Overland Park is set to launch an e-bike share program under the RideKC metrowide transportation network.
The new pilot is geared toward visitors coming to town for the FIFA World Cup next year and people who live and work in the community already.
The city’s latest pilot follows two past unsuccessful attempts to offer both electronic scooters and bikes in Overland Park that ended mid-program unexpectedly, though city staff expect this one to last.
On Monday, the Overland Park City Council narrowly voted 6-5 to move forward with negotiating an agreement with regional nonprofit BikeWalkKC to roll out 60 e-bikes, waiving the city’s typical procurement process.
One of the supporters of the pilot, Councilmember Logan Heley described it as a “really well thought-out proposal.”
“I think we’re at a point where we’ve got to put our money where our mouth is,” he said, alluding to past discussions of micromobility offerings in Overland Park. “We can really try this out at what’s a pretty reasonable cost, given how much we invest in other types of transportation. So I certainly support the proposal that’s outlined here.”
On the dissenting side — which included Councilmembers Amy Antrim, Josh Beck, Holly Grummert, Andrew Payne and Gregg Riess — reasons ran the gamut, including the consideration outside of the regular annual budgeting process, concern that the pilot was too big and worries over safety.
Previously, the Overland Park City Council Community Development Committee voted unanimously to recommend approval of the pilot. Later, the Public Works Committee was divided in its recommendation on the program. Since then, municipal elections replaced four seats on the city council with newcomers.
(Councilmember Amy Scrivner, who works for BikeWalkKC, abstained from discussing and voting on the agreement on Monday.)
60 e-bikes coming to Overland Park
Under the BikeWalkKC agreement, Overland Park will buy 60 RideKC e-bikes to start out, placing them in clusters of 10 or so bikes at six racks throughout the city. The racks will be placed primarily along Metcalf Avenue between downtown Overland Park and the Convention Center. Some bikes will also be deployed at Roe Park. These bikes will be pedal-assisted and throttle-free.
Users will access the bikes and pay for them through RideKC’s app, and all riders must be at least 18 years of age. Bikes must be returned to dedicated bike racks or designated parking hubs anywhere in the metro; otherwise, fees will continue to be charged. That lessens the chance e-bikes will be left strewn about on public sidewalks or in the wrong places, a common complaint about e-bikes and scooters deployed as part of past pilot programs.
On the administrative side of things, each bike comes with an average annual maintenance cost of roughly $1,700 a year, but BikeWalkKC handles the care, winter storage and other management tasks related to the bikes. That puts the maximum annual operating cost for the bike share pilot at $120,000, though that can be offset with user fees.
Additionally, Overland Park expects to pay no more than $350,000 upfront out of city contingency funds to cover the initial purchase of the bikes, the installation of the racks and other startup costs.
The bikes — which are typically stored during the winter months due to decreased demand — would likely be deployed sometime in early 2026.
How is BikeWalkKC pilot different than past arrangements?
Overland Park has tried to offer shared micromobility devices like e-bikes and e-scooters before through partnerships with Bird and Lime, but both companies pulled out before their respective pilots ended for various reasons.
That said, city staff have indicated that they expect this particular program will have more staying power since the e-bike provider has been operating in the region for more than a decade and already has some bikes at the Aspiria campus in Overland Park.
The bike share program does have upfront and annual operating costs associated with it, whereas those past programs were effectively free to the city. However, the city is likely to have more opportunities to recoup those costs by taking a larger share of user fees generated by RideKC bike riders.
However, by purchasing the bikes, the city is guaranteed that BikeWalkKC won’t up and leave without warning, as Bird and Lime did during their pilot programs.
Since the city council committees first started discussing the pilot with BikeWalkKC in October, other providers — including Bird, which had a failed pilot just a couple of years ago — reached out to the city about setting up programs ahead of the World Cup.
At this time, the city is proceeding with BikeWalkKC only, though Overland Park could enter into pilots or programs with other providers in the future.
In the past, Lenexa and the Johnson County Parks and Recreation District have explored the same bike share program with RideKC, and the shareable e-bikes are deployed in Kansas City, Missouri, and Kansas City, Kansas, as well.
Keep reading: Express bus line will connect Lenexa and OP to KCI during World Cup. Officials say it could become permanent.
