Bluebikes
Bluebikes | |
---|---|
Bicycle sharing system | |
Number of stations | 393 (July 2021)[1] |
Annual ridership | 2,065,292 (2020)[2] |
Website | www |
Operation | |
Began operation | July 28, 2011 |
Operator(s) | Motivate |
Number of vehicles | 3,800+ (July 2021)[1] |
Bluebikes, originally Hubway, is a
In March 2018, the municipal owners announced a six-year marketing deal with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts and relaunched under the name of Bluebikes.[4] The name change took effect on May 9, 2018, with the release of the newly re-branded blue bicycles.[5]
Users can rent out a Bluebike with the Bluebikes app or directly at the station's kiosk. Passes for purchase vary on length and cost, but income and non-income based subsidies are available.
History
Initial launch
On
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.[8]
On December 4, 2014, Hubway's non-management employees voted 23–8, 74%, in favor of joining
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,[13] 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.[8] In May 2017, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh announced a planned two-year expansion, adding 70 new stations and offering year-round service.[14]
As of 2017, Boston was ranked as the city with the fifth largest bike sharing system in the United States, after New York City, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Minneapolis. [15] The rankings are determined by the number of hubs or stations. At that time, Boston had 184 stations.
Re-branding to Bluebikes
On March 7, 2018, Hubway announced a six-year partnership with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, which included a system-wide rebranding as Bluebikes, an expansion of 3,000 total bikes, and an addition of over 100 new stations by the end of 2019. Prior to this partnership, 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.
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. On September 19, 2019, Bluebikes passed 10 million total rides. Two years later on September 11, 2021, Bluebikes hit its highest single day record with over 18,000 rides.[16]
In 2020, Bluebikes expanded to Newton, Revere, Chelsea, Arlington, and Watertown, adding over 30 new stations to the system. The following year in June, Bluebikes was launched in Salem with seven stations, bringing the system's span to 10 municipalities. Bluebikes continued to expand in 2021, with projects pursued in Dorchester, Mattapan, and Hyde Park.[17] In 2022, the system expanded to three stations in Medford[18] and three in Malden.[19] By 2023, there were over 4,000 bicycles in the system at over 400 stations, with Salem up to 18 stations.[20]
Equipment
The system uses bicycles designed and manufactured by Montreal-based PBSC. 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, D.C., and others.
Each Bluebike comes with a basket, adjustable seat, and kickstand. For safety during night-time riding, they have self-powered lights at the front and back of the bike. On the left handlebar, Bluebikes are equipped with a bell, and the right handlebar has a continuous gear shifter.
Bluebikes renters may download the app on their Android or iOS device.[21] The app was developed in 2017 and is free to download.[22] The app provides information on the status (e.g., current trip length) of the rental, but it is not required in order to rent a Bluebike. The app allows up to four bikes to be rented out simultaneously on one account. On the app's map, docks appear as green when there are a sufficient number of bikes at the station. Conversely, they appear as red when there are little to none available.
Rental service
To unlock the bike(s), a person must first purchase a pass using a credit or debit card at the solar-powered[22] station kiosk or on the Bluebikes app. A five digit numeric code will be given. For users with monthly or yearly plans, a physical bike key can be requested. When a Bluebikes user inserts their key or enters the code into a keypad next to the bike, the bike detaches itself from the dock. As a renter finishes their trip, they push the bike into the dock and hold it until the light next to the dock turns green to confirm a successful lock. In the case that a Bluebike is not returned to a dock within 24 hours, the renter may be charged a lost bike fee of $1,200.[23]
Types of passes
A trip begins when a renter removes a bike from a dock, and it ends when the renter returns the bike to the dock. With Monthly and Annual Memberships, bikers are allowed to take an unlimited number of trips per day, with each one lasting less than 45 minutes.
Type | Pass duration | Trip duration | Cost per bike |
---|---|---|---|
Single trip | 30 minutes | 30 minutes | $2.95 |
Adventure pass | 24 hours | 2 hours | $10 |
Monthly membership | 1 month | 45 minutes | $25 |
Annual membership | 1 year | 45 minutes | $109 |
*The Bluebikes app tracks the time and length of each trip taken. If a renter exceeds the time limit of their pass, Bluebikes bills the renter $2.50 for each additional 30 minutes.
Incentive to ride
Income-Eligible Program
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.[26][27] Jay Walder, who was the CEO and President of Motivate in the spring of 2018, stated that the Income-Eligible Program would make Bluebikes accessible for Bostonians regardless of income, and that these efforts to provide access should serve as a model for sustainable transport initiatives across the country.[26]
Starting on October 5, 2019,
Other discounts
Bluebikes provided free trips with one-time use codes to travel to
Various companies and colleges, including Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston University, Emerson College, Harvard University, and Tufts University, have enrolled in the Bluebikes Corporate Partner Program. This allows individuals of those organizations to enroll in a Bluebikes membership at a discounted rate, subsidized by their respective company.[31]
Bike Angels rewards program
Similar to the bike sharing systems of New York City and Washington, D.C., Bluebikes also offers a rewards system to incentivize renters to move bikes to certain docks. This is set up to alleviate the company's amount of transportation work. A renter receives points when they bring a bike to a sparsely populated dock or take a bike out of a full dock. The points are updated every fifteen minutes and vary depending on the severity of
Criticism
Bluebikes renters have complained on Tripadvisor,[33] Reddit,[34] Yelp,[35] and various other sites that they have found the service to be unsatisfactory. Customers have criticized Bluebikes for equipment shortcomings - unsuccessful bike docks, old stations and heavy bikes, and adjustable seats falling mid-ride.[35] The technology is reported to occasionally fail, with invalid codes and incorrect charges made to bank accounts.[34] Regarding the physical accessibility, some users are unhappy with their experience of bikes being unavailable at certain stations, and conversely, being unable to find an available dock in order to return the bike.[33]
See also
- Cycling in Boston
- List of bicycle sharing systems
- Citi Bike
References
- ^ a b c MilNeil, Christian (July 26, 2021). "Bluebikes System Celebrates 10th Anniversary By Smashing A Ridership Record". StreetsBlogMass. Retrieved September 30, 2021.
