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Can you imagine biking down the middle of Waikiki’s bustling Kalakaua Avenue? You’ll have the opportunity to do so this Sunday morning thanks to the new Open Street Sundays initiative, organized by the City & County of Honolulu and Hawaii Bicycling League! From 6am to noon, a section of this busy four-lane street, typically jam-packed with cars and stop-and-go traffic, will be closed off to vehicles and open to bikers, walkers and runners. Learn more >>
A huge mahalo to rider Chris T, who recently adopted a Biki! As the adopter of 1 of our 1300 bikes, Chris provided an inscription "One less car on the road HBL.org" that we placed on the bike's chain guard. He is now able to track his bike and its impacts through our online dashboard, which provides information about the number of riders served, emissions avoided, CO2 burned and miles traveled.
Why did you decide to adopt a Biki?
During this pandemic, my wife & I are fortunate to not have had our jobs or incomes impacted. We picked three charities to distribute our "Economic Impact Payment" who would do far more good with the funds than we would. Biki released details about a dropoff in ridership, and I don't want our local bikeshare to be another victim of this disease.
How did you choose your message?
I had initially tried some clever attempt at humor. My wife suggested something more serious, so we decided to highlight the value of having Biki available as an alternative to driving. We had a few extra characters, so we included the website of the Hawaii Bicycling League (hbl.org), which helps advocate for more biking infrastructure.
How does Biki benefit the community?
My neighborhood of Makiki is about 3 miles from the major work centers of downtown and Waikiki. This distance is a suitable amount to allow commuters to ride a bike instead of driving a car, and Biki provides this option to those who cannot own or store a bike themselves. Benefits of making this switch include reduced car traffic, increased exercise, and less fighting for parking.
Are you a Biki rider? And if so, what do you like about it?
While I have my own bike, I still find time to use Biki. Biki has the advantage for one-way bike trips, as well as for those where I'd worry about the security of my own bike. I had my lights stolen once, and it was an unpleasantly dark ride home.
All Adopt-a-Biki donations go to Bikeshare Hawaii, the 501(c)3 non-profit that manages the Biki program. These donations directly support community outreach, events, education workshops, and safety and access programming.
Biking is booming during COVID-19, Hawaii Bicycling League celebrates Bike Month in June with virtual workshops, webinars and trivia nights, Biki partners with Farm Link Hawaii to raise awareness about local food sourcing and more.
A new bike design has hit the streets! We're excited to partner with Farm Link Hawai'i and Elemental Excelerator to support local farms and increase awareness about local food sourcing.
What is Farm Link Hawaii?
Launched in 2015, Farm Link Hawai‘i has helped 200 local farms distribute and market their products to 1,400 unique buyers. Their online marketplace, decentralized cold storage hubs, and delivery network allow local farmers to sell to commercial and household buyers across Oʻahu while minimizing marketing and distribution costs.
"After the COVID-19 shelter-in-place order in Hawai‘i, local growers saw a sharp decline in restaurant and farmers’ market sales," states Rob Barreca, CEO and Founder of Farm Link Hawai'i. "At the same time, demand from individual households on the Farm Link online marketplace increased by 3,000%, with over 5,800 new sign-ups during March and April. To ensure farmers keep planting and the community keeps eating, Farm Link transformed its operation to help local farmers with direct-to-consumer sales and home delivery. Farm Link is also working to be able to accept SNAP-EBT sometime during the summer."
Farm Link bike artwork designed by Clutch Designs.
Bikeshare Hawaii is a part of Elemental Excelerator's 8th cohort. Elemental's mission is to accelerate solutions to urgent environmental challenges and deploy them in the communities that need them the most. As a part of Elemental's 8th cohort, Bikeshare Hawaii was awarded funding, coaching, and other resources to expand its positive impact on our communities and environment. To support Elemental's mission and share a message of local resilience, 50 Biki bikes now feature another local Elemental Cohort 8 company: Farm Link Hawaiʻi.
Farm Link Hawai'i is a platform to connect small farmers with families and businesses. Farm Link Hawai'i is now expanding food delivery to families at home, scaling the supply of fresh food from neighbor islands, and deepening their operations and logistics capacity in support of Hawai'i's local food system.
Why does Elemental Excelerator support Bikeshare Hawaii?
Bikeshare Hawaii provides our residents and visitors with a much needed low-cost, convenient and zero-emissions transportation that is healthy for users and the environment. Bikeshare is a fun way to unlock the benefits and beauty of Honolulu. A single Elemental-sponsored Biki has the potential to serve nearly 2500 riders, travel more than 6700 miles, and save 2219.9 lbs of carbon annually (compared to a car). Multiply that by 50 (for each Farm Link Hawaiʻi bike) to see the positive impact that Bikeshare Hawaii and Biki have had on our communities and environment.
WANT TO BE ON THE BIKES?
Bikeshare Hawaii is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that relies solely on sponsorships, donations and grants to carry out our mission. We recognize are top supporters on the bikes, and install their artwork on the baskets and wheel covers of a portion of our fleet. If you are interested in working with us to increase access and expand mobility options while bringing health and environmental benefits to our community, please get in touch!
Many have asked how Biki is doing throughout this pandemic. Is ridership down? Will we continue to operate despite the extended stay-at-home orders?
