Late Wednesday the City of Alpharetta was notified by Zagster that the company will end bike share service to the Alpharetta market effective this Friday, May 29. The company will begin removing bikes and rental stations on May 28 and will have all equipment removed by June 12.
“This is an unfortunate situation, as the bike share program has been very popular in Alpharetta and Zagster has, until now, been an excellent partner,” said Alpharetta’s Assistant City Administrator, James Drinkard. “Our staff is already working, however, to identify a new partner with whom we can continue to offer a bike share program for our residents and visitors. It is our hope that this will be only a very temporary setback for Alpharetta’s program.”
The City has partnered with Zagster since May 2016 to provide and manage the community’s bike share program. What began as a small program with 12 bikes and three rental stations along Alpharetta’s section of the Big Creek Greenway quickly expanded to connect with Downtown Alpharetta and Avalon. Alpharetta had even partnered with Roswell, which also worked with Zagster, to connect their bike share programs so users could seamlessly move between each city’s program.
“The program was growing, so we are confident that another vendor will seize on this opportunity to work with us,” Drinkard said.
According to the statement issued by Zagster, the company’s withdrawal from the market is due to negative impacts on its business from the COVID-19 pandemic. The City has learned that other communities in Metro Atlanta have received similar notices.