Valentine Bike Share—The Most (?) Remote Bike Share in the World
In Valentine, Nebraska, population 2,631, you can find the most remote bike-share program in America, or the world—at least that’s what Benny Foltz, CEO of the nonprofit ROAM Share claims!
Valentine Bike Share along the Cowboy Recreation and Nature Trail makes a strong case.
Since 2020, a humble fleet of 10 cherry red cruisers has been housed across from the downtown Comfort Inn parking lot (101 S. Main St.) at a refurbished freebie bike-share station by ROAM Share, which also operates programs in Lincoln and Omaha.
One of Foltz’s team members traveled to Savannah, Georgia, to disassemble and transport the station and bikes to Cherry County, where there’s a little less than one resident (5,455) per square mile (5,960).
A Remote Locale
Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska’s two largest cities, were obvious choices for ROAM Share to establish programs, and residents and visitors alike have responded. Combined, cyclists logged nearly 380,000 miles over the course of 116,365 trips on ride-share bikes in the two urban areas in 2024. But Foltz, who now lives in Omaha, grew up about an hour west of the city along the Platte River in North Bend—about half the size of Valentine, if we’re being generous. Foltz describes himself as an “odd duck,” and that personality trait, combined with his rural Nebraska roots, factored heavily into his obsession to establish a bike share in a remote locale.
“I wanted to just test the rural Nebraska scene,” he said, and he first set his sights on his hometown. He considered buying a used bike-share rack, installing it back home and relying on some built-in operational support on the ground. “My folks still lived there,” he said. “And I knew my high school science teacher would have helped me with it.”
There wasn’t much more to the plan than that. “And that would have failed miserably,” Foltz said, laughing. “I know that now.”
Bike Tourism for Revitalization
Around the same time as he was dabbling with North Bend pipe dreams, Valentine popped up as an option. Civic leaders had done a downtown revitalization study, Foltz said, “and one of the things they wanted was more bicycle amenities.”
Foltz was asked if he’d be interested in expanding.
“I thought about it, and I learned about the tourism that they have in Valentine, with the rodeos, the golfing, (floating) down the Niobrara … and then, the Cowboy Trail,” he said. “That’s the primary reason, because of that big, old, beautiful pedestrian bridge that’s only accessible by foot or bike— and it’s, you know, 2.5 miles from downtown Valentine. Most people don’t bring their bikes to Valentine, and so I just thought that made a lot more sense.”
Sustained by Community
It’s been sustainable so far. Over the first five years, there have been just over 1,500 rides taken on them during the warm weather season that Bike Valentine’s station is open. Foltz or someone from his crew visits Valentine four times between April and November to make any repairs needed, and they usually get a float and a ride in too. The rest of the time, they rely upon the kindness of civic leaders.
“I have no boots on the ground there, other than the mayor and the Cherry County tourism director, who is on my board of directors now,” he said. “If the station goes down, which sometimes happens, I FaceTime the mayor. He has a key to the kiosk, and I walk him through how to do a reset. This is like pure Nebraska here.”
Next year, look for the Valentine Bike Share station to offer more than two e-bikes. Soon Foltz hopes to electrify the whole fleet.
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