TuGo Bikes
By Marlene Avelino
July 28, 2023
TuGo bikes parked at a TuGo station.
It’s hard to think about riding a bike when it's 109 degrees out but the more cars on the road, the hotter our days will become and since this last week was the hottest ever recorded, that’s food for thought…According to the USDOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, 52% of all daily trips taken in 2021 were less than 3 miles. If we could replace half those vehicle trips with an alternate form it would make a huge impact.
Perhaps you’ve noticed the yellow bikes around town? Sturdy and bright, the TuGo Bike system is city owned. Bike share systems have popped up in cities around the world for decades to support micro-mobility - the ability to go short distances, on low impact vehicles, usually bicycles and scooters. Tucson set up Tugo in 2017, has 330 bikes and 41 stations throughout town. To date, 103,435 trips have been taken since the launch with 14,834 trips taken in 2022 alone. Tucson also has an e-scooter program, with bright orange electric scooters owned by Spin which are permitted to operate in the City limits.
Ben Elias, a lead planner at the Department of Transportation and Mobility recently visited the Ward 3 office to discuss this city resource and explore ways of increasing their use.
“Operating e-scooter and bike share is a great way to provide safer, less-expensive, more equitable and sustainable mobility options across Tucson. Systems like ours can contribute to a healthier, more vibrant and resilient community and act as an essential service like public transit. It also compliments other ways of getting around, folks may take a bike or e-scooter on just that first or last mile of their trip and arrive safely and efficiently,” Ben shared.
Ben Elias, Lead Planner with the Department of Transportation & Mobility.
Ward 3 currently has 4 TuGo bike stations; at the southeast corner of Pima Community College Downtown Campus, Park Ave and Lester St, Mountain Ave and Copper St, and Campbell Ave and Copper St. To use a bike you can download the PBSC app on a smartphone and create an account or you can go to a docking station with a kiosk and use a credit, debit, or prepaid card.
Once you pay your bike is unlocked from the dock and you can be on your way. Your ride must also end at a docking station. The Pay as You Go is $1 to unlock and 0.25 cents per minute of ride time. There is also a monthly option for $18, an annual pass for $80, and a Tugo for All yearly pass for $5. That last option is for those already enrolled in SNAP, Medicaid or SunTran Economy fareplan.
In our meeting with Ben we discussed ways to make the bike share program more accessible and functional for a wider audience. We do not currently have the funding to add more bikes/docking stations so we are looking at low-performing stations to move around. We are also discussing adding more robust baskets so people can take a short trip to a grocery store or run errands.
For transportation, convenience or enjoyment, the city and your neighborhood looks different on a bike and our bodies feel good when we move them. There are many reasons to ride a bike and even more reasons for the city to make them accessible for all (or more, at least!)
The Ward 3 staff Shannon, CJ, Council Member Dahl and Mike riding TuGo bikes during the Downtown Parade of Lights in 2022.