Hubway is a bicycle sharing system in the Boston, Massachusetts metro area. The system is owned by the cities of Boston, Cambridge, Somerville and Town of Brookline, and operated by Motivate and uses technology provided by 8D Technologies, as well as PBSC Urban Solutions bikes and docking stations. The bike share program officially launched on July 28, 2011 with 61 stations and 600 bicycles. Expansions were already being planned for in the spring of 2012, adding more stations in Boston as well as the neighboring cities and towns of Brookline, Cambridge, and Somerville. As of May 2017, the system has deployed 180 stations with a fleet of over 1,600 bikes.
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History
On Earth Day, April 21, 2011, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino signed a contract with Alta Bicycle Share, officially announcing the launch of a bike share system in Boston. Planned as a regional system, Hubway was initiated under Mayor Menino's nationally recognized Boston Bikes Program, which aims to build Boston into one of the world's premier cycling cities. The program was fully funded by $4.5 million in grants from the Federal Transit Administration and local organizations.
Hubway officially launched on July 28, 2011, with an event in which members could ride bicycles from City Hall Plaza to a designated bicycle station. The event featured Mayor Menino, representatives from various sponsors, and related agencies. In November 2011, Hubway was shut down and disassembled for the winter as a preventive measure to counter New England winter weather.
On March 15, 2012, Hubway was relaunched for the season. By the end of the 2012 season on November 28, the system had 105 stations and 1,050 bikes. Again, Hubway was shut down and disassembled for the winter. The system reopened on April 2, 2013, and by the end of November 2013 had expanded to 130 stations and 1,200 bikes. While a majority of the stations were shut down again for the winter season, 25 stations in the City of Cambridge, Massachusetts, remained open during a winter pilot program. After the full system relaunched on April 2, 2014, the system grew to 140 stations and over 1,300 bikes.
Full system operations for 2014 concluded on November 26, though the system expanded its winter operations. For the second year, almost all Cambridge-based stations remained open year-round, and those stations were joined by 62 Boston-based stations that remained open through December 31, 2014. Inclement weather pushed back the full system reopening until April 17, 2015, and during the 2015 season the system grew to 155 stations and over 1,500 bicycles. In 2015, regular season operations concluded on November 25, though again Hubway expanded its winter operations further, with 110 stations remaining open through December 7, 2015; of those, 107 will stay open through December 31; and of those, the 37 Cambridge-based stations will once again remain open year-round.
In May 2017, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh announced a planned two-year expansion, adding 70 new stations and offering year-round service.
Unionization
On December 4, 2014, Hubway's non-management employees voted 23-8, 74%, in favor of joining Transport Workers Union of America (TWU) Local 100. The unionization effort came after employees of CitiBike in NYC, owned by the same parent company Motivate (formerly named Alta Bicycle Share), joined TWU Local 100 in September 2014 and was closely followed by similar efforts by employees of Alta Bicycle Share in Washington, D.C. and Chicago.
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Membership and payments
Hubway offers annual, monthly, 72-hour, and 24-hour memberships which allow access to the bicycle fleet. Like other bike sharing systems in areas that frequently experience snow and ice, Hubway typically suspends service and removes stations during the winter months, though the City of Cambridge operated a year-round pilot from December 2013 through March 2014. An annual membership costs USD $85. A membership allows users to utilize a Hubway bicycle for unlimited trips up to 30 minutes in duration at no additional cost. After 30 minutes, additional "overtime" fees are incurred, though annual members and monthly members receive a 25% fee discount.
Stations
The system uses bicycles designed and manufactured by Montreal-based PBSC. The majority of docking stations are also supplied by PBSC while the newest docking stations are designed and manufactured by 8D Technologies. The stations are scattered across the Boston neighborhoods of Allston-Brighton, Fenway-Kenmore, Back Bay, South End, Beacon Hill, West End, North End, and the Financial District, as well as adjoining municipalities of Brookline, Cambridge and Somerville.
Technology
The platform behind the bike share system is created by 8D Technologies, who also supply the server technology for BIXI Montréal, Citi Bike in New York City, Santander Cycles in London, Capital Bikeshare in Washington DC, and others.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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