B-cycle

While B-​Cycle made its way into des moines while I was still a dsm resident in 2012, I had just recently tried the bike share rental during a visit back to town. I love the convenience of the bike stations and the bicycles themselves were pretty comfortable. The bikes themselves also come equipped with a basket and a lock.
The initial rental process was easy and quick, however, the return process was a bit of a headache. We rented 4 bikes from the Ingersoll station and returned all 4 at the Grand Ave station at Capital Hill (a 1.5 hour scenic bikeride through downtown = $ 2.50 total rental per bike). We followed the return instructions as indicated on the station docks: we pushed the bike into its dock, made sure it latched, and waited for the green light to confirm the return. After we did this to all 4 bikes, we went on with the rest of our last day in town. The next morning, we received a notification asking how we were enjoying our bikes and that a 24 hour rental is approaching. Mind you, we got this notice as we were waking up to pack for our return flight home the same day! Immediately, we get on the phone and talk to several dispatchers (all the way from Omaha), and indicated that only 1 of the 4 rented bikes were returned prompting a total freak out mode. (A 24 hour rental is $ 65, multiply that by 3 and you’d be freaking out, too!) Bcycle had to send a field rep to go to the Capital Hill station to confirm that the 3 bikes were in fact returned. It took half the day to get this issue resolved and charges adjusted, which it thankfully was as we received the confirmation while we were at the airport terminal just about to board the plane back to LA.
Long story short, my advice to friends and any others participating in the bike share program is to not rely on the lights at the station when returning your bikes, but to also confirm the return on your account before walking away.
I only opted to take 1 star off as I absolutely love this bike share program! If you want to take in all the sights of the city, there is no better way to do it than on a BCycle!

Not too sure why it took me so long to just try it out — I am not a cyclist nor am I really athletic but the Bike didn’t care!
This is a great way to see downtown Des Moines!
Grab a friend or go Solo! Take a few fun photos–
It comes with a handy lock and basket for your convenience!
You can return the bike to any of the bike areas too!

The idea is awesome: on demand, low impact transportation.
B-​cycle is one of a number of bike rental stations in downtown Des Moines. In B-cycle’s own words, «B-​cycle is a next-​gen bike sharing system. In layman’s terms: B-​cycles are there when you want one and gone when you don’t. Just swipe your card, grab a bike, and get to where you’re going.»
The rides aren’t posh: clean and minimal to reduce maintenance, but tricked out with a basket on the handle bars for the quick run to one end of downtown to grab some carryout. As for the ride
Some details from the website:
There are, as of this writing, about 20 bikes and four docking locations in downtown.*
Cost options run from $ 5.30 a day (24 hour clock, but the docks work from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m.) though a roughly $ 30 a month and $ 53 a year options are available.
Bike availability (and other information) can be checked at the website.
Other locations include: 625 Grand Avenue, 520 Robert D. Ray Drive, and 1 Line Drive in Principal Park.