Low-Cost Ride 4 SMILIES Bikeshare Program Launches in Fort Smith, AR, 2022

Ride 4 SMILIES (Shared Micromobility for affordabLe-accessIblE houSing), a low-cost bikeshare program, has started in Fort Smith, a community in west Arkansas. Currently, users have access to a fleet of 40 traditional bicycles and eight docking stations across the city. Users can borrow the bicycles at no cost for the first hour of a rental. Beyond that, customers pay for the bicycles for $0.50 per half hour. There are plans to introduce electric bikes into the Ride 4 SMILIES fleet in the future.

Key partners for this bikeshare program alongside the City of Fort Smith include Tandem Mobility, the Frontier Metropolitan Planning Organization, the Western Arkansas Planning and Development District, the University of Arkansas College of Engineering, the Arkansas Colleges of Health Education, and a local bicycle shop. Researchers at the University of Arkansas and the Arkansas Colleges of Health Education support evaluation efforts. Partners are funding the research and operation of Ride 4 SMILIES with a $1 million Civic Innovation Challenge grant from the National Science Foundation. Ride 4 SMILIES can serve as a model for bikeshare and shared micromobility programs in low-income and rural communities.

Last updated June 8, 2022