City Taking Requests On Where To Place Bike Sharing Kiosks

By Chuck Sudo in News on Oct 17, 2012 4:00PM

The Chicago Department of Transportation is taking suggestions from residents across Chicago on locations for bike sharing kiosks when CDOT begins rolling out the program next spring. The program was supposed to have been launched sooner, but CDOT decided to push back the launch in order to ensure the rollout is done right, according to department spokesman Peter Scales.

Coincidentally, City Inspector General Joseph Ferguson’s office is investigating a claim by local bike rental company Bike Chicago that it could handle the program for a lower price than the company selected to handle the program, Alta Bicycle Share LLC. (Alta Bicycle Share once employed Transportation Commissioner Gabe Klein as a consultant. Klein recused himself from the RFP process as a result.)

CDOT has made public a map of suggested bike sharing station locations where users can share where they want to see a kiosk by adding it to the map. According to Grid Chicago, public hearings on the bike sharing program will be held on the following dates:

Oct. 29
11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Chicago Architecture Foundation
224 S Michigan Ave.

6:30 p.m. - 8 p.m.
Chicago Architecture Foundation
224 S Michigan Avenue

Oct. 30
6:30 p.m. - 8 p.m.
Lincoln Belmont Public Library
1659 W. Melrose St.

Nov. 7
6:30 p.m. - 8 p.m.
Charles Hayes Center
4859 S. Wabash Ave.

There's also a pop-up meeting scheduled for 5-3 p.m. Oct. 29 at Union Station.