Bike share coming to Newton this spring

by | Oct 18, 2017 | bicycles | 5 comments

Newton is joining a joining a collection of other communities on regional bike share system that is scheduled to launch this spring., 

5 Comments

  1. Greg Reibman
    Greg Reibman on October 18, 2017 at 3:51 pm

    I know that this may not seem like big news in the heat of our election but this can be transformative. We so rarely have positive transportation news in Newton.

  2. Jane H
    Jane H on October 18, 2017 at 10:19 pm

    It’s good news. But many of us would like to see more bike lanes. We haven’t seen new ones in maybe 5, 6 years!!! Bicycle infrastructure improvements have been slow, while the number of cyclists had been growing and the cycling season extended.

  3. Yuppie Scum
    Yuppie Scum on October 19, 2017 at 10:05 am

    This is great! Will really improve connection to transit, assuming the bikes are distributed well. I reckon everyone in the city will be within a 5 minute bike ride of two village centers and a T stop.

    “Stationless” is a really interesting concept and will make using the system a lot more convenient. I just hope the bikes are less heavy than Hubway.

  4. Doug Haslam
    Doug Haslam on October 19, 2017 at 11:12 am

    Wow- this is indeed good news if it comes to pass. Most interesting to me is the “dockless” technology. 2nd is the potential use of elcetric-assisted bikes, which would help mitigate some issues of traveling in an area that is less dense (than Boston). I look forward to seeing this come to be.

  5. Mike Halle
    Mike Halle on October 19, 2017 at 12:46 pm

    The dockless feature offers real opportunities to experiment with new ways to use bike share, flexibility that will benefit a more spread out community like Newton.

    For instance, if you want to try out a commute to and from mass transit, pick up a bike near to the T in the evening and ride it home. Keep it overnight. Then ride back the next day. While you’re at work, the bike can be used by others around a village center.

    Or hitch a bike to an MBTA bus rack, take it to your destination and ride it there (if the rules allow).

    Want to offer bikes to those who might not be able to afford or regularly maintain them? Subsidize their bike share membership. All of a sudden we can do things with money that previously needed logistics and human support.

    There are a lot of details to work out, but given the minimal up-front costs of these new dockless systems, the outlook is exciting.