Cycling in Boston has been a popular activity since the late 19th century for both recreation and commuting, and it has grown in popularity in recent years, aided by improving

cycling infrastructure Cycling infrastructure is all infrastructure cyclists are allowed to use. Bikeways include bike paths, bike lanes, cycle tracks, rail trails and, where permitted, sidewalks. Roads used by Motor vehicle, motorists are also cycling infrastructu ...

. It is especially prevalent around the campuses of the numerous universities in the city. Different areas in Boston have varying degrees of bike friendliness.

History

At the end of the 19th century, cycling was especially popular in Boston, and ''

Outing Magazine ''Outing'' (sometimes titled ''The Outing Magazine'') was a late 19th- and early 20th-century American magazine covering a variety of sporting activities. It began publication in 1882 as the ''Wheelman'' "an illustrated magazine of cycling liter ...

'' at the time described Boston as "the bicycling paradise of America". The city's cyclists were pivotal in the formation of the national organization

League of American Wheelmen The League of American Bicyclists (LAB), officially the League of American Wheelmen, is a membership organization that promotes cycling for fun, fitness and transportation through advocacy and education. A Section 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizatio ...

, and Massachusetts had the largest per capita membership in the league in the 1890s and the largest percentage of women members.Finison, Lorenz J.
Boston's Cycling Craze, 1880-1900
University of Massachusetts Press, May 2014, Access date: October 25, 2014

Bike sharing

Bluebikes Bluebikes, originally Hubway, is a bicycle sharing system in the Boston metropolitan area. As of July 2021, the system had deployed 393 stations with a fleet of over 3,800 bikes in the 10 municipalities it served. Bluebikes is operated by Motiva ...

, the city's

bicycle sharing system A bicycle-sharing system, bike share program, public bicycle scheme, or public bike share (PBS) scheme, is a shared transport service where bicycles are available for shared use by individuals at low cost. The programmes themselves include bot ...

was launched on July 28, 2011, originally named Hubway, with 610 bicycles and 60 stations in the

City of Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- most ...

. Later, the system was expended to

Brookline Brookline may refer to: Places in the United States * Brookline, Massachusetts, a town near Boston * Brookline, Missouri * Brookline, New Hampshire * Brookline (Pittsburgh), a neighborhood in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania * Brookline, Vermont See ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge beca ...

, and

Somerville Somerville may refer to: *Somerville College, Oxford, a constituent college of the University of Oxford Places *Somerville, Victoria, Australia * Somerville, Western Australia, a suburb of Kalgoorlie, Australia * Somerville, New Zealand, a subur ...

. As of September 2016, the system has deployed 158 stations with a fleet of over 1,461 bikes.

PBSC Urban Solutions PBSC Urban Solutions, formerly the Public Bike System Company, is an international bicycle-sharing system equipment vendor with their headquarters based in Longueuil, Quebec. The company develops bicycle-sharing systems, equipment, parts, and s ...

, a company based in

Montreal, Quebec Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-p ...

, Canada, supplies bikes and docking stations. The system is operated by Motivate. As of October 2014, it had more than 12,500 annual members, and an over 2.5 million trips have been taken by Hubway riders since 2011 launch. From May 9, 2018, the system was rebranded Bluebikes following a marketing deal with

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (BCBSMA) is a state licensed nonprofit private health insurance company under the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association with headquarters in Boston. The Boston location located on 133 Federal Street is currentl ...

. Bike sharing companies

Lime Lime commonly refers to: * Lime (fruit), a green citrus fruit * Lime (material), inorganic materials containing calcium, usually calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide * Lime (color), a color between yellow and green Lime may also refer to: Botany ...

and

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...

won a contract from the

Metropolitan Area Planning Council Greater Boston is the metropolitan region of New England encompassing the municipality of Boston (the capital of the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the most populous city in New England) and its surrounding areas. The region forms the northe ...

to introduce dockless rentals to certain suburbs in summer 2018. Lime was already operating in Malden, and the MAPC system expands dockless rentals to Arlington, Bedford, Belmont, Chelsea, Everett, Malden, Medford, Melrose, Milton, Needham, Newton, Revere, Waltham, Watertown, and Winthrop. Dockless bikes are excluded from the Hubway operating area because that system has an exclusive contract with Boston, Brookline, Cambridge, and Somerville.

References

External links

Bikes , City of Boston

Hubway

Bicycle New England
{{Cycling in different countries and cities Transportation in Boston

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...