Parks department bringing Bike Share program to Shelbyville

parks-department-bringing-bike-share-program-to-shelbyville

Over the next 30 days, the Shelbyville Parks and Recreation Department will have new basketball courts available at Morrison Park, newly-created pickleball courts at Blue River Memorial Park, and a Bike Share program up and running in Shelbyville.

The Bike Share program has been a project parks director Trisha Tackett has been pursuing for months.

“Back in March, I was looking at opportunities in other communities to see what they have and what they offer and decided why can’t Shelbyville do it,” said Tackett after Wednesday’s parks department board meeting. “At that point, I went on a mission to decide how can we do this because budgeting is always an issue. I started seeking partners to see who would help us bring this to the community.”

With the help of the Blue River Community Foundation, the Shelby County Tourism and Visitors Bureau, MHP Major Health Partners and Duke Energy, the parks department is purchasing 15 custom bicycles from Dynamic Bicycles, a provider of custom-branded bicycles for bike share systems, that will be available for use in the city.

There will be three bicycle checkout stations located at Blue River Memorial Park, the Public Square and the Trailhead building at the North Harrison St. bridge. A total of 24 docking stations will be available.

The checkout process is controlled by the On Bike Share App where personal information and a valid debit or credit card must be on file to borrow a bicycle.

There is no fee to rent the bicycles. Renters must be at least 18 years of age.

The traditional bicycles will have a custom paint scheme matching the parks department colors.

“All of our partners have been awesome and absolutely think this will be a lot of fun for our community,” said Tackett. “And this helps promote our trails (system) too.”

The order for custom bicycles has been completed with a turnaround time of approximately three weeks, according to Tackett.

The mounting brackets for the new basketball goals at Morrison Park will be installed this week. Once finished, the return of dedicated basketball goals to Morrison Park will be complete.

Located at the former skate park, the goals will be available during normal park hours. The gated area will be locked overnight.

The second layer of asphalt is going down today at the new pickleball courts at Blue River Memorial Park. Once completed, the pickleball court playing surface can then be installed with the goal of making the courts available in October.

The parks department will once again host Halloween Fun at the Park on Oct. 27. Wristbands to participate in the event are on sale now -- $8 for children 12 and under or $10 at the event.

Call a parks department representative at 317-392-5128 for more information.

Get the most recent Shelby County Post headlines delivered to your email. Go to shelbycountypost.com and click on the free daily email signup link at the top of the page.