The City of Huntsville, Cummings Research Park (CRP), and Downtown Huntsville, Inc. (DHI) came together last week to announce three pilot Blue Bikes Bike Share stations in CRP West.

Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle was in attendance at the announcement, which took place at The Point @ Lake 4 Station, located at 900 Explorer Boulevard.

The other two CRP West Blue Bikes Bike Share stations are Discovery Station, located at 635 Discovery Drive, and Enterprise Station, located near 1051 Enterprise Way (at the Enterprise/Discovery intersection). Eight bikes will be located at each of the three stations, for a total of 24 bikes.

The announcement comes at the perfect time, as May is National Bike Month. This month also marks Downtown Huntsville, Inc’s 10th anniversary of the downtown’s Blue Bikes Bike Share program.

“The bike stations [in CRP West] are positioned near some of our largest companies, and we encourage people to take a ride during their lunch break, to a nearby meeting, or in the morning or afternoon when they might want to get some fresh air and spark an idea during some exercise,” said Erin Koshut, CRP Executive Director.

The Point @ Lake 4 Station is an easy riding distance to Bridgestreet, where CRP employees can grab some lunch.

The University Drive Target, Phil Sandoval’s, and The Collins Apartments are just a few spots that are easily accessed from the Discovery and Enterprise Stations.

Huntsville Urban Bike Share Coop (HUBS) will be providing maintenance services for the bikes.

Rob Buddo, President and CEO of DHI, hopes that the bike share network will continue to expand as Huntsville grows.

“We’re evaluating all the stations and we’re leveraging some of the bike and pedestrian improvements that the city has made,” said Buddo. “We’re looking at where apartments are popping up, where new community amenities are popping up, and trying to make sure that there are stations that match those locations. And really trying to move this system from being a recreational-type system to being a legitimate transportation system.”

To check out a bike, cyclists will download the Movatic app, available on the App Store and Google Play, and create an account. The cost is $2.00 per half hour of riding or $30 for an annual membership. Riders will be prompted to scan a QR code or enter the bike’s number to unlock the bike from the rack.

Bikes can be returned to any station, all of which are displayed on the Movatic app.

Cyclists are encouraged to bring their own helmet when they plan to ride, as helmets are not provided at the stations.

The CRP West and Downtown Huntsville, Inc.’s bike share programs will be on the same system. They will use the same app and both are sponsored by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama. Redstone Federal Credit Union is an additional sponsor of bikes within CRP.