An Independent Bikeshare Courtesy of an Independent Telecom Provider

“An issue our community is facing is connectivity,” says Matthew Dosch of Comporium. The connectivity issue is not a broadband one, as Comporium, has been a leader in bringing high-speed Internet and other cutting-edge communications services to the Rock Hill, South Carolina area for decades. The challenge has to do with the ease of moving within the downtown area and to the local university.

As a community leader, Comporium, which also has its headquarters in downtown Rock Hill, decided to sponsor a community bike-share program to provide an alternative way of getting around. This app-driven program is unique in that it offers bike reservations and the first 2 hours of use are free to the rider. There are charges if the rides extend beyond two hours, the bike is left outside the dedicated area and/or it is locked to a non-dedicated rack.

Dosch explains that Rock Hill is already bicycle-friendly and evidence of this is provided by the approximately 1,600 people who signed up for the service in the first four or five months of service. These people took approximately 3,000 trips over that same time period. He indicates that, during the summer when school is out and demand is lower, this translated into about twenty trips per weekday and forty on the weekend.

Their program is what could be considered a hybrid between dockless and bike rack sharing. Simply, there is a $5 charge if bikes are not left at one of their hubs (bike rack). As Dosch explains, Comporium is trying to be a good corporate citizen with its program and the reason for the hub is about “keeping the community neat.” In helping strengthen local business and allowing them to focus on what they do best, Comporium works with a local bike shop for bicycle repositioning and maintenance.

Comporium is working with a third-party vendor, Ride Gotcha, as the back-end supplier of bikes and app logistics. Ride Gotcha is vehicle neutral and can also manage electric scooters or car rideshare, providing a full complement of car ownership alternatives.

And Dosch points out that providing an alternative to car-centric living is important to attract Millennials to Rock Hill, as well as the employees Comporium needs (more on that topic in another interview with Dosch to be published in the near-future). Placemaking, so that all or most of the things needed for everyday living are within walking or biking distance, is important to this age group, according to Dosch.

Dosch points out that this program is part of the overall IoT story that has become a key part of their broadband offering and that the anonymized data is invaluable for understanding the movement of people and what those flows mean to the downtown’s ongoing development. Overall, Comporium is excited about the program and the positive impact it is having. Rock Hill is already considered the 49th best place to live, according to Time, and the direction this program represents can only mean its quality of life will continue to improve.

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