WHEELING, W.VA. – With the onset of spring and warmer temperatures, the City of Wheeling’s bike share program is ready for riders.
Through a partnership with The Health Plan, the bike share program launched in October 2019 but did not see any activity in 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions. Director of Parks and Recreation Rochelle Barry said the bikes, stationed near the front entrance to WesBanco Arena and adjacent to Heritage Trail, are back and ready for use.
“For $2 an hour, the public can access bicycles on a short-term basis. All you need is the MOVATIC app on your smartphone and you’ll be ready to hit the trail,” she said, noting Wheeling’s program consists of 10 bikes. “These bikes are designed for leisure riding by adults and are considered a shared asset amongst the community. This provides an additional opportunity for people to enjoy our wonderful trails.”
The fees collected from the bicycle rentals go towards the maintenance of the program.
Once the MOVATIC app is downloaded to a smartphone, the user will need to create an account, enter a credit card number and follow the prompts. Location services and Bluetooth must be enabled on the phone for this system to work.
“Users will then be able to undock their bikes from the solar powered stand,” she said. “To return the bike, the rider will simply roll the bike to the docking station, secure the lock to the rack pin and press the ‘end rental’ button on the app.”
Barry added that, in the future, she hopes to expand the bike share to other locations throughout the City to trailheads in places like Warwood, Elm Grove, Clator and Centre Market.
For more information on the bike share program, visit wheelingwv.gov/bike-share.
