Report: Boston Getting More Bike Lanes, Hubway

Officials told the Boston Herald the city is committed to making local roadways more bike-friendly.

Boston will be getting more bike lanes and Hubway bike share stations, the Boston Herald reported Tuesday, just two days after a visiting MIT scientist was struck and killed while riding her bike in the Kenmore Square area. The city plans to add up to 20 miles of new bike lanes and 20 new Hubway kiosks and might also look to install cycle tracks on major roadways from Roxbury to the Public Garden, Transportation Commissioner Tom Tinlin told the Herald. Last week, a new Hubway station opened at the recently built Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in the Charlestown Navy Yard, and Boston Bikes Director Nicole Freedman told Patch that another kiosk is planned in the Hayes Square area. With plans to install more stations in South Boston, …

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Spaulding Hubway Station Opens

The 18-dock bike share pad is the third in Charlestown.

With parking a pressing issue in the Charlestown Navy Yard, residents may be happy to know there is a new commuting option.  A new Hubway bike share station with 18 docks opened this week outside the recently completed Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital at 300 First Ave. It marks the third Hubway station in Charlestown—the neighborhood already has one at Warren and Chelsea streets and another at Main and Austin streets. Plans are also underway to install a fourth station at Charlestown's Hayes Square. That station is expected to be operational by September, according to Nicole Freedman, director of Boston Bikes. The Spaulding station was built as part of an agreement with the community to mitigate the impact of the new hospital on the …

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New Boston Parks App To Be Unveiled Thursday

The Metropolitan Area Planning Council is hosting a Brown Bag Lunch with an update on the Hubway bike share program and details about a new Web application that connects residents to the region's green spaces.

The Metropolitan Area Planning Council will present an update on the Hubway bike share program and introduce a new Web app that helps connect residents to the many parks and open spaces available in Greater Boston during a Brown Bag Lunch event on Thursday. “As Hubway’s third season gets rolling, we will take a look back at the results of the first two seasons. Does Hubway make it easier for people to get around? Are Metro-Boston residents getting more exercise because of Hubway? Who is using Hubway, and who isn’t? We will look at these questions and more, including the environmental and economic impact of Hubway, and whether Hubway is making the Boston region more bike-friendly,” MAPC said in a press release about the event, which will be…

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Hubway, Fenway Open For the Season

The Bostonwide bike share system relaunched on April 8, coinciding with the Boston Red Sox home opener.

Coming off of a solid road start to the season, the Boston Red Sox will play their first home game of the year on Monday, April 8, the same day Boston’s popular bike share system opens for the season. Mayor Thomas Menino on Friday, April 5 announced planned improvements for the Hubway bike share system, which officially reopened Monday, April 8 citywide. Ninety-five of the 112 stations are expected to be operational by opening day, with the remaining stations to go online mid-month. A new station is coming to the Charlestown Navy Yard, to be located near the Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital’s new facility. Other new additions to Hubway for 2013 include the following: • The most highly-utilized stations will be expanded with more bikes, …

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13 Percent of Hubway Rides Replace Cars

The Hubway bicycle share system has taken off in Boston in its first two seasons.

Boston’s popular three-season bicycle share system has done more than provide residents with a quick, cheap mode of transportation—it's taken a few cars off the road in the process. Nicole Freedman, director of bicycle programs for the city of Boston, said 13 percent of the 675,000 rides taken in the first two years of the Hubway system are “car replacement” rides, according to survey data collected by the city. In other words, those riders signaled that if not for their Hubway bike ride, they would be driving, Freedman said. That amounts to 87,750 rides that were taken on a bicycle as opposed to in a car. The Hubway system has been available to the public for about 240 days per year in its first two seasons, Freedman said. The system, …

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Freedman Back as Boston Bikes Director

Nicole Freedman was instrumental in several Boston-based bicycle initiatives, most notably the Hubway system.

