Boulder BCycle News

Google's Boulder office has long been a supporter of our nonprofit program. The Boulder Source recently published this article on the work that Google has been doing for Boulder County's nonprofits. Click the photo or link above to learn more!

Introducing our newest station…

Gunbarrel North!

This 21-dock station was fully funded by Apex 5510 Apartment homes, and is located at the north end of Spine Road, just north of Lookout Road, in Gunbarrel.

While we’re excited to be expanding into Gunbarrel, we recognize that this station is a bit further away than most. The route taken in this video, from our offices at 38th & Arapahoe, was 6 miles long and took approximately 35 minutes by B-cycle. Here's what it looked like:



Given the distance required to reach this station, we’ll be extending the free trip period for rides to and from this station to 60 minutes through the end of the year.

As always, please feel free to reach out with any questions. Happy riding!

We recently celebrated the one-year anniversary of the launch of our app, B-cycle Now. To celebrate this awesome tool, let's take a look back on how it came to be:

Since launching in 2011, we consistently heard one piece of feedback from our riders more often than any other: "I like Boulder B-cycle, but your app sucks." We could not have agreed more, though the unfortunate reality is that it wasn't "our" app. The official B-cycle app was part of the software suite that we purchase from our vendor, B-cycle LLC, which also includes our website, station software, and back-end database. (To learn more about how our relationship with our vendor works, and the effect that has on you as a rider, you can read this recent post.)

Despite repeatedly making our riders' frustrations with the official app known to B-cycle LLC, and despite nearly a year of promises to make improvements, no visible progress was being made. At the time, we felt stuck. We knew what was wrong with the app and what we would change to provide a better user experience, but we lacked both the ability to directly change the existing app and the resources to spearhead a redesign ourselves.

You're killing me, Smalls.

Enter TalentRiot. In late 2013, we were approached by the staff of this local software developer with a familiar refrain: "We like Boulder B-cycle, but your app sucks." This time, however, the refrain came with a postscript: "We'll build you a better app for free."

In a fortunate turn of events, TalentRiot was in the habit of giving skill-building opportunities to its developers outside of project hours in order to keep them sharp. After all, what better way to build up developers’ skills than real-world projects? It was a match made in heaven.

Cue angelic choir.

And so, based on feedback from our users, we rolled up our sleeves and sat down with the TalentRiot team to hammer out an app. Our goal was to design an app that would not only be free of the bugs and quirks of the official B-cycle app, but it would also be faster and far more user-friendly in its interface.

We couldn't be happier with the result. The difference between the two apps is night and day. This side-by-side comparison says it best:

In case you can't view that video, here's a quick summary of the improvements B-cycle Now makes:

	The Official B-cycle App	B-cycle Now
Selecting your city	Manual selection from a list	Geo-location automatically selects the nearest program
Finding stations	Round red markers	Pinpoint accuracy
Finding available bikes and docks	Click-through on each station icon	On-screen display of color-coded bike counts
Visualizing disconnected stations	Disconnected stations disappear entirely	Disconnected stations indicated with '?'
Getting directions	Redirects to your phone's browser	On-screen bike routes
Visiting your city's website	Manual selection through a cumbersome map interface	Automatic location-based selection

B-cycle Now Launched on June 24, 2014 for the 25+ B-cycle cities around the world, and we believe that it's the best app available for the needs of our riders. If you haven't downloaded it yet, what are you waiting for? It's free!

Get it now for iOS or Android.

Thanks again to TalentRiot for generously donating their time to completing this app. You guys don't suck!

Do you want to work for a super cool nonprofit working to get more people on bikes in Boulder?

We're hiring a Part-Time Fleet Technician to assist us in bike and station repair and maintenance.

Come join the team! Click here for the full posting and instructions on how to apply.

Have you or a friend been wanting to give Boulder B-cycle a try? Now’s your chance! On Wednesday, June 24th, we’ll be waiving the cost of 24-hour entry passes for Bike to Work Day. These passes, normally available for $8 at any station kiosk, include an unlimited number of 30-minute trips for a full 24-hour period. Get ready to ditch that car and commute with the wind in your hair!

Here’s how it works:

1. Walk up to any of our 38 stations with your credit card

2. Follow the instructions on screen to check out a bike

3. When asked if you need to purchase a pass, choose ‘yes’ (you won’t be charged)

4. Enter your information to confirm your $0 total and pick a bike!

5. Remember to keep every trip under 30 minutes! Overtime fees still apply.

6. Ride, return, repeat! Take as many trips as you like for the next 24 hours.

For the second year in a row, this promotion was made possible through a sponsorship from Noosa Yoghurt, a Colorado-based company producing yoghurt from locally-sourced ingredients.

Bike to Work Day is about getting as many people on bikes as possible, and by waiving pass costs, we're aiming to reach those people who have may been reluctant to ride before. Does that sound like you or someone you know? If so, there's never been a better time to start riding.

Don’t forget: Noosa Yoghurt’s products, along with Clif Bars, Horizon Dairy products, Silk soy and almond milk, and Boulder Organic Ice Cream will also be available for free at our breakfast station at The Peloton at 38th & Arapahoe on Bike to Work Day.

Right here!

Thanks again to Noosa Yoghurt for once again making free 24-hour passes possible through their contribution. We'll see you out there!