Portland will look for new Adaptive Biketown vendor next year – BikePortland

The City of Portland program that offers free adaptive bicycle rentals could look a lot different next year.

Since it launched in 2017, the Portland Bureau of Transportation’s Adaptive Biketown program has partnered with Kerr Bikes as its vendor and physical location right on the Eastbank Esplanade near OMSI. That contract end at the end of September and the City says they’ll seek a new vendor.

Adaptive Biketown was the nation’s first-of-its-kind program that offered free rentals of a variety of recumbents, hand-cycles, four-wheelers, trikes, and other types of bicycles that can be ridden by people who don’t want to use the standard, two-wheel variety offered in the Biketown bike share system. Today it’s seen as a big success, but the program came into existence by accident.

In 2016, just as PBOT was finally going to launch the Nike-sponsored Biketown system, activists starting wondering how folks with disabilities would participate. A BikePortland story asked the question: Is Biketown bike share for all? Or only the able-bodied?. Following a broad community dialogue about the need for adaptive bikes, PBOT swung into action by hosting an adaptive bike clinic and shortly thereafter found support to launch a pilot Adaptive Biketown program.

In its first year of operation (2017) PBOT reported year 59 total rentals to 27 unique participants. In 2024, the program had 443 rentals. Each year PBOT has added to the bike fleet and has continued to host encouragement events to make people aware of the resource. Now the program has secured funding from the Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund to maintain its operations until at least 2028.

Kerr Bikes is run by Albertina Kerr, a nonprofit that empowers people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. They say they’ll donate all bikes and equipment to the next operator of the system. PBOT will open a Request for Proposals (RFP) later this year with hopes of starting the 2026 season with a new operator. If you are interested or know of organizations who might be a good fit for this opportunity, email sharedmicromobility@portlandoregon.gov to make sure you receive the RFP notice.

— Adaptive Biketown