With the New Pace ABQ Bike Share, CNM Unleashes Pedal Power

Ever tried to leave CNM’s Main Campus for lunch? It takes at least 15 minutes to get over to Central—by foot or by car—wasting 30 minutes of time you probably don’t have. But what if you had a bike? That commute would drop to 10 minutes tops, making your trip significantly easier and more appealing.

Or, what about trying to walk from one end of campus to the other. It’s hot out there, right? With a bike you could reduce that to just a couple minutes, and you could walk into class cool and calm instead of hot, sweaty, and rushed.  

Bikes create a lot of convenience here on campus, and that’s why CNM is partnering with the Pace Bike Share program to install racks where students, staff, and faculty can rent or return any one of 250 commuter bikes being used around the city.

“We’re thrilled to provide our students and employees with convenient access to this Pace Bike Share service,” said Molly Blumhoefer, CNM’s Sustainability Project Manager. “It will give our students and employees a convenient and healthy transportation option while reducing traffic in the busy areas around Main Campus and the University Area. CNM is committed to supporting sustainability and eco-friendly practices on our campuses and in the community, and the implementation of this bike service at CNM is another great step in the right direction.”

Val Hermanson, the Rio Metro program manager who set up Albuquerque’s bike share partnership with Pace, says there are added benefits to consider. “People who bike are healthier and happier, too.”

How Pace ABQ Bike Share Works

• Albuquerque currently has 250 Pace bikes. Each bike costs $1 for 30 minutes and you can rent a bike for up to 24 hours at a time.
• To rent, download the Pace app and enter your credit card, PayPal, or Apple Pay info. You can also buy rental credits with cash.
• Bikes are stored at, and can be rented from, any dedicated Pace bike rack or any public bike rack.
• Find the nearest rack via the Pace app. CNM’s racks are located at the south end of the SSC building and just west of the JS building. The app will also tell you whether there are bikes available.
• The app on your phone unlocks the bike’s built-in lock when you’re ready to ride. It also locks the bike when you’re done.
• Regular rider? Pace offers a $30 monthly subscription where you get unlimited one-hour rides.
• And, students at CNM receive a big discount off the monthly plan. For the first three months, students will get unlimited 60-minute rides for $5 per-month. Afterwards, it will cost students $10 per-month for unlimited rides.

About The Program

In Albuquerque, the Pace program is already a smashing hit. Since launching in April of this year, Pace bikes have been used for over 9,000 trips and the program has 4,000 members. The pilot bike share program that came before Pace—which was called BICI—also made important gains. For example, according to national statistics, men are more likely to ride bikes, but thanks to the accessibility and ease-of-use, 51-percent of BICI’s members were women.

Hermanson says that one important component of the program is that bike share appeals to a large audience. In a city where equity is an important and timely topic, Pace bikes have opened the door to an affordable option for people who might not own a car but still need to get around. At the same time, bike shares are also being used by riders in high income brackets who see the benefits.

“In many ways, the bikes are great equalizers,” she says.

As Pace continues to grow—the Rio Metro has federal funding and hopes to have a total of 750 bikes down the road—it could play an important role in both transportation and the city’s  economic growth.

For example, restaurants located near a bike share station in New York saw business grow between two and five percent in the years after the station was added, according to a study by researchers at New York University,

If the city keeps investing in broader bike infrastructure—better and more paths, incentives for local business, etc.— the gains will also spread across the state. Case in point: Minnesota, which has long invested in its bike culture, drew in $261 million from bike-related industries (tourism, manufacturing, sales, etc.) way back in 2009 and that money helped support 5,000 jobs and produce $35 million in taxes.  

“Albuquerque already has roughly 400 miles of bikeways and trails, but as we increase our premium infrastructure, we’re going to see a large uptick in new riders and benefits,” Hermanson says.

Check out a video of the Pace Bike Share racks being installed on Main Campus and see exactly where they're located.