The bike sharing program would operate on a membership-based system, where community members would pay to use a network of communal bicycles and sharing stations, East

Lansing Community Development Analyst Tim Schmitt said.

Currently, the city plans to incorporate 4-5 sharing stations, although Schmitt said the exact number of both bikes and stations will not be determined until there is a set funding source.

“In the last three or four months it’s becoming a more serious effort,” Schmitt said.

It is not yet clear when the stations will be installed in East Lansing.

Right now, officials are focusing on locating vendors, as well as searching for grants to fund the project.

The initiative follows a bike sharing effort already rolling in Lansing, where about 4-5 high-tech bicycle sharing stations are slated to be installed this spring.

A $20,000 match grant from the Ingham County Land Bank has been secured to fund the stations, which would include computer tracking software for the bikes, said Lynne Martinez, whose consulting group is heading the program’s establishment.

Martinez said there will be about 5-6 bicycles at each station, and they hope to expand the program to East Lansing and other areas after the program gets off the ground.

The community bike sharing program also would follow East Lansing’s existing Employee Bike Sharing Program, a program which allows city employees to borrow bikes free of charge at certain bike racks around the city.

Schmitt said the program, which began last year, has seen fairly high levels of use by city staff.

East Lansing Environmental Specialist Dave Smith said he sometimes uses the employee bikes to ride to lunch and to travel from his office to other city buildings.

“It’s a pretty quick ride to get downtown,” Smith said.