Design Review Approves Concept for Bike Share Stations

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The city’s Design Review committee approved an “overall concept” to install up to three electric bicycle charging stations downtown.

The recommendation was made under the condition that the company, YoGo Bikeshare, return to the board with more detailed renderings.

“It looks like the city’s on board with us starting in downtown,” said Ronnell Elkins, co-owner of YoGo. “That’s huge for us.”

YoGo wants to install three charging and docking stations that are able to accommodate 15 electric-powered bikes each.  Elkins says the company received its first bikes today. “We’re going to start out with 30,” he said.

The company has tentatively selected three sites – on the west end of downtown at Fifth Avenue and East Federal Streets, another in the parking lot behind the Realty Building on Champion Street, and a third fronting the Youngstown Flea on East Federal Street.

The main concern of the board was where to place the stations in the midst of a flurry of downtown road construction that began this year.

“The next step is to get the renderings in place and figure out where they’re going to go” as construction continues.

Elkins said he hopes to start construction on docking stations at the Fifth Avenue and Realty Building sites within 30 days. Once they’re installed, YoGo will test the bikes over the summer. “Our season will launch March of 2023,” he says.

Under YoGo Bikeshare plans to provide downtown with a “bike sharing” transportation option that would make bikes available for public use at various charging stations downtown.

Rides can span from 20 to 30 minutes, depending on which pricing model a customer follows. If the bicycle is not docked by the allotted time, the rider is assessed 10 cents a minute in overtime charges.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.