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Interview: What Does It Take To Start Your Own Bikeshare?

Most bikeshare rides taken on U.S. soil happen in a handful of gigantic cities, on systems maintained by big corporations. But at YoGo Bikeshare in Youngstown, Ohio, Ronnell Elkins and his team are building a bespoke micromobility option specifically for his neighbors — and hoping to create a model for other small cities to combat car dependency.
Interview: What Does It Take To Start Your Own Bikeshare?
Photo: Yogo Bikeshare.
The YoGo bikeshare team (Ronnell Elkins, far left). Photo: YoGo

Most bikeshare rides taken on U.S. soil happen in a handful of gigantic cities, on systems maintained by big corporations. But at YoGo Bikeshare in Youngstown, Ohio, Ronnell Elkins and his team are building a bespoke micromobility option specifically for his neighbors — and hoping to create a model for other small cities to combat car dependency.

On this episode of The Brake, host Kea Wilson talks with Elkins about what makes this Black-led, family-owned bikeshare stand out, why YoGo's investing only in e-bikes, and what it takes to get a town of 60,000 people on board a revolutionary new transportation mode.

Learn more about YoGo Bikeshare on their website, and tune in below, on Apple Podcasts, or anywhere else you listen.

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