Challenges Threaten Bike-Sharing Program In Waite Park And St. Joseph

ST. JOSEPH (WJON News) -- A bike sharing program for two area cities might be coming to the end of the road.

How it started

In 2020, Waite Park and St. Joseph received a SCORE grant from Stearns County to start a bike share program with 10 bikes.

Bike rental stations were installed at the Wobegon Trailhead in St. Joseph and at River's Edge Park in Waite Park. The two cities' maintenance staff repair the bikes between May and October.

The charges for bike repairs and rental fees earned are split 50/50.

Ongoing Issues

Since the bikes were installed, they continue to have issues of vandalism and theft. Of the 10 bikes the program started with, eight remained at the beginning of this season. In May, three bikes were stolen, with two recovered. The two recovered have significant damage.

Each spring, the bikes are sent to a bike repair shop to make sure they are safe to rent. The spring tune-up costs are about $200 annually for each city. Maintenance staff also estimate they spend about five hours per week keeping them in service.

The Stearns County SCORE grant is no longer available to offset the costs of new bikes and upgrades to the system.

The future of the program

With limited rental proceeds and high costs to maintain the program, staff from both cities are recommending terminating the bike share program. The eight bikes currently in service would be declared surplus and disposed of.

Four new bikes bought earlier this year would be used in another manner.