Houston BCycle experiencing record ridership during COVID-19
Since COVID-19 hit, there have been less cars on the road and less people going into the office, but more Houstonians have been pedaling. Houston BCycle trips are on the rise.
“We saw an uptick back in spring break and then back in April we really started to see an increase and I think it was towards the end of April, month of May it just blew up,” said Thomas Epling, manager of the Houston BCycle shop.
They added another shift and hired four more mechanics to keep up with demand as Houston BCycle is experiencing their highest ridership ever.
“It just caused us to completely rethink how we do our operations, completely rethink how we are communicating with our riders and it’s exciting. It’s one of the silver linings of a really tough time,” explained Henry Morris who oversees communications and development for Houston BCycle.
BCycle has been seeing a steady increase over the years, but did not expect to see such a spike in the midst of the pandemic. More than 33,000 rides were recorded in May of this year, which is an all time high.
“On the one hand, I think you have a bigger need than ever before to have a safe outdoor forms of recreation and transportation and I think a lot of people have time to fill and they are stuck at home and are trying to get outside,” explained Morris
Biking is up nationwide during COVID-19 and there will soon be even more opportunity here in Houston as BCycle is in the midst of two expansion projects that will bring nearly fifty more stations and 400 more bikes by this time next year.
“As always we are adapting and getting better and the most important thing is that we are serving more people with more butts on bikes as we like to say,” said Morris.
If you or someone you know is looking for work, Houston BCycle is currently hiring contract mechanics.