The Fort Smith team implemented SMILIES, a bikeshare program tailored to small- to mid-sized municipalities and focused on providing transportation options to low-income communities.
THE CHALLENGE
SMILIES ((Shared Micromobility for affordabLe-accessIble houSing) addresses access to jobs, critical goods, and services for low-income residents of small and mid-sized communities by implementing a bikeshare service accessible to unbanked populations. More than 65% of lower-income families report challenges accessing efficient and affordable transportation. The deployment of a community-based bikeshare system provides low-cost, alternative transportation options for residents of affordable housing communities.
THE TEAM
Research Partners
University of Arkansas
Arkansas Colleges of Health Education
Civic partners:
The City of Fort Smith
Frontier MPO
Westerns Arkansas Planning & Development District
Fort Smith Public Library
Tandem Mobility
Champion Cycling
THE APPROACH
The research team designed a bikeshare system called āRide 4 Smiliesā based on community feedback for payment design, station location, and cost structure. Bike station locations are optimized to bridge the gap between home, work, and transit stops, serving as last-mile transportation options, and the team developed a citizen scientist-based feedback system for bikeshare system improvement of station location, cost structure, and bike infrastructure.
THE IMPACT
āRide 4 Smiliesā currently operates 8 stations with 40 bikes, located mostly in lower-income neighborhoods. Around 70% of current riders are from lower-income households (<$35,000), who use it for work, shopping, and recreational purposes.