The most recent First Friday in Carbondale marked the kickoff of WE-cycle. With a newly-installed setup behind KDNK’s building, the radio station held a joint launch party with the non-profit transit organization. As Sweet Jessup and the Dirty Buckets jammed on the back patio, news reporter Hattison Rensberry caught up with several locals as their friends - or WE-cycle staff - showed them the ropes.
Wes: All right, so if you're using We Cycle for the first time. We've got a couple different ways you can check out a bike. You can either download the Transit app to let you check out a bike from any we cycle station in the entire valley, as well as see all the RFTA bus routes to help you get to work on time or your friends up and down the valley, whatever you're looking for.
Or you can use our website. So it's WE-cycle.org, and you can go on there. You can create an account or log into your existing account if you already have one, and then you'll be able to scroll to the bottom. You'll be able to click unlock a bike, and it should show you a map of our entire system, and you'll be able to use the location button. It'll zoom in right where you are, and it'll show all the nearby stations. A lot of times they're named after the intersection that the station is at. So just verify that.
You'll click unlock a bike, so you'll get a code and right on the left side of the bike you'll see a three digit number pad with a one, two and a three. And you're gonna go ahead and type in that same five digit code that you have on your phone. You're gonna wait for that green light. On the docking point, and once you get that green light, you're gonna pull that bike out. Sometimes it's helpful to just lift up the back seat just a little bit, and that bike should come rolling out and your timer is started.
You've got 30 minutes free every time you ride. And then whenever you're returning it to a station, you wanna be looking for that same green light when you return it. Don't be afraid to give it a little bit of extra force when you do return the bike, but look for that green light. That's your indicator to know that that trip is finished and that bike is no longer attached to your account and that timer is done.
Rensberry: Have you guys used these before?
Jeff Dickinson: I've used it twice. It's so convenient. The app is great. The Transit app, there's several right around our house, and so this morning I was gonna play pickleball and I'm like, I'm gonna ride, you know, one of the WE-cycles. And it was like, okay, oh, I'm gonna go to The Launchpad.
Oh no, there's no e-bikes. So there was one by the pool, so zipped right over there and played and didn't have to worry about the bike. Really enjoying it. It's a great thing for Carbondale. There's so many stations.
Rensberry: What's your name?
Emmett: Emmett.
Rensberry: Emmett, you've got a card there? You didn't have one a minute ago.
Emmett: I just got it. Yeah. The card is for unlocking the bike because my phone just died. 'cause I got here on a bike and then luckily enough I'm at the event where the guy's just setting them up for you. So now I have a card and I can just swipe it and unlock the bike whenever I want. Even when my phone's dead.
Thank God.
Rensberry: Bob, what are you up to now, now that you've checked out the bike?
Bob: I'm going to ride out to Ming's. There's a station out there by City Market. And then when I'm done partying out there, I'll get another one and party back. Easy as riding a bike.
By way of disclosure, WE-cycle provides underwriting support to KDNK.
