A bike share system is a public transportation service that provides bicycles for short-term use. It is a convenient and eco-friendly service that promotes sustainable urban mobility.
Newburyport Livable Streets is exploring the potential of establishing a small bike share system for our area. Such a system could benefit residents and visitors by providing a convenient and inexpensive way to get around without adding more cars to our streets, especially in the peak summer season.
Newburyport, Plum Island, and the surrounding communities are ideal to travel and explore by bike. The Coastal Trails network provides a safe and attractive off-road spine connecting town centers and transportation nodes. Distances between key destinations are well within a comfortable cycling range for most people. And cycling through historic neighborhoods and natural preserves is an attraction in and of itself. A bike share system would allow visitors to experience our area’s resources and attractions in an intimate way not possible by car.
The kind of bike share system that we think would work well in Newburyport is a “hybrid” system like the Minuteman Bike Share operated by the towns of Concord and Acton, MA. The bike share “stations” are simple concrete pads that are defined virtually within a smartphone app. Because they are defined virtually and have minimal infrastructure, bike share station locations can easily be adjusted or added based on experience and needs. This provides flexibility to let the system adapt to changing conditions.
If you are interested in exploring this topic further, our website has an expanded version of this post at https://newburyportlivablestreets.org/bikeshare/.
We are interested in your thoughts about providing a bike share system in Newburyport, so we have prepared a short survey to get your ideas, suggestions and concerns. Please take 10 minutes and fill out the survey here: https://bit.ly/nls-bikesharesurvey.
Newburyport Livable Streets 