Portland will pilot Nike’s recycled rubber bike share stations

The City of Portland is rolling out 40 new Biketown stations with a new design and a new material: rubber mats made partly from the scraps of Nike shoes.

This is what happens when the title sponsor of your bike share station also happens to be the largest shoe company in the world.

Biketown operator Lyft sees the new station material — which is known as Nike Grind — as a way to deliver their service with a smaller environmental footprint.

Here’s more from a press statement:

“The rubber mats of the Lyft stations will be made with 25% Nike Grind rubber from Nike’s footwear manufacturing scraps in the top layer and 100% recycled tires in the bottom layer. The stations embrace the concept of circular economy by repurposing shoe scrap manufacturing waste and recycled tires.”

A spokesperson for Lyft said Portland will be the pilot city and will get 40 recycled rubber stations to start. E-bike share systems in Denver and Chicago will get the stations later this year.

I spotted one of the new stations a few days ago on the north side of NE Ainsworth Street just east of Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd (in front of Walgreens).

As you can see the new design has a smaller footprint than the previous locking station design. This will free up a bit more space and make the sidewalk a bit friendlier in general. This is important because PBOT seems to increasingly use Biketown stations to enhance safety and visibility at busy intersections. The new stations are also easier and quicker to install than previous versions, which should help PBOT add service to more areas beyond the central city core.

Lyft says the stations, “Perform an important placemaking function in cities by giving riders a reliable place to park e-bikes as part of Lyft’s efforts to build cities around people.”

— Jonathan Maus: (503) 706-8804, @jonathan_maus on Twitter and jonathan@bikeportland.org
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