- ^ "System Data". Blue Bikes. Retrieved October 3, 2021.
- ^ Getting Around Cambridge, City of Cambridge, 2019
- ^ Enwemeka, Zeninjor. "Hubway Will Become Blue Bikes, And The Fleet Will Grow". WBUR-FM. Retrieved March 7, 2018.
- ^ Fisher, Jenna (May 18, 2018). "Hubway Trades Green For Blue Bikes Starting Today". Retrieved May 9, 2018.
- ^ "Mayor Menino Signs First-Ever Bike Share Contract Launching Hubway in Boston". City of Boston. Retrieved December 31, 2011.
- ^ "Hubway Bike-Sharing Program Gets Rolling". WBUR-FM. July 29, 2011. Retrieved December 31, 2011.
- ^ a b "Hubway Media Kit". Hubway. Retrieved September 12, 2014.
- ^ Vaccaro, Adam (December 5, 2014). "Hubway Workers Elect to Join Transit Union". The Boston Globe. Retrieved October 4, 2021.
- ^ Jackson, Derrick Z. (October 14, 2014). "Hubway should extend do-good efforts to its own employees". The Boston Globe. Retrieved October 4, 2021.
- ^ Lydia DePillis (October 24, 2014). "D.C. Bikeshare workers look to unionize — and build a nationwide Bikeshare powerhouse". The Washington Post. Retrieved October 4, 2021.
- ^ Cancino, Alejandra (November 3, 2014). "Union seeks to represent Divvy workers". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved October 4, 2021.
- ^ Enwemeka, Zeninjor (December 3, 2015). "Ready To Ride: Hubway Expands Winter Operations". WBUR-FM. Retrieved December 3, 2015.
- ^ Vaccaro, Adam (May 25, 2017). "Hubway set for big expansion and year-round service". The Boston Globe. Retrieved May 26, 2017.
- ^ Malouff, Dan (September 26, 2017). "All 119 US bikeshare systems, ranked by size". ggwash.org. Greater Greater Washington. Retrieved September 30, 2021.
- ^ @ridebluebikes (September 13, 2021). "That's right, it's another 🎉DOUBLE RECORD WEEKEND🎉" (Tweet). Retrieved September 27, 2021 – via Twitter.
- ^ "Bike Share Expansion 2020-2021". Boston.gov. July 15, 2020. Retrieved September 27, 2021.
- ^ "Medford To Add Three New Bluebike Stations". medfordma.org. August 31, 2022.
- ^ "Malden To Add Bluebike Stations". patch.com. August 18, 2022.
- ^ Bluebikes pedals on, expands with new stations
- ^ "Get the App". Blue Bikes Boston. Retrieved October 1, 2021.
- ^ a b "Bluebikes MediaKit, Logos, Photos & Stats". Blue Bikes Boston. Retrieved October 1, 2021.
- ^ "Annual Membership". Blue Bikes Boston. Retrieved September 30, 2021.
- ^ a b "Income-Eligible Program". Bluebikes. Retrieved November 3, 2019.
- ^ Mitchell, Jack (May 30, 2019). "Biking in Boston: What To Know Before You Get Rolling". WBUR-FM. Retrieved November 3, 2019.
- ^ a b c d Fisher, Jenna (March 23, 2018). "Boston Metro Hubway Expands Income-Eligibility For Bike Share". Patch Media. Retrieved November 3, 2019.
- ^ "Go Boston 2030". Boston.gov. City of Boston. February 24, 2017. Retrieved November 3, 2019.
- ^ "Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Offers Free Bluebikes Rides to the Polls on Election Day". Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts. October 21, 2020. Retrieved September 27, 2021.
- WCVB. April 19, 2021. Retrieved September 27, 2021.
- ^ "Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Sponsors Free Bluebikes Rides on "Mindful Mondays" in August". Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts. August 5, 2021. Retrieved September 30, 2021.
- ^ "Bluebikes Corporate Program". Blue Bikes Boston. Retrieved September 30, 2021.
- ^ "Bike Angels". Blue Bikes Boston. Retrieved September 30, 2021.
- ^ a b Joy733 (June 20, 2021). "Bluebikes-Sturdy bike but many system errors - Review of Hubway Bike Rental, Boston, MA". Tripadvisor. Retrieved October 1, 2021.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ a b KingKombo (August 26, 2019). "Bluebike taking me a on a ride for 1200$". Reddit. Retrieved October 1, 2021.
- ^ a b "BlueBikes - Reviews". Yelp. Retrieved October 1, 2021.
External links
Media related to Bluebikes at Wikimedia Commons