After nine months away from the city, the Boston Bikes program has its director back. Nicole Freedman, director of Mayor Thomas Menino’s Boston Bikes program from 2007 to April 2012, will resume the role, according to a statement released on Thursday. Freedman left in April to become executive director of Maine Huts and Trails in Kingfield, Maine, according to the statement. Kris Carter served as interim director in Freedman’s absence. “I’m so excited to be back in Boston, and grateful for the vision of the Mayor, and the work of Kris Carter and the team of people who have continued to lead Boston Bikes on a successful path,” Freedman said in the statement. “Over the past five years, the program has made tremendous strides, but there’s …

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Charlestown Hubway Station Closed for Winter, Others To Follow

Boston’s bike co-op operates from March to late November.

Summer’s warmth is gone, and along with it goes Boston’s bicycle share program. The city is in the process of shutting down the Hubway bicycle system station-by-station this week, including the two stations in Charlestown. Twelve stations were taken offline by the end of the day Tuesday, according to a schedule on the Hubway’s website. Here's a list of stations taken offline this week: Monday, Nov. 19 Tuesday, Nov. 20 Last year, the entire system was taken offline by Dec. 1. The site provides a map for Hubway stations currently active, out of service, planned and new. The bikes are estimated to return in March, weather permitting. The Hubway has around 105 stations scattered in and around the metro Boston area, 72 of which are in Boston. …

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City Still Working on Hubway Helmet Solution

While Boston officials are still eager to partner with an MIT vendor, a fix to the lack of safety gear in the citywide bike system is unclear.

Boston’s Hubway bicycle sharing system provided 650,000 trips between July 2011 and July 2012, its first 12 months of operation, and while the program appears to be a success there has been one glaring omission: helmets. Kris Carter, interim director of Boston Bikes, said at a Jamaica Plain Business and Professional Association Meeting this week that a helmet system was supposed to be in place last fall but never came to pass.  “The mayor is aware of the need,” he said. Carter was at the meeting to pitch the idea of a Hubway station in Jamaica Plain, but a conversation on the system's lack of helmets erupted. He said Hubway officials are looking into teaming up with HelmetHub, an MIT-based company that has created a helmet vending machine…

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PHOTOS: Hubway Arrives in Charlestown

It took time, effort and argument, but Hubway has finally joined the Charlestown community. Kate Henderson posted the above photo on our Facebook page Tuesday night, and Neighborhood Liaison Danielle Valle-Fitzgerald posted the second photo on twitter Wednesday morning. Henderson's shot shows the newly-installed bike-sharing station near the intersection of Chelsea Street and Warren Street—the location that stirred controversy about the program coming to town. Danielle's shot features the less controversial location near the corner of Main Street and Austin Street. The program's leaders said they will later add a location near Hayes Square. The program may also consider a location near Sullivan Square as the network grows. The stations …

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Owen

9:54 am on Thursday, September 13, 2012

My mistake. I just reread the bike regs and you are correct. I remembered it wrong.   more ›

Hubway Coming to Charlestown in More Ways Than One

Petition starter thanks council, city for arriving at an agreement on the bike service.

It may be for the best that the city, the Charlestown Neighborhood Council and Hubway came to an agreement on bike stations within the town, because Hubway will literally live with the results. Banker and Tradesman reported this week that Alta Bicycle, Hubway’s parent company, signed a lease on 29,000 square feet of space in Charlestown’s Sullivan Square. “The 28,750-square-foot building… gives Hubway ample room to house, repair, import, and distribute their bicycles and bike stations,” the publication reported. Last week, the council, the city and Hubway reached an agreement to install two stations in Charlestown this year in exchange for a promise to install a third station near Hayes Square in the spring. That agreement followed a …

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Rob O'Brien

12:14 pm on Monday, March 18, 2013

Any word on the Hayes Square station this spring? I've heard Spaulding is getting a station. Does that mean 4 total in Charlestown?   more ›