City To Announce Bike Share “Hubway” Today

Seems I called it yesterday when I postulated that the city was going to be launching its bike share program today at its cryptic meeting.

Boston officials said the system, to be called Hubway, will open in July with 600 bicycles and 61 stations in the city, though they envision growing in a few years to as many as 5,000 bikes at more than 300 kiosks, from Brookline to Somerville.(via)

This has been in the works forever, and I am glad they finally have locked down a vendor and a date. If you want your head to explode check out the comment section for the Boston Globe (via link above). You can see my impressions of the DC bike share, which I got the chance to take a look at here.

A lot of people feel like this is going to result in blood filling the streets, but anyone who rides in Boston on a regular basis will tell you that the biking is easiest when their are other cyclists around. More cyclists = more safety, not the other way around.

I am going to go out of my way to smile and wave to every single person I see on one of these bikes. I am going to go out of my way to give them tips for riding, to help them navigate, just in general be super helpful and nice to anyone on a bike share bike.

The reason, I think this is the perfect gateway drug to people trying cycling for the first time, and the more cyclists we have the better. I encourage you all to do the same. Every person on a bike is one less person in a car. We’re here, we’re geared, get used to it!

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Cryptic Announcement From The Mayors Office

Got this in the email, no more details yet. Could be bike share, could be aliens have landed, could be that they are outlawing car driving…who knows.

I have heard the words “HubWay” floating about the nets and tubes of the bike underground. This might be about about bike share (possibly called “HubWay.”)

We shall see.

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Major Bike Announcement
Thursday April 21, 2011
1:30 – 2:00 PM sharp
City Hall Plaza

Dear Friends,

Please join Mayor Menino and Boston Bikes for a major announcement tomorrow, Thursday April 21, 2011 from 1:30-2:00 PM on City Hall Plaza. Since we can’t giveaway the topic of the announcement we can promise free food to everyone with a bicycle. Come enjoy a Boloco burrito, a bit of music and a very cool press announcement.

Feel free to call or email me with any questions. I can be reached at 617-918-4456, [email protected].

Sincerely,

Nicole Freedman
Boston Bikes

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