How stoked would you be if someone told you that you were going to get 250 new bikes? Well, that’s exactly what just happened in Indianapolis! Last Friday, the Indianapolis Cultural Trail, Inc. announced exciting details about a new bikeshare program coming to Indianapolis in a few weeks. 

The bikeshare system, which will officially launch on April 22, will have 250 bikes at 25 bikeshare stations located on or near the Indianapolis Cultural Trail: A Legacy of Gene and Marilyn Glick. The Cultural Trail is an amazing eight-mile-long world-class urban bicycle and pedestrian trail that connects six cultural districts throughout Downtown Indianapolis. If you want protected bike lanes, this is the place you?re going to get them!

One of the key pieces of information revealed at Friday’s announcement was the name and look of the bikes. Thanks to a significant philanthropic contribution from the Herbert Simon Family Foundation, the bikes will be Pacers gold and the system will be called Pacers Bikeshare. This is the only bikeshare in the U.S. to have a professional sports team as their title sponsor and we’re pretty excited about it. NBA.com was pretty excited about it too. Pacers bikeshare will launch just days after the NBA Playoffs begin.

Another notable part about Friday’s announcement was the presence of Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard and the great things he had to say about bicycling and the coming of bikeshare. A growing number of people want to live in places where they can connect to unique experiences and neighborhoods without needing a car, said Mayor Ballard. Adding Pacers Bikeshare to our internationally recognized Cultural Trail will help attract, retain and connect people in Indy and take our growing bicycle culture to an entirely new level.

As a recently-named Green Lane Project city, the new bikeshare system is only one of many positive developments for bicycling in Indianapolis. PeopleForBikes is honored to be part of the launch of Pacers Bikeshare and we’re excited to get out on the Indianapolis Cultural Trail on these new wheels!