Sioux Falls e-bike rental service making good first impressions

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) - This month, a short-term electric bike rental service was introduced to downtown Sioux Falls after months of work to get it up and running.

E-bikes seen in Sioux Falls with a sleek black design belong to Jaunt Micro Mobility LLC . Co-owners Kallie Larsen and Samantha O'Neil hope to make a splash as more people find their service and they believe that it's slowly catching on.

"That's kind of the thing that people think of us is that we're some big moguls that showed up and we're going to just take this over, but we're from Sioux Falls and we created this for Sioux Falls specifically, so it differs in a way that it's community-based and tailored to this city," O'Neil explained.

They got the idea for the new business after taking a trip with friends to the Twin Cities. They had seen short-term rentals of scooters and bikes

"We started researching and looking into every single bike share service," said Kallie Larsen. "We did tons of research prior to even getting our bike models or anything like that. We built it from the ground up for about a year, year and a half."

"[We were] wondering why there wasn't a more community-based option and why that option wasn't available at all for electric mobility in Sioux Falls," O'Neil recalled.

While it's similar to short-term electric scooter rentals that didn't get approved a few years ago, Downtown Sioux Falls President Joe Batcheller said that following city and state laws were easier with bikes. The biggest issues with scooters were safety concerns. A city ordinance change was discussed to allow electric scooters on the roads, but after that stalled, residents and business owners raised concerns over safety while driving on sidewalks and finding locations to park them. E-bikes staying off of sidewalks help make it safer and e-bikes can be parked out of the way.

"The bikes are allowed by state statute to be on streets," Batcheller explained. "There are bike racks downtown where these bikes can be parked and the operators of Jaunt are trying to be very mindful of where people can park at the end of their ride."

Following city bike path rules is part of the guidelines that riders need to accept in the app before unlocking the bike, which includes speed limits and parking in designated locations.

"We've worked with the city massively between making sure we are following the safety ordinances and rules they have and making that available to our riders that may have never ridden electric bikes before," O'Neil said. "There are enough spaces and bike racks that we're using that make it accessible for our riders, but we're limiting the number of bikes that are on those racks so we're not just hoarding it all and not leaving space for residential riders or overcrowding every area which is a lot of what we saw with those big name brands."

Batcheller said that the early reception that he has seen and heard has been positive for the most part.

"I think that people have been cautiously optimistic," Batcheller said. "I think that for the residents of downtown, it is by and large welcomed. I went on a ride earlier this week for the first time and it was great."

Through their app, anyone can find a map of e-bikes in the city and when in front of an e-bike, individuals can pay and unlock it.

"Once you've been registered, once you go through all of that, it's very, very easy," described Larsen. "You find a bike, you scan the QR code, hit start ride and then you can go. You can pause the ride at any time."

The ownership duo is thankful for those who have been willing to try it out already and they're working to improve the service and address feedback as they pedal along.

"I'd say the most gratifying thing is just finally completing the project and seeing people out enjoying it, seeing in the dashboard where riders are stopping at businesses downtown," said O'Neil. "We're working on developing the app and developing our system because nobody else in Sioux Falls has done this."

"Everybody's been so wonderful and receptive and excited not only for the program, but for us as another small business," Larsen said. "The Chamber [of Commerce] has been incredibly welcoming. Some downtown businesses have already looked to join and support us. We're just incredibly grateful for the reception that we've received. There is feedback, but we've taken that feedback and we are working on it. We want this to work for Sioux Falls, for the residents and we will do our very best to combat any hiccups along the way."

Jaunt Micro Mobility hopes to expand outside of downtown, but that will be a gradual process as they work with the entities involved.

"We love downtown. It's a beautiful place, but we've already heard from our riders that they want to the mall, they want to go to 85th Street and Minnesota Avenue, they want to go everywhere, so expanding to have enough bikes available to cover the city of Sioux Falls without flooding it and making sure that businesses are accessible to our riders, too, and promoting businesses through our app and through our website and giving them advertisements," stated O'Neil.

Ideally, they would have been able to launch their service at the beginning of summer so that residents could try them out in the warmest time of the year. They faced challenges while waiting for their app to be approved. They do plan to still offer their service in colder weather, though, only with fewer bikes.

Jaunt has more information on how renting a bike works on their FAQ page .