El Paso bike-share adds seven new stations

The SunCycle Bike Share Program is expanding in the Borderland.

One of the newest SunCycle stations is on the UTEP campus near the softball complex off of Sun Bowl Drive. It’s just one of seven new stations being added around the city.

The seven new bike-share stations are coming with 80 more bikes, which are expected to be added within the next couple of weeks, according to Raymond Telles, Camino Real Regional Mobility Authority executive director.

“The original bike share plan was actually a much larger plan; they cut it back. There were some funding issues at that time," said Telles.

Funding is no longer an issue.

The Metropolitan Planning Organization came up with additional funds with the help of the city of El Paso and the University of Texas at El Paso, according to Telles.

People who use the bikes say they are seeing the benefits of the bike-share program.

“It motivates people to exercise at least a little, because you know how we live such a busy life that we really don’t have enough time to exercise as much as we would want to. So I think it’s really cool,” said west side resident Perla Nieto.

The new stations can be found at San Jacinto Plaza, Southwest University Park, El Paso County Courthouse, Mundy Park, UTEP at the Mike Loya Academic Services Building and along the north and southbound lanes of Sun Bowl Drive.

“We direct them to our website. We can walk them through transactions if they’re at the screen, or we are just available to answer any questions for them,” said Cesar Martinez with the SunCycle operations. “The bikes are a great option option for transportation and they’re even eco-friendly, with stations running off of solar power.”