By Gregory Childress

gchildress@heraldsun.com; 918-1046

Chapel Hill — Imagine stepping off one of Chapel Hill’s free public buses, swiping a card at a smartly placed kiosk loaded with bikes, grabbing one and riding off into the sunset.

It could happen.

Two recent UNC graduates are pitching a proposal for a subscription-based and pay-per-use bike rental program called WeCycles that would provide bicycle rentals throughout the town of Chapel Hill and the UNC campus.

Hasan Abdullah and Ibraheem Khalifa said UNC Chancellor Holden Thorp already has expressed interest in the program, for which market research shows 60 percent of UNC’s students willing to pay an annual $40 membership to use.

At Thorp’s suggestion, Abdullah and Khalifa went before the Town Council last week to ask for support of the plan. They would primarily need the council’s permission to locate the kiosks near major bus stops in town. Stops on Weaver Dairy, Franklin Street and the UNC campus have been cited as potential locations.

“We’re focusing our locations primarily on major bus stations because we want to enhance the great free bus system that this city has already,” Abdullah said.

Abdullah added that the thinking behind locating kiosks near bus stops is that people who use the public bus system will be more inclined to grab a bike to complete their trip.

Council member Ed Harrison, a frequent bike rider, said he likes the idea, but warned that locating kiosks won’t be a simple task.

“I would like for you to proceed,” said Harrison, who noted that a similar program is being established in Greenville. “It’s not going to be all that easy.”

Users of the bike rental program would be able to swipe a UNC One Card, WeCycles card or credit card to unlock a bike.

According to Abdullah and Khalifa, the program would provide many benefits for the town of Chapel Hill, including national recognition for having a bike-sharing program that supplements a public bus system, helping the town further its sustainability goals and encouraging residents to become more physically fit.

“For the town of Chapel Hill, this should be an extension of your public transportation service,” Khalifa said. “It’s not something meant to supplant the existing bus system or any other existing transportation system the town has.”

Khalifa noted that similar programs are already popular in Europe and are becoming increasingly popular in the U.S. He mentioned programs in Washington, D.C., and Denver as leading the way in kiosk bicycle rentals in the U.S.

The matter was referred to Town Manager Roger Stancil for review.