for all vehicles, including pedal bikes

Our pedal bike fleet is joining the e-bike and scooters in one unified all new RideKC app, starting July 1. On July 1, your “Drop Mobility” app will no longer be able to checkout bikes, and you can download the new RideKC app in advance for iOS here, and Android here.

All your existing member info will be transitioned on July 1, you just have to login with the same phone number.

2. Converting the Classic Bikes at the docking stations to dockless bikes

You will no longer need to put the pedal bikes into a dock. They can be locked to any bike rack just like the e-bikes.

3. Retiring the kiosks, touch screens, tap cards

All bike check-outs and returns will happen within the app, and you will no longer need to swipe a card at the kiosk, use a touch screen, or carry our tap card.

We look forward to seeing you out riding again soon! Have questions? As always, our local team is here to answer them. Email us at info@ridekcbike.com or call 816-945-9545.

Now Hiring: Bike/Scooter Share Operations Associate

RideKC Bike & Scooter is a great place to work with the professional advocates, policy makers, educators, and bicycle/pedestrian specialists of BikeWalkKC. We are an equal opportunity employer committed to diversity in the workplace and to the cultural competency of our team.

Current Job Openings

Bike Share Operations Associate
BikeWalkKC is seeking part-time, temporary Operations Associates to support the RideKC bike share program, part of the RideKC family of regional transit providers. We are hiring the field operations team to help build this exciting last mile transportation system. Operations Associates are technicians, knowledge experts, our rebalancing team and the true lifeblood of our ecosystem. The main focus of an Operations Associate is to ensure that all of our bikes are appropriately parked and in good condition for users to ride.

Posted April 19, 2022. See the full job description.

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Commitment to Equity and Equal Opportunity

BikeWalkKC has a commitment to support diversity and equal opportunity in its services, administration, employment as well as research and activities. As such we strive to foster a working environment that values contributions from team members regardless of race, color, creed, gender, religion, culture, sexual orientation, sexual identity, mental disabilities, physical disabilities, or veteran status. Women and persons of color are highly encouraged to apply.

Park it, Lock it, Snap it: Neighborly parking with RideKC Bike and Scooter

Bike share is transit, and as part of the transit system, RideKC Bike is committed to improving mobility for everyone in our service area. Besides providing consistent service, well-kept equipment, and thoughtfully distributed vehicles for our riders, that also means keeping sidewalks clear for people not using RideKC Bike. We work with municipalities, businesses and residents to ensure pedestrian safety and access and convenient bike share parking. Here are some tips for what we like to call “neighborly parking.”

Park it:

If you’re using a classic (pedal-powered) bike, roll the front wheel into an open dock at a station and hold till the light on the dock turns green. If you’re using an e-bike or scooter in KCMO, you can park at a dock, a bike rack, a sign post, or other fixture in the “furniture zone,” which is the area between the walkway and the curb. Be sure that other people can use the bike and you’re not blocking pedestrian access to a stair railing, ADA ramp, or doorway.
If you’re parking in North Kansas City, you can park at a bike share station or a public bike rack.

Lock it:

Use the orange cable to lock the e-bike or scooter. Locking up keeps vehicles secure and out of the way of pedestrians.

Snap it:

When you lock up the vehicle, the Drop app will prompt you to check in the vehicle and snap a picture to prove it’s locked securely. This helps us track our bikes and scooters and keep them maintained.

Neighborly parking is good for the community, good for the equipment, and good for you, because it helps you avoid penalty fees. Have questions? We’ve got answers! Call customer service at 816-945-9545 or email info@ridekcbike.com for any inquiries, including billing, app glitches, and maintenance issues.

Healing House, Inc. announced as newest Bike Share for All equity partner

MEDIA ALERT

RideKC Bike & Scooter announces Healing House, Inc. as its newest Community Program Partner, connecting needs-based providers throughout Greater Kansas City with low-cost transportation for their clients.

Kansas City, MO | November 7, 2019 – RideKC Bike and Scooter is adding Healing House, Inc. as its newest community program partner. Healing House becomes the fifth organization to partner with RideKC Bike & Scooter to offer subsidized access to bikes and scooters for those in the community that receive needs-based services.

Healing House, Inc. serves the community by offering tools and resources for those seeking opportunities for personal growth and maintain life-long sobriety. Equitable and diverse transportation options are key in the recovery of participants and this program will be another resource for those in need of mobility solutions.

The Community Partners Program enables local nonprofits, government agencies and social services organizations to offer their clients a steeply discounted RideKC Bike and Scooter Annual Membership. Now anyone receiving needs-based services can take advantage of the subsidized Annual Membership to access the RideKC bikes and scooters for just $10. Those who maintain a monthly bus pass through RideKC can also add the bike and scooter service to their bus pass at no additional cost.

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BikeWalkKC’s mission is to redefine our streets as places for people to build a culture of active living. We see a community that is barrier free, has complete biking and walking access, and has a connected culture of active transportation and active lifestyles. We deliver innovative education programs, conduct advocacy and community engagement activities, and provide activities that bring people together around active transportation. Learn more: www.bikewalkkc.org

Healing House, Inc. is a non-profit, faith-based substance abuse recovery organization. We work in the Kansas City metropolitan area to provide safe and stable homes with opportunities for spiritual and personal growth along with purposeful guidance and support for men and women who are committed to overcoming their addiction and becoming responsible, productive, drug and alcohol free members of our community. Learn more at HealingHouseKC.org