Thursday, April 21, 2011

Hub set to launch bike-share program

Menino to sign deal worth nearly $6m today; 600 bikes, 61 stations to be ready by July

Boston’s bike-share program, scheduled to debut this summer with 600 bicycles and 61 stations in the city, was modeled after a similar program in Washington, D.C. (Mark Gail/The Washington Post)

As early as this summer, residents and visitors taking quick trips in Boston will be able to rent bicycles from dozens of sidewalk kiosks, under an agreement expected to be signed today that will create a bike-sharing network inspired by those in Paris and Washington.

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.

At an afternoon ceremony with bicycling advocates, Mayor Thomas M. Menino is scheduled to sign a contract worth nearly $6 million with a company called Alta Bicycle Share to build and operate Hubway for three years. Alta is also behind a program that debuted last year in the Washington area and now boasts 1,100 cherry-red bicycles at 114 stations

Read more: http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/04/21/boston_set_to_launch_bike_share_program/?p1=News_links

Article courtesy of The Boston Globe by Eric Moskowitz