Updated bike share locations, more details unveiled
We shared with you the preliminary plans for the first stage of the unveiling of the new bike share program, now called Indego, with 18 potential stations in South Philly. The new draft station map, which is still being finalized, has quite a few less stations placed in South Philly.
The preliminary map showed 18 stations throughout South Philly and now we’re down to just 12 stations of the 60 stations being planned across the city. Sounds like a pretty small number for such a big portion of the city, doesn’t it?
The new map includes just one station along E. Passyunk Ave. instead of the three originally presented. This is just the first phase of Indego, so there’s still hope for more in the future.
Although the price listing for the bike stations has yet to be released, here’s what the City of Philadelphia says the program will offer:
- A low-cost 30 day membership that will renew automatically and can be cancelled at anytime;
- A pay-as-you-ride membership, where you pay for only the rides you take;
- 60 minutes of ride time before incurring additional fees; and
- A cash payment option for 30 day memberships.
Oh, and the name Indego? According to this article from The Inquirer, the name is actually already trademarked to a company in Ohio. So depending on how legal settlement goes over the potential trademark infringement, the bike share program might have to adopt a new name.
What do you think of the updated bike share locations?
It’s absolutely absurd to think that only 1 bike location will be located in Passyunk Square, especially given the large population of younger riders who would most likely use a bike share. In addition to the one at Passyunk and Reed, why not have one at, say, Broad and Tasker and another at 9th and Washington? That way, folks south of Ellsworth can ride to the Italian Market.
To be clear, this map shows a draft of the first phase, so more are planned.
Are there no bike hubs west of Broad?
I agