Newburyport's Bike Share Initiative

Newburyport’s Master Plan recommends implementing a local bike share program to reduce car dependency for tourism and commuting. The City of Newburyport and Newburyport Livable Streets (NLS) are proposing a pilot program to explore how bike share can work in our City. The goal is to have the system up and running in the spring of 2025.

What is bike share and how does it work? Like buses, subways, and commuter rail, bike share is a form of public transportation. In a bike share system, people rent bikes for short trips, starting and ending their rides at designated locations or “stations.” The bicycles in the system are equipped with locks and tracking devices, and users access them via smartphone applications, membership cards, or kiosks equipped with touch screens. Users locate a nearby bike through the app and unlock it through a coded key or by scanning a QR code. When the ride is over, the user can return the bike to any available station.

Visitors to larger American cities like Boston are likely familiar with bike share systems, but they are increasingly popular in smaller communities as well. Some nearby examples include Minuteman Bike Share in Concord and Acton; Portland Bikeshare in Portland, ME; and ValleyBike serving 10 Connecticut Valley communities and UMass. 

The Newburyport bike share is planned to start out with 30 to 35 pedal bikes and 5 or 6 stations in 2025 and grow to around 45 bikes in the following two years. If successful, the system could also expand to surrounding communities, creating our own regional Seacoast system. 

The City and NLS have been securing funding to cover the costs of the proposed pilot system, both to keep user fares low and to minimize any municipal expense. The City has received a federal grant commitment for about two-thirds of the cost of the pilot, and significant funding pledges have been made by the Institution for Savings and Coastal Trails Coalition. The pilot program is expected to launch with no cost to the taxpayer for the first year, and fundraising for future years is continuing.

One of the primary advantages of bike share systems is their positive effect on the environment. By providing an alternative to motor vehicles, these systems help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other types of pollution.

Bike share systems also enhance mobility, offering a solution for short trips that are too long to walk but not practical for driving. They complement public transportation by filling gaps in the transit network, enabling users to easily reach transit stations. And trading car trips for bike trips helps everyone by reducing vehicle congestion on the roads.

Because Newburyport’s proposed bike share pilot is small in scale, the types of benefits described above will be modest initially, but they will increase as the system grows. Bike share will complement the City’s ongoing sustainability efforts and support an evolution to a more equitable and balanced transportation system.

Go to https://newburyportlivablestreets.org/bikeshare/ to learn more about the proposal and to see links to other small bike share systems.

ACES and its Youth Corps invite you to stay updated on environmental matters by subscribing to our monthly newsletter via the “Join Our List” link on this page. Please consider joining our community of stewards who commit to Make Every Day Earth Day by contacting us at acesnewburyport@gmail.com. We can make a big difference together.

This educational column first appeared in The Daily News of Newburyport on September 6, 2024.