Frequently Asked Questions

Boulder B-cycle is Boulder's nonprofit bike-sharing program. Bike sharing is on-demand, point-to-point, bike-based public transportation. Pick up a bike at any station for a short trip—30 or 60 minutes depending on which of our four pass options you choose—and return it to any station when you’re done.

Because each ride is kept short, and B-cycles are returned to their stations when not in use, this sharing model provides Boulderites and visitors to the city with a large fleet of bicycles that are always well-maintained and ready to ride.

B-cycles are available when you need them and gone when you don’t—a perfect compliment to your feet, your car, your bus stop, and even your personal bicycle!

All of our B-cycles are three-speed, cruiser-style bikes with step-through frames, integrated lights, front baskets with a 20 pound cargo capacity, and mud guards and chain flaps to protect your outfit. Thanks to our Operations Team’s maintenance work, B-cycles are always ready to ride, where and when you want to ride them. They fit people of all sizes, and best of all, They’re there when you need them, and gone when you don’t.

Our networked stations use GPS and RFID technologies to make the bikes smart and simple for users. If you buy your pass online, all your ride data, such as distance, duration, calories burned, and carbon offset will be visible on your account page online or in our mobile app.

The point of bike sharing is not to replace personal bike ownership. In fact, more than three quarters of our riders own bikes. While some riders choose bike sharing over bike ownership for reasons of storage limitations or maintenance concerns, most riders supplement their existing ridership with B-cycles because they allow for a greater degree of flexibility than a personal bike.

B-cycles are ready to ride whenever you want them, making it easy to pedal to lunch, carry food home from the market, connect to public transit, or add a one-way bike trip to your commute.

This means you no longer have to take your bike with you to be able to ride, nor do you have to worry about leaving your bike at your destination. Read more here.

A map of current stations can be found on our website here, in the BCycle mobile app for iOS or Android, as well as at each station. Both our website map and the BCycle app display real-time bike location data, and our app allows bike checkout and account management for online pass holders.

Boulder B-cycle is a nonprofit organization formed by Boulder residents to create and operate Boulder’s bike-sharing program on a not-for-profit, financially sustainable basis. We collaborate with, but are independent from, the City of Boulder, Denver B-cycle, and B-cycle. Find out more about our board and staff here.

Choose the pass that works for you

• Boulder B-cycle offers various entry passes: Day Tripper, People’s Pedaler, Republic Rider, and Casual Cruiser. All pass purchases require a credit card.
  
  • Day Tripper passes can be purchased at any B-station, online, or in the BCycle app
  • All other entry pass levels are available online or in the BCycle app

Learn More

Four checkout methods are available depending on your pass type. See them in action:

• Check out a bike using your credit card or text message by following the prompts on any station screen.
• If you purchased your pass online, you can also check out bikes using the B-cycle mobile app.
• If you requested a membership card when registering (Republic Riders and People's Pedalers only), head straight to the bike you want and use the reader on the dock.

• Day Trippers and People’s Pedalers get an unlimited number of 30 minute trips.
  
• Republic Riders get an unlimited number of 60 minutes trips.
• Overtime fees of $3 per 30 minutes apply to all trips that exceed the included trip period.
• Casual Cruisers work a little different: They pay a $2 for the first half hour of each trip, then $3 for each half hour after that.
  

Boulder B-cycle is open 24 hours a day, year-round. Bikes may be checked out or returned at any time, seven days a week. We maintain standard office hours on weekdays, and retain a 24/7 answering service for after-hours customer service.

We reserve the right to temporarily close the system if bad weather or road conditions might impact rider safety or negatively affect the bike sharing equipment.

Yes! There is no wait period required between B-cycle returns and checkouts.

See the cable lock in action here:


Note: You can only end a trip by returning a bike to a station. You are still on the clock for overtime fees if a bike is secured using the cable lock.

• Remove the coiled cable lock from the basket of the bike.
• Insert the end of the cable lock into the hole under the corresponding side of the basket.
• This will cause the black plastic B next to the lock to turn.
• Pull the B straight out—that's your key.
• When you return the key to unlock the bike, the key will remain in the lock.

Checkout: The green bike lights up and the dock beeps continuously during a bike’s 30-second checkout window. If you do not remove the bike before the beeping ends, the bike will check itself back in, and you can re-attempt checkout using your method of choice.

Return: When a bike has been returned by being pushed firmly into the dock, look for this light and listen for three quick beeps—That’s the sign that your bike has been returned correctly.

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The red “X”  means that there’s a problem with either the bike or the dock itself—usually, it's because we've locked a bike down for maintenance. Try a different dock!

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If the orange card sign is illuminated, please contact Customer Service to resolve an issue with your account or card.

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The yellow hourglass indicates that the station is currently processing a checkout request. Give it a moment to see if the request goes through. Otherwise, get in touch with customer service.

B-cycle is a bike-sharing system designed to promote the constant use and turnover of bikes for short journeys. While bike sharing is useful for most transportation needs around Boulder, we recommend that you rent a bike from a bike-rental store if you wish to keep a bike all day or longer.

