Boston Gears Up for Biggest Bike-Sharing Program

[steven johnson]

America's only existing urban bike-sharing program is in Washington, D.C., and consists of 100 bicycles and 12 stations. Boston is proposing a much larger system. In Montreal, riders pay either $78 per year to $5 per day for a similar system. The proposed Boston system would rent a bike with the swipe of a credit card, have the rider to go to their destination and then drop the bike off.

BOSTON (AP) -- The city is entering talks with a Montreal-based company to create what would be the nation's largest urban bike-sharing system.

Boston officials are hoping to reach a decision with the Public Bike System Co. in the next 60 days to install a network of 2,500 bikes and 290 stations across the city by next summer, with the option of expanding to a 5,000-bike system encompassing the neighboring communities Brookline, Cambridge and Somerville.

Under the system, a rider would be able to rent a bike from one location with the swipe of a credit card, pedal to his or her destination and then drop off the bike at another location.

The system would be modeled after Montreal's bike-sharing program, BIXI, a subscription-based service with 3,000 bikes and 300 stations.




Boston Gears Up for Biggest Bike-Sharing Program