Red Bike’s trail strategy picks up speed with Xavier partnership

Red Bike is starting the spring semester with a major move along one of Cincinnati’s most-traveled corridors: The Wasson Way trail.

The nonprofit bike share system has opened a new station at Xavier University and is giving students and school employees free access to its 70-plus stations across the region for the entire term. It’s a partnership that signals both immediate convenience and the longer arc of Red Bike’s mission to connect more neighborhoods through short, affordable trips.

Red Bike and Xavier didn’t disclose the financial terms of the system sponsorship.

“Bike share and universities go hand in hand in many communities throughout our country,” said Douglas McClintock, Red Bike’s executive director. “Truly, shared micromobility is a game changer for college students and employees, further enabling transportation choice and mobility in their daily lives.”

A campus hub highlighting the Wasson Way

Xavier’s involvement adds a daily-rider population that Red Bike doesn’t always reach: students hauling backpacks between classes, staff moving around campus, faculty commuting from nearby neighborhoods. All of them now have free access to the entire system – an offer Xavier extended by supporting the station and the program through the spring semester.

“Xavier is committed to fostering community, and partnering with Red Bike establishes even more connections to the many unique and vibrant neighborhoods surrounding our campus,” said Xavier University President Colleen Hanycz. She added that the partnership strengthens the University as a community connector and offers a simple, sustainable option for people moving in and out of campus every day.

The station, officially named Wasson Way at Xavier University, also builds on improvements that preceded it. The trail crossing at Montgomery Road opened last May, creating a direct line from Wasson Way into the heart of campus. That same stretch runs alongside the future home of Xavier’s proposed College of Osteopathic Medicine, now under construction and slated to welcome its first class in 2027.

“I am pleased to partner with Red Bike in strengthening Xavier as a community connector, and I am confident that students and employees will take advantage of this accessible, simple and sustainable means of transportation,” Hanycz said. “And of course, we will have some fun with these bikes.”

A bigger picture for Red Bike’s network

Red Bike’s leaders see the partnership as a piece of a larger puzzle. New stations at Avondale Town Center, Cleveland Park and Paxton Avenue, paired with the Xavier dock, form a chain of stops designed to align with how people already use the trail. 

There are plans to open another Wasson Way station this spring near the steps that connect the trail to Rookwood Commons.

Red Bike worked with Metro, Xavier and other partners to choose locations that help riders reach jobs, shopping, housing and recreation without relying on a car.

The strategy draws its strength from momentum already underway. Wasson Way has rapidly evolved from a popular 4.3-mile mixed-use trail into a transportation corridor, linking several East Side neighborhoods and creating a straight, intuitive path for riders who want something quicker, cheaper and more accessible than a car.

The Wasson Way is also a major part of the planned CROWN network, a 34-mile urban loop that will connect more than 356,000 Cincinnati residents to parks, schools, business districts and regional paths like the Little Miami Scenic Trail.

Recent additions, including the 2023 extension into Avondale, have strengthened Wasson Way’s role as both a recreation hub and a practical commuter route. Next up is Phase 7, a connection from Blair Court to Uptown at Reading Road and MLK Drive, which will improve access for students, employees and residents in the nearby medical and university districts.

By adding a station at Xavier University’s campus gateway on Montgomery Road – and linking it with new stations in Avondale, Hyde Park and the current eastern terminus at Cleveland Park – Red Bike is stitching together a bikeshare line that follows the trail’s curve across the city, McClintock said.

“We are honored to be working alongside such an amazingly committed group of staff & students to realize this program, and look towards continuing to add more access to more residents and guests of our community,” he added. McClintock noted that he expects the network effect to be visible quickly as Xavier riders take advantage of the new access point and discover how many destinations fall within a short ride.

For Red Bike, the spring semester is also a test case of sorts, a measure of how a concentrated population responds to expanded bikeshare access in a trail-centered environment. The nonprofit hopes the campus partnership grows beyond the current term, but first wants to understand the impact and habits of Xavier users.

As McClintock put it: “This is the first step in building support and measuring usage and impact within the Xavier cohort.”