The maximum daily overtime fees for all pass types are $75. We will also seek to recover bikes that have not been returned after a specified period of time, and bikes not returned within a 72 hour limit will be considered lost and the rider will be liable for a replacement fee.

B-connected is a B-cycle exclusive feature that gives annual pass holders access to other B-cycle cities that have joined the program. If you have a Republic Rider pass, you can activate it in another city by following the prompts at any station screen in that city to indicate that you are a B-connected rider.

You’ll need to access to the mobile phone associated with your account for a text code verification, and you’ll need to swipe a credit card of your choosing to place on file with the guest city. Once you accept the guest city’s rider agreement, you will be free to use your normal checkout method from there on out.

This feature is free to activate, although please note that you are subject to the guest city’s included trip period and overtime fees while riding there.

While it's legal to ride a bike without a helmet, Boulder B-cycle strongly recommends wearing a helmet whenever you're on a bike. We do not provide helmets, but you can purchase a helmet at any of Boulder's great bike shops, and helmets are available for rent at University Bicycles, Full Cycle, and Bicycle Village.

Find complete information on bike safety and laws in Boulder here.

B-cycle does not allow users to reserve a bike, but with 300 bikes at more than 45 stations around town, you’re never far from an available bike.

To make the kiosk sign-up process as simple and quick as possible, only Day Tripper passes are available at the kiosks. Longer passes can be purchased online or on the BCycle mobile app.

Because each rider needs to have his or her own pass in order to ride, each pass will only release one bike at a time. This requirement is in place for liability reasons, as we need to ensure that every rider has accepted our rider agreement before they ride a B-cycle.

If there has been an injury, please dial 911 first. If you are qualified to administer first aid and there is a need, please help out to the limit of your abilities. If appropriate, contact the police, as well. As in any accident, exchange information with any other affected party and collect contact information from witnesses. Contact Customer Service (303-532-4412) at the earliest appropriate time.

• Day Trippers' 24-hour access begins the first time that rider releases a bike.
• Casual Cruisers’ ongoing access period begins immediately upon registration.
  
• People’s Pedalers’ 30 day access period begins at the time of purchase and renews automatically for ongoing access every 30 days from that date.
• Republic Riders’ 365 day access period begins upon taking a trip, or 30 days after purchase, whichever comes first.

When purchasing a Day Tripper pass at a kiosk, up to four passes can be associated with a credit card, but the same card must be presented each time a bike is checked out during the access period.

Keep in mind when purchasing multiple passes with a single credit card at a station that our system only retains the most recent phone number entered. For this reason, if your group intends to split up, each rider’s pass should be purchased on a separate credit card to allow each rider easy access for future trips.

There is no limit to the number of passes that can be associated with a single credit card for online passes.

Please review the billing schedule for your pass type, then contact Customer Service if you still have questions.

Yes! If you want to upgrade from a Casual Cruiser or People's Pedaler pass at any point, you are free to do so, though you’ll have to follow a specific set of steps if you want to do so in the middle of your current pass period. Start the process by clicking here.

Unfortunately, you do not have the ability to downgrade to a less expensive pass type if you've already used your pass.

While our riders have the option to opt into or out of text message and app push notifications online or in the BCycle App, riders unfortunately cannot opt out of email notifications related to account issues, nor can riders control which categories of notifications they do or don’t receive.

We understand this can be an inconvenience, and we’ve been asking for years for our software developer to provide greater flexibility in our notification system, so far to no avail.

In the meantime, we have structured our notification system based on rider preferences received in our annual System Improvement Surveys. Filtering within your email client can be used to exclude certain types of notifications based on your preferences, and we can walk you through that process if you contact our Customer Service team.

Detailed trip information is available in the user account of every B-cycle user who registered online. Users may log in to view information such as the date and duration of each trip, the stations where the bikes were checked out and returned, the distance pedaled, the usage fee (if any), the associated calories burned, and carbon offset.

B-cycles are equipped with an internal GPS device that tracks the bike’s trips, uploading this information each time the bike is docked. Once this trip data is uploaded to the B-cycle database, algorithms estimate of the number of calories burned and carbon emissions avoided (as compared to the use of an average automobile for the same trip). If there are technical errors with the GPS data collection or transfer, an estimate will be used instead.

Most often, bike check-in issues happen when a bike is docked too gently, or at an angle into a station, so please make sure you’re docking your bike with plenty of force, straight into the dock.

Look for the flashing green lights and listen for the three beeps indicating a successful return, and confirm the bike is locked in place by pulling back on the handlebars:

Check-in issues can occasionally result from mechanical or electrical issues at a station, so if a bike isn’t registered as returned even after proper docking, please get in touch with us so that we can resolve the issue and deal with any pending fees. You won’t be able to check out another bike on your account until the previous trip is closed.

A bike that hasn't been released from a dock during the 30-second checkout window should check itself back in immediately—listen for the three beeps and watch for the green light to confirm this.

