FAQs

Bike sharing is a new way of getting around your community. It’s good for your health, your wallet, and the environment.  

Imagine a network of bike stations located within a few blocks of one another throughout your community. It’s a zero-hassle, zero-emissions way to get around town. 

RTC Bike Share is a next-generation bike-sharing program. It is a zero-hassle, zero-emissions way to get around town. It’s a bike-sharing program that meets the transportation, health, and environmental needs of our communities. One that adapts to any size city, corporation, or campus. It’s free and spontaneous, but also practical. 

As an RTC Bike Share passholder, you can unlock any of the bikes at any station and ride it to any other bike station. 

Imagine a bike that is always ready to ride, where and when you want to ride it. The tires are always inflated and the chain is never rusty. A bike already equipped with a basket, bell, adjustable seat, and front and rear lights. A bike that’s there whenever you need it, 24/7, and gone when you don’t. That’s RTC Bike Share. And it’s powered by the ultimate alternative fuel: you.

RTC Bike Share relies on the integration of hardware and software to keep track of account activity, bikes and all the interactions between users and bikes. Radio frequency (RFID) technology makes it possible for bike sharing to be smart and simple for users. 

All rides are tracked by the system and associated with members. Data such as distance, duration, calories burned, and carbon offset are captured and uploaded to passholder accounts on this website. 

The cost to use a RTC bike is divided into two components: a passholder fee and a usage fee.

Passholder Fee

The passholder fee provides unlimited access to the system for a specific period of time, ranging from 24 hours to 365 days. Usage fees are additional.

Usage Fee

Usage fees are charged based on the length of each ride or checking out an RTC Electric Bike. 

For Dasher Passholders: 

Trips that exceed 30 minutes will incur additional usage fees in 30-minute increments. 

For Explorer and Downtowner Passholders: 

Trips that exceed 60 minutes will incur additional usage fees in 60-minute increments. 

For full pricing on passholder options and usage, see our pricing page.

Bike rental is generally intended for longer term use – several hours or days at a time – like traditional car rental. Bike sharing, on the other hand, is more like a cab ride – short, point-to-point trips across town. Bikes in a bike-share system are available when you need them and safe and secure when you don’t! You can pick one up and return it at any bike share station, anytime.

Designed for durability and long life, each bike weighs approximately 45 lbs.

RTC Bike Share requires that all accounts be associated with a credit card or debit card.

A Passholder Card is available for all who register for an Explorer or Downtowner bike share pass online, requested upon signup. Passholder cards contain an RFID chip uniquely associated with each Passholder’s account. When the card is presented at a dock, the system verifies that the Passholder is in good standing and to associate the Passholder with the bicycle they are checking out. When a bicycle is returned, the system updates the Passholder’s account.

Passholder cards are issued to all Explorer and Downtowner Passholders, requested upon signup. Cards are generally sent in the mail following online registration. See our rates page for more details. 

The Passholder fee will be charged at the time of registration. Any applicable usage fees are applied 24 to 48 hours after the ride is completed.

For Dasher passes, any accrued usage fees will be charged 24 hours after the pass has expired.

Dasher passes purchased online or through the RTC Bike Share app expire 24 hours after the first ride taken, Explorer passes expire 30 days (720 hours) after the first ride taken, and Downtowner passes expire 365 days after the first ride taken.

Your pass begins the first time you check out a bike.

Explorer and Downtowner passes renew automatically. You can cancel or upgrade your pass anytime by logging in to My Account.

Call Customer Service immediately at 1-844-641-7823 so that we can suspend the card and prevent anyone else from using your card to gain access to a bicycle for which you are financially responsible. 

While waiting for your replacement card to arrive, you can check out bikes by using the phone number associated with your account at the kiosk or by downloading the RTC Bike Share app and using the mobile unlock option. 

The cost of replacing a lost card is $5. 

Call Customer Service if you don’t agree with any credit or debit card charges. 

All bike share passes are non-refundable and non-transferrable. You can cancel or suspend your pass anytime by logging in to My Account.

Upon presenting your Explorer or Downtowner Passholder card at a station kiosk or dock for authentication, the system checks whether your account is in good standing. If there is a problem, your card will be denied. Please call Customer Service to determine the cause of the problem.

When purchasing any pass online, passholders can choose whether they want to receive text notifications. Passholders can change that preference anytime thereafter by logging into My Account and managing their account settings.

Explorer and Downtowner Passholders can change their credit or debit card information by logging into their personal web page and managing their account settings.

Return a damaged bike to a station, if possible, or if that is not possible, contact Customer Service immediately. Do not ride a damaged bike. 

Passholders are financially liable for damages to bikes under their care. Refer to our Terms and Conditions. 

Contact Customer Service immediately if the bike is stolen. Under the Terms and Conditions agreed to upon registration, passholders may be liable up to a specified limit if a bicycle is stolen or lost while under their care.

Information about each member’s use of bikes is posted to that passholder’s personal profile. Passholders must log in to view the information, which includes the date and duration of each trip, the station from which the bike was checked out and the station to which the bike was returned, the distance pedaled, the usage fee (if any), the associated calories burned, and carbon offset.

RTC Bike Share bikes are equipped with an RFID chip that tracks the bike’s trips. After this information is transferred to RTC Bike Share’s computers, algorithms translate the trip information into estimates of the number of calories burned and carbon emissions avoided (as compared to the use of an average automobile for the same trip). If there are technical errors with the data collection or transfer, an estimate will be applied and clearly noted as such.

When purchasing a pass online or through the RTC Bike Share app, more than one pass can be associated with a credit card.