In short, yes. We are working very hard to continue to provide the 24/7 service many residents have come to depend on, despite a significant drop in ridership. To give some perspective, 1,413 trips were taken yesterday, compared to 4,312 trips on the same day last year. While we love and miss seeing more people on bikes, we’re happy that our riders are complying with the current stay-at-home orders and using Biki for essential trips only.
UPDATE: The Pensacola Protected Bike Lane celebrated the official opening on Friday, September 25. The two-way protected bike lane spans from Wilder Street to Kapiolani Boulevard on the Diamond Head side of the street. This project is one of the Department of Transportation Services complete streets initiatives, and a step towards increasing the connectivity and safety of our community. Learn more.
What will it look like?
Image: Honolulu Complete Streets
The Pensacola project will look similar to the King Street and South Street protected bike lanes (completed in 2014 and 2017): a two-way protected lane on a one-way street. This means that, while drivers can only travel in the mauka to makai direction, cyclists can ride both ways. This design provides the necessary space and protection for cyclists while reducing the risk of collisions with vehicles.
According to Hawaii Bicycling League, shortly after the completion of the projects, bicycling increased on King St by 125% and on South St by 381%!
Who will it serve?
The Pensacola protected bike lane will create a safe bicycle route to Makiki and Ala Moana/Kakaako, connecting riders to their homes, places of employment, and popular destinations such as Ala Moana Beach Park and Ala Moana Shopping Center. It will conveniently intersect King Street, one of the most popular routes for bike commuters.
Several Biki Stops are already located on or within close proximity to the route. See map.
Construction is expected to conclude this summer!
For more information on this project and other infrastructure updates, please visit: honolulu.gov/completestreets/urbancore
Screenshot from Biki Mobile App
A note from Todd Boulanger, Executive Director
As an Environmental Planner (UH Manoa) reflecting on the 50th Anniversary of EARTH DAY and living through the period that led to its creation; I can say one of the greatest lessons learned is that avoidance of damage is a much better solution than mitigation (a fancy word for cleaning up a mess). My father, a chemical engineer, a mid-century man of the pre-Earth Day era, was trained to approach ‘pollution solutions’ first through mitigation, as one of his favorite sayings to me growing up was “the solution to pollution is dilution”.
So, you ask, ‘how does Biki and bike share fit into mitigation versus avoidance’? Well, by exchanging a motor vehicle trip for a human powered bicycle trip you are avoiding the creation of much of the vehicle emissions tied to moving around our city quickly and conveniently, like half of our members reported doing. In 2019 you and your fellow Biki riders rode 1.37 million rides for an estimated 2.7 million miles in town. This quantity of miles would typically generate 3.3 million pounds of CO2 emissions by cars. But, instead of waiting for planted trees to grow and absorb these gases, they are never created. Put it simply, it is like 323 cars being removed from the town.
Plus, there are other “me” benefits like losing weight or gaining muscle tone as you ride to your meetings or to see friends. I mean how many other environmental solutions are fun AND make you smile as you just live and go about your normal day?
CALCULATE YOUR IMPACT
Car vs. Bike Calculator
At this time, we have been instructed to continue operations to support the transportation needs of our community. The Biki system is currently operating 24/7 and we are working diligently to ensure bikes are available during this challenging time. We want to share the actions we’re taking to help protect you — and what you can do to stay healthy.
The health and safety of the Biki community is our priority.
UPDATE: POSTPONED DUE TO COVID-19
This event has been postponed until further notice. We will update this page with more information.
The King Street Protected Bikeway serves thousands of riders every day who depend on the bikeway as a safe route to commute to work, run errands and exercise.
On April 21, Bikeshare Hawaii and Hawaii Bicycling League will be hosting an event to beautify the bikeway that supports our riders and Honolulu cyclists on a daily basis! This is an official event of Volunteer Week, taking place from April 19-25 and coinciding with Earth Day.
Volunteer Week is an annual, week-long event hosted by Kanu Hawaii. This statewide, cross-sector campaign brings together 5000+ residents, visitors, nonprofits, businesses, schools, and government agencies in a concerted effort to take grassroots action that serves our communities. This year marks the 50th anniversary of Volunteer Week and begins with a kickoff at the Capital on April 17.
WHEN: April 21, 4:30 - 6:30pm
Meet at the park on the corner of King and Keeaumoku under the HBL tent to sign in and pick up supplies. We'll break into groups of 6 and tackle different sections of the 2-mile lane. Volunteers will either be sweeping, realigning the protective barriers, or picking up litter along the path.
Please bring:
- Reusable water bottle
- Great attitude!
- Bike or your Biki Pass (optional)
We'll provide:
- Safety vests
- Trash bags and gloves
- Healthy snacks
We'll reconvene at 6pm to munch on healthy snacks donated by Blue Zones Project Hawaii 4M.
Questions?
Email Kelsey@bikesharehawaii.org if you want to participate or support this event!
The King Street Bikeway is a 2 mile protected lane stretching from Moiliili (Isenberg Street) to Downtown (South Street) where to connects to the Civic Center Path. The project initially was a one-way lane, completed in 2014. It was converted to a 2-two bicycle facility in 2015, allowing cyclists to ride in both directions.
DID YOU KNOW?
Just months after the construction of the path and installation of barriers, the number of people biking on King Street increased by 71%. In the same period, the number of bikes on the sidewalk plummeted 65%.
When cities make part of a street comfortable to bike in, people naturally choose to use it. King Street is a great example of this.
