Following an 11th-hour meeting with the Beacon Hill Civic Association (BHCA) Traffic and Parking Committee Thursday, Boston bike czar Nicole Freedman said she is confident that New Balance Hubway will include stations in and around the neighborhood when the city’s bike share program gets underway today.
“Everyone wants to see the system come to Beacon Hill,” Freedman told the Times Friday. “The goal is to make sure it works.”
The program includes a fleet of 610 bikes and the installation of 61 stations citywide. Bikes are rented with “swipe cards” for about $5 per day or $85 per year; trips of 30 minutes or less are free, with additional fees for longer rides. Users can borrow bikes from one station and return them to another located elsewhere in the city. The stations, which typically accommodate about 10 bikes each, will be removed during the winter months to restore on-street parking spaces.
After hearing feedback from Civic Association members and local residents, Freedman said one location at Charles Circle adjacent to both Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and the John Jeffries House would likely work with some minor modifications.
Freedman said the city was also looking at a station site near the Arthur Fiedler Footbridge on the Charles River Esplanade, which was suggested by the Civic Association.
Freedman said she was meeting with representatives of the West End Civic Association Friday afternoon to discuss another proposed station location at Cambridge and Blossom streets in the West End.
“We also explored the Cambridge Street area for other alternatives,” Freedman said. “We’re vetting one location internally, which we’ll share with the group.”