Bike Group Puts Brakes On Bike Share Program In Arlington

ARLINGTON, MA — After years of discussion and goal setting in an effort to bring a bike-share program to Arlington, a pilot plan that looked set to start as early as this fall just gotten a flat tire.

"After a discussion with representatives of TAC and ABAC, I have been compelled to delay the pursuit of pilot program until the spring of 2018. In order to be ready for such a pilot, we will be expanding the membership of the Bike Share Working Group so that it can focus on both the continued pursuit of Hubway and a plan for dockless pilot," Town Manager Adam Chapdelaine the wrote in a memo to the Board of Selectmen.

In January the town's bike-share working group set up with the task of making a recommendation to the was leaning toward connecting Arlington to the Boston area Hubway network rather than two other bike-sharing options. Then they discovered the possibility of a dockless, GPS-based bike share program and switched gears to investigate that and whether that might be a better, more cost effective way to go.

To help get data on which direction the town should go, the town was getting ready to, using the GPS tracker attached to the bikes to see how people use the program. But some felt the group was pushing too much too fast. A trial period this fall would only get cut short, they argue.

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Bike-sharing has been talked about in town as early as 2009. In 2014 the idea of joining something like Hubway came across the Transportation advisory committee's agenda multiple times.

On its FY 2015/2016 goals, the Board of Selectmen and Town manager both listed exploring bike share opportunity as part of their goals. "Work with ABAC and TAC to promote and encourage multi-modal transportation in Arlington, support corresponding infrastructure improvements throughout Town, and explore bike sharing opportunities," the line reads.

In September of 2016 in light of a Zagster proposal to create a minuteman bikeshare network among Arlington, Lexington, and Bedford, the Bike sharing Working Group decided the purpose of the group was to provide guidance to the Arlington Bicycle Advisory committee and the Transportation Advisory Committee regarding whether the Town should move forward with Zagster or Hubway.

In January 2017, it appeared Hubway was the favored bike sharing option and the final steps before testing the service was to figure out how Hubway would connect to other existing stations, and whether towns like Medford and Belmont were also considering it and - who, exactly, would use the service in town.

And then, the committee found out about dockless bike sharing. Companies that provide bicycles that don’t need to lock into a bike share dock, a dock that can cost money to the town.

During the Sept. 12 meeting of the Arlington Bicycle Advisory Committee, members were conflicted about that dockless project. While they liked the idea of it and didn't want to close the door completely on something like that, it seemed Hubway, a service that neighboring communities like Cambridge and Boston already use, made the most sense.

But rather than having a pilot run of it this fall, as earlier discussed, they recommend waiting til spring.

"We do not support rushing into a pilot this fall with a system that is likely to fail due to the lack of connections outside of Arlington. Such a failure runs the risk of souring public opinion towards any future bike-share," said Scott Smith on behalf of the Arlington Bicycle Advisory Committee in a memo.

Even if the system is partially successful, he said, the committee worried it could make Arlington less attractive for a Hubway expansion, by diluting the market. The committee was also concerned about winter storms cutting the experiment short and the problem of evenings getting darker earlier.

Although we have concerns about the viability of dockless bike-share, we do not wish to close the door
on it, as we realize that Hubway may prove to be too expensive. At the same time, we want any initial
launch of a bike-share system to have high likelihood of success, one that serves our residents, visitors
and businesses well.

The issue is on the agenda for the Board of Selectman meeting, Monday, Sept. 25.

Photo of Hubway by Jenna Fisher/Patch Staff