![]() ![]() Some other micromobility companies are less likely to work in small towns, or even small cities, because ridership may be too low to make it economical. Lamoni, an Iowa town with a college campus, wanted to offer bikes so students without cars would be more likely to shop at local businesses. Rock Valley, another small town in Iowa, wants to offer bikes to summer tourists at a local campground. “Having a bike-share program is going to only make that more likely.” The town is also small enough, she says, that it’s perfectly suited for running errands by bike. “We’re a rural area, and we’re looking for quality-of-life offerings for the people who want to move back, or have moved back, and trails rank very high,” says Carmella Schultes, who runs the Pocahontas Chamber of Commerce. That’s true in Pocahontas, where the town was lobbying for the extension of a county bike trail in the area, and saw the bikes as a way to prove interest in bike riding. This is a very low-cost, effective way of adding to that.” “And now they’re all talking about trying to compete to keep millennials in their town, or trying to get millennials to move back to their town, and how to develop infrastructure to recruit these millennials. “For a lot of these small towns, a real big pain point for them has been losing population for decades,” he says. ![]() In many cases, towns see bike-share programs as a way to help attract new residents. But Koloni, which is based in Pocahontas, saw the opportunity in small towns. The company also works in more expected areas one program will launch this spring at Northwestern University. “I think makes sense in a small town just as much as it does in a large metropolitan area,” says Brian Dewey, cofounder of Koloni. ![]()
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