Malden Tops Bike-Share Usage In Greater Boston

MALDEN, MA — The highest bike-share usage in greater Boston comes from Malden, according to a recent report from the Metropolitan Area Planning Council. The report shows demand for bike-share systems in 16 communities that joined a regional network last year: Arlington, Bedford, Belmont, Chelsea, Everett, Malden, Medford, Melrose, Milton, Needham, Newton, Quincy, Revere, Waltham, Watertown and Winthrop.

The MAPC used trip-level data from Lime to map trip patterns and determine the most-frequented routes from April 2018 to September 2019. Malden saw 450 trips per 1,000 people over that time, well ahead of Everett, Arlington, and Winthrop, each of which saw between 200 and 360 trips per 1,000 people during the same period.

Areas with high bike-share volume include Malden Center on Main Street, Salem Street, Pleasant Street and Ferry Street, and on the Northern Strand Community Trail. The sections of Main Street and Ferry Street spanning Malden and Everett rank among the busiest roadways.

The study found that communities at the heart of the network, such as Malden, Arlington, Winthrop and Everett, saw exponentially more usage than towns on the periphery, as 30 percent of trips ended in a different community than where they started. Ridership also slowed considerably during the winter, prompting Lime to pull its bikes from participating communities this season.

Ridership in 2019 was substantially lower than in 2018 across the board; peak monthly ridership was in June 2019 (21,000 rides) and declined each month through September. Comparison of peak period ridership (April through September) shows a 40 percent decline in year-over-year ridership from 2018 – 2019.

The information comes as a result of a data-sharing agreement between Lime and MAPC, which created the regional framework that allows Lime to operate in over a dozen communities in the Greater Boston region.

Click here for the full study.