MetroABQ Blog

The MetroABQ, with over 400 miles of bike routes, has stepped up & partnered with Zagster, a bike-sharing services provider, to provide 'dockless' bike-share locations throughout the city. Dockless allows you to rent a bike in one location, for $1/hour, & return it to a different location...it's Uber for bikes. The map above is a small section of the city: the UrbanABQ area, stretching from San Mateo Blvd west to Rio Grande Blvd, which encompasses one of the most dense & diverse areas of the MetroABQ. I downloaded the app & can search on the map for the closest Zagster's, which also tells me how many bikes are docked there. The program is called "Pace ABQ," like go at your own pace...

In that UrbanABQ area, there are many dozens of Zagster-owned Pace stations; if you expand the map to other areas of the city, more bike-share stations pop up. The image above isn't necessarily part of the Pace ABQ program, but is a good way the city is contributing by creating places to lock bikes, & it's a pretty cool street art design...Below is the article about the program, gathered from the Zagster website. 

Pace ABQ the citys new dockless bike share program featuring 250 Pace smart bikes, 50+ dedicated Pace parking locations, and ability to make point-to-point trips.

Rio Metro Regional Transit District (Rio Metro) has worked with Zagster, the nations leading provider of modern, flexible bike share services, to unveil a new, innovative bike share program on April 19 called Pace ABQ. Pace is Zagsters new nationwide, dockless bike share service that blends predictability and flexibility for riders while preserving order and safety for communities. Pace ABQ, the fourth Pace city to launch and the largest to date, offers modern, dockless bike sharing to the citys 600,000+ residents, students and visitors.

Rio Metro, in partnership with the City of Albuquerque and Bernalillo County, is proud to be on the cutting edge of bike sharing with the launch of Pace ABQ, said Commissioner and Rio Metro Board Chair, Maggie Hart Stebbins. This service will support Albuquerques existing bike-friendly culture and complement the more than 400 miles of bike lanes and trails for recreational riders and commuters alike.

Bike share is an opportunity to enable Albuquerque to become a more multi-modal community, said City of Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller. This program is another positive step forward to enabling our residents and visitors another easy transportation option for commuting, exercising, and touring our beautiful city.

Pace expands and improves upon Albuquerque's pilot bike share program, BICI which started nearly three years ago. BICI featured 75 bikes and required riders to begin and end their rides at one of 15 fixed bike share station locations. With Pace ABQ, riders can now rent one of 250 bikes from any of Paces 50 dedicated bike racks, or from any public bike rack available throughout the city.

Were thrilled to bring Pace to Albuquerque our largest city to date, said Zagster CEO Tim Ericson. Pace ABQ offers Albuquerque residents, students and tourists all the benefits of dockless bike sharing -- including the ability to make point-to-point trips -- but also ensures bikes are always locked up properly to maintain security, safety and aesthetics. We look forward to partnering with Rio Metro to continue expanding the number of bikes and parking locations to bring Pace to more and more people and places in the region.

A news conference and celebration are planned for this Thursday beginning at 10am on Civic Plaza, with presentations from Rio Metro Regional Transit District, the City of Albuquerque, Bernalillo County, and Pace executives.

To use Pace, riders download the free Pace Bike Share app, available in the App Store or Google Play. Riders find available bikes and parking locations in the app and can unlock bikes at the touch of a button. Rides cost $1 per 30 minutes, and the first 30-minute ride for every new user is free.

Above is a Pace Bike-Share location in Nob Hill, along Central Ave. I took this early on in the program & it seems there were plenty of bikes available then. As the program is taking off nicely, the image below, between CNM & UNM in the Silver Hills neighborhood, has only two bikes available. With Pace, you can log into the app & see how many bikes are available at each location to plan accordingly...