You can re-attempt checkout using the method of your choice. If the bike seems stuck, try lifting up on the seat as you pull back on the handlebars.

In some rare cases, mechanical problems can prevent bikes from releasing entirely, so if you continue to have issues, try a different bike and contact us so that we can correct the issue.

There are a few possible reasons you might not have received a code. Please review them below and contact Customer Service if you have further questions. If text checkout still doesn't work for you after troubleshooting, keep in mind that you can always check out a bike using your credit card, or the BCycle App or your membership card if applicable:

• Our software is not set up to handle international phone numbers, so make sure you're only entering a ten-digit US number
• If you purchased multiple passes at a station using your credit card, our system only retains the most recent phone number entered. Try entering that phone number to receive your code.
• Your mobile carrier may have short code texting disabled by default—this is the system we use. Contact your carrier to confirm that you can receive short code texts (note: this is most often the case with T-Mobile).
• A non-mobile or incorrect phone number may have been entered upon registration. Contact us to confirm the number on file.

B-cards are designed to be used only at B-cycle docks; they will not function in the credit card reader at B-station kiosks. In order to check out bikes using a B-card, touch the silver disc mounted on top of each dock, and then momentarily place your B-card on top of this silver disc to check out the bike in that dock. Like this:



If you still experience difficulty using your B-card, or see the orange error light at the dock please contact Customer Service to troubleshoot the cause of the problem.

While our Operations Team does relocate bikes throughout the day, and we pay riders to ride bikes to empty stations, sometimes empty stations can occur during very busy periods. Our website and the BCycle mobile app provide real-time information about the status of Boulder B-cycle docks and bikes. You may also call Boulder B-cycle Customer Service.

While our Operations Team does relocate bikes throughout the day, and we pay riders to ride bikes away from full stations, sometimes empty stations can occur during very busy periods.

If you have a bike you wish to return, but there are no available docks at a station, you must locate a station with available docks and return the bike there. The kiosk screen located at each station will provide real-time information about which nearby stations have available docks. Maps are located at each station to help locate other nearby stations.

You can also add 15 minutes to your current trip at any full station. To take advantage of this feature, you will have to slide the credit card associated with your membership at the kiosk. Follow the touch screen prompts to reach the 'more options' screen.

Our website and the BCycle mobile app for iOS or Android provide real-time information about the status of Boulder B-cycle docks and bikes. You may also contact Boulder B-cycle Customer Service.

While our Operations Team has a rigorous inspection cycle for our bikes, unexpected issues can present themselves outside of that window. Please return a bike with a flat tire or other issue to the nearest station. If that is impossible, please properly secure the bike with the built-in cable lock (see above for instructions). Once the bike is secure, contact Customer Service or use the Report A Problem form. Turn the seat on the B-cycle backwards so that other riders know to avoid using it.

If your Republic Rider pass status is shown as Not Activated, it simply means you haven't taken your first trip on that pass yet. It will change to Active when you take your first trip, or 30 days after purchase, whichever comes first. Your 365 day pass period begins when your pass is activated.

There could be a number of possible causes for app issues, so first take the following steps to make sure everything is in order:

• Make sure you're using the correct version of the app. There are many bike sharing apps available for download, so make sure you have the current version of the BCycle app installed, which you can find linked to here.
• Make sure that you're logged into your account. Click the profile icon in the top right corner of the app and verify that you're logged into your Boulder B-cycle account. If not, go ahead and log in.
• Ensure that you have given the app access to your location services/GPS and that that feature is turned on for your device. The app will only allow bike checkout for stations that you're in close proximity to, and GPS is required to verify that.
• If you've followed all of those steps and you're still not given a prompt to check out a bike when you tap on the station you're standing next to, go ahead and attempt a different checkout method from the station screen for additional information on possible account issues. Contact customer service for further troubleshooting.
  

Call Customer Service at 303-532-4412 immediately so that we can suspend the card and prevent anyone else from using your card to gain access to a bicycle for which you are financially responsible. A replacement card will be provided at no charge. While waiting for your replacement B-card to arrive, you can check out bikes using the BCycle app, your credit card, or SMS checkout.

Users who purchase access online can change their credit card information by logging into their B-cycle account on our website or in the BCycle mobile app.

Access fees are generally non-refundable if you have taken trips using your pass, but if you wish to suspend your account to prevent any new overtime fees, contact Customer Service.

Return a damaged bike to a station, if possible, and turn the seat around so that other riders know to avoid that bike. If not, securely lock it and contact Customer Service. Do not ride a bike with damage that affects its safety features.

Users are financially liable for damages to bike while they have the bike checked out.

Contact Customer Service. There is a $10 charge for a lost key.

Users are liable for a $1,200 fee for bicycles lost or stolen during the time they have the bike checked out. This is why it's critical to always make sure that if a bike is secured using the built-in cable lock if it is away from a station, and why riders must make sure that bikes are properly returned at the end of a trip.