Bluebikes

Logo of Hubway

On Earth Day, April 21, 2011, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino signed an operating contract with Alta Bicycle Share, officially announcing the launch of a bike share system in Boston. Planned as a regional system, Hubway was initiated under Mayor Menino's Boston Bikes Program, which aimed to build Boston into one of the world's premier cycling cities. The program was fully funded by $4.5 million in grants from the Federal Transit Administration and local organizations.[7] Within the City of Boston, the system was sponsored by Boston-based New Balance.

Hubway became operational on July 28, 2011, with an event in which members could ride bicycles from City Hall Plaza to a designated bicycle station. The event featured Mayor Menino, representatives from various sponsors, and related agencies.[8] In November 2011, Hubway was shut down and disassembled for the winter as a preventive measure to counter New England winter weather.

On March 15, 2012, Hubway was relaunched for the season with the abutting communities of Brookline, Cambridge, and Somerville also joining. By the end of the 2012 season on November 28, the system had 105 stations and 1,050 bikes. While a majority of the stations continued to be shut down for the winter season over the first years of the program, 25 stations in Cambridge remained open during a successful winter pilot program which became permanent. After the full system relaunched on April 2, 2014, it grew to 140 stations and over 1,300 bikes.[9]

On December 4, 2014, Hubway's non-management employees voted 23–8, 74%, in favor of joining Transport Workers Union of America (TWU) Local 100.[10] The unionization effort came after employees of CitiBike in NYC, owned by the same parent company Motivate (formerly named Alta Bicycle Share), joined TWU Local 100 in September 2014 [11] and was closely followed by similar efforts by employees of Alta Bicycle Share in Washington, D.C.[12] and Chicago.[13]

Full system operations for 2014 concluded on November 26, though the system expanded its winter operations. For the second year, almost all Cambridge-based stations remained open year-round, and those stations were joined by 62 Boston-based stations that remained open through December 31, 2014. Inclement weather pushed back the full system reopening until April 17, 2015, and during the 2015 season the system grew to 155 stations and over 1,500 bicycles. In 2015, regular season operations concluded on November 25, though again Hubway expanded its winter operations further,[14] with 110 stations remaining open through December 7, 2015; of those, 107 stayed open through December 31; and of those, the 37 Cambridge-based stations once again remain open year-round.[9] In May 2017, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh announced a planned two-year expansion, adding 70 new stations and offering year-round service.[15]

On March 7, 2018, Hubway announced a six-year partnership with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, which included a system-wide re-branding as Blue Bikes, along with expanding the system to 3,000 bikes and adding over 100 new stations by the end of 2019.[5] From its inception, the Boston portion of the system had been sponsored by Boston-based athletic company New Balance. The new sponsorship with Blue Cross covers all four municipalities. The name change took effect on May 9, 2018, with the release of new and re-branded bicycles.[6]

On June 4, 2019, Bluebikes set a single-day ridership record with users taking 10,035 trips, the first time the ride-share has ever exceeded the 10,000-rider mark for a single day. The system continued to surpass its ridership records throughout summer 2019, hitting 13,642 trips in a single day in September.[16] On September 19, 2019 Bluebikes passed 10 million total rides.[17]

In the spring of 2018, as Motivate worked towards expanding the bike share program, attention was also focused on increasing membership opportunities for folks who may not have been able to pay the full price. Bluebikes offered an expanded Income-Eligible Program that offers membership rates of $5 per month or $50 per year, which are discounted from the standard prices of $20 per month or $99 per year.[18][19] Residents can qualify for these discounted rates via their participation in any one of eleven different assistance programs, the likes of which range from EBT cards, Pell Grants, MassHealth, and Public housing initiatives.[20] Additionally, the Bluebikes program offers a subsidized yearly membership fee of $5 for guests or clients of transitional housing options and homeless shelters located within the city of Boston.[18] Those who qualify for these discounted rates have access to unlimited 60 minute trips, which is an increase from the standard 45 minute rides, which provides additional incentive to increase membership among a subset of the population that previously may not have had access.[20]

Mayor Marty Walsh has said that these changes to the Bluebikes initiative are in line with the goals of Boston’s Go Boston 2030 transportation plan, which focuses on promoting transportation equity.[20][21] Jay Walder, who was the CEO and President of Motivate at the time, stated that the Income-Eligible Program would make Bluebikes accessible for thousands of Bostonians who were previously unable to participate, and that these efforts to provide access regardless of income should serve as a model for Sustainable transport initiatives across the country.[20]

Starting on October 5th, 2019, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts began to sponsor $1 single rides on weekends until the end of 2019 to help combat transportation challenges arising from MBTA shutdowns.[22] Blue Cross has also donated $10,000 to the Bluebikes Income-Eligibility Program to increase affordability.[22] These initiatives have helped to establish Bluebikes as an affordable, healthy, and consistent alternative to more traditional public transportation options in Boston.

Bicycles at a Hubway station, before the rebranding.

Bluebikes at Ruggles station, 2019

The system uses bicycles designed and manufactured by Montreal-based PBSC.[23] The majority of docking stations are also supplied by PBSC while the newest docking stations are designed and manufactured by 8D Technologies. The platform behind the bike share system is created by 8D Technologies, who also supply the server technology for BIXI Montréal, Citi Bike in New York City, Santander Cycles in London, Capital Bikeshare in Washington DC, and others.

• Cycling in Boston
• List of bicycle sharing systems
• Citi Bike

Media related to Bluebikes at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website