While bicycling season is starting to wind down with cooler weather arriving in the region, a popular bike sharing program in Omaha is expanding its reach across the river into Iowa. Ben Turner is program director for Heartland B-Cycle, which offers pedal-powered two-wheelers for rent at kiosks all around the metro area.

Turner says, “We’re adding 20 stations in the next few months, changing our name to Heartland B-Cycle and we’re going to be the second multi-state bike sharing program in the country.” Turner says the organization is adding six kiosks in Council Bluffs and will have a total of 31 stations in the two-state area. Tourists and locals are using the bikes frequently and Turner says it’s a natural move to broaden the base across the Missouri.

Turner says, “People ride into Council Bluffs with B-Cycles every day so it just makes perfect sense to have stations there and we should be everywhere that bicyclists want to go and that’s Council Bluffs and Omaha.” Bike sharing stations will stretch from downtown Council Bluffs all the way to Village Pointe in west Omaha. You can purchase memberships with the group for 24-hours, 30-days or by the year. He says the addition of 20 kiosks and dozens of bikes will cost just under one-million dollars, with the money coming from private partnerships and grants, no tax dollars.

(Radio Iowa)