Need a ride? Bike share programs crop up around Triangle

For people who want to ride a bike around town but don't want to invest in owning one, new bike sharing programs are making it possible to cruise without buying.

Many college students, like the ones at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, have their own bikes to get around. But the Tar Heel Bikes program is making shared bikes available to students and the public alike.

The university's transportation director said they installed 100 bikes over the school's fall break at docks across campus. The program took off quickly.

"By the following Tuesday, we had 400 people signed up," said Cheryl Stout, UNC's transportation director.

Anyone can download an app, check out a bike and ride free for up to an hour a day. Students and university employees get up to two hours a day for free.

Bike sharing is not a new concept around the country, but it's a pretty fresh idea in the Triangle. Tar Heel Bikes is just getting started in Chapel Hill, but another program has already taken hold in Raleigh.

North Carolina State University introduced a bike sharing service over the summer called Lime Bike, and the City of Raleigh is getting ready to introduce a bike sharing program next year.

Welcome to the era of on-demand transportation.

"It's kind of that same shared service mentality like Uber or Lyft, but instead of sharing a car, you're sharing a bike service," said Sarah O'Brien, who studies the use of bikes for NC State's Institute for Transportation Research and Education.

O'Brien said the short-term, inexpensive rentals make bikes a viable option for more people.

"People are starting to move away from being in their cars all the time, and they want access to other forms of transportation," O'Brien said.

Raleigh's bike share program plans to have 300 bikes at 30 stations around the city. Organizers hope to launch the service next May.

Durham is also looking into its own bike share program.