When Hurricane Francine swept through New Orleans in early September, the city came out relatively unscathed compared to past storms. But the city’s Blue Bikes system suffered a big blow.
At least 80 bikes were knocked out of service due to Francine, according to an initial tally from Blue Krewe, the nonprofit group that runs the city’s bike share program. The number could be higher because staff are still surveying mechanical damage to the fleet, said Patrick Urbine, the program’s interim executive director.
“Blue Krewe is still in the process of fully understanding the storm's impact on the fleet and will have a better picture in weeks to come,” he said.
The storm damage is just one of several headwinds that have worked against bike availability this fall. A shortage of mechanic labor, supply chain issues and theft have also eaten into the number of Blue Bikes available at any given time.
The nonprofit owns 768 bikes total. But since the beginning of August, the average daily number of bikes available to rent has dropped to just 221, according to data from Blue Krewe.
That’s down from a daily average of 448 bikes in 2022. In 2023, the number was 326.
“Bike availability is not where I wish it was,” Urbine said. “But I think where we're at is a moment of transition.”
Blue Krewe has big plans. The nonprofit is working on new partnerships to make supply chains for mechanical parts more reliable, Urbine said. And negotiations are ongoing with a newly-formed union representing mechanics, which should lead to better jobs and training.
Money is pouring in too. The city recently received over $13 million in federal grants to grow Blue Bikes, which marked the first major taxpayer investment into the city’s bikeshare program. The grants should get over 2,000 new bikes rolling over the next five years, according to the city’s Office of Resilience and Sustainability
City officials say that will help turn the tide on the fleet’s depleted state.
“Addressing these issues and restoring a robust fleet of operable bikes is a top priority for the City of New Orleans, and we are actively collaborating with Blue Krewe to resolve these challenges,” a spokeswoman for the office said in an email.
But for the meantime, availability remains tight.
‘A constant experiment’
The history of bike share programs in New Orleans is full of fits and starts.
Their story can be traced back to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, when the city was redesigning its transportation system. Micromobility services, such as e-bikes and scooters, were gaining popularity across the country.
A team of local advocates and Entergy ran New Orleans’ first bike share pilot program during the 2013 Super Bowl.
From there, the city permitted an out-of-state company called Social Bicycles to launch a service called Blue Bikes. The company, later renamed Jump, rolled out over 700 public bikes in 2017. The program was popular, Urbine said, generating over 1 million trips in its first few years.
Uber later acquired the company just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Through 2020, ridership plummeted and Uber sold off the bikes to Lime, which later dissolved its bikeshare business.
Local bike advocates rallied to save the service. Along with Blue Cross Blue Shield and the Greater New Orleans Foundation, the coalition decided to put ownership under a local nonprofit called Blue Krewe to guide it forward.
The organization launched in the summer of 2021. But a few days after going live, Hurricane Ida hit New Orleans.
“The bikes had to be left out because there wasn't hardly any time for folks to evacuate,” Urbine said. “It also messed up the energy supply for our e-bikes.”
Despite Ida, the service bounced back. Riders have taken over 785,000 trips over the three years that followed. Blue Bikes has also launched a popular subsidized membership program for low-income residents.
But there have also been a number of “surprise difficulties,” Urbine said.
Staffing has been an issue, especially since there’s a national shortage of e-bike mechanics.
Blue Krewe’s key part vendors in China have seen supply chain disruptions too, which makes it hard to quickly replace missing parts like batteries and seats. Theft and vandalism has knocked out 566 bikes, the nonprofit estimates.
Blue Krewe’s mechanics also unionized last fall, and terms of their first contract are still under negotiation.
Throughout it all, the nonprofit has carried on, Urbine said.
“Bike share is kind of this constant experiment,” Urbine said. “It’s never been entirely perfect, but like all things in New Orleans it’s the community that is propelling things forward.”
Riders, city see promise
Despite a rollercoaster few years, the bikes have a devoted following.
Bywater resident Tyler Van Dyke uses Blue Bikes about three to five times a week to get to work across town, where he guides street art tours. A hub sits across from his house, but it normally only has one or two operational bikes, he said.
“Overall I love the service and I’m excited to see how they improve,” he said, adding that he sometimes has to walk four or five blocks to a rack near a community center, which usually has more bikes.
“Even though I have to walk a couple blocks, I’m still getting a lot of bang for my buck,” he said.
Leaders and bike share advocates say new grants will reduce inconveniences riders like Van Dyke experience. Most come from federal climate change mitigation initiatives.
The largest – $11.8 million from the EPA – will help Blue Krewe purchase thousands more bikes and expand their range to “historically underserved areas.” Dillard University is also chipping in $100,000 from a similar federal grant program to set up bike racks on campus.
A $1.7 million grant from the Department of Energy will go towards propping up a workforce training project meant to increase the number of e-bike mechanics in the city. Blue Bikes currently employs fewer than 20 mechanics, a number the organization hopes to increase.
Other potential improvements include better locking mechanisms and more administrative staff. The grants will also pay for seven new miles of protected bikeways adjacent to New Orleans’ Central Business District.
That construction will help build on years of efforts to create protected bike lanes and make using the fleet safer, said Allene La Spina, the executive director of Bike Easy, a local cycling advocacy group that has long supported bike share programs.
“There’s a light at the end of the tunnel,” La Spina said. “People are starting to invest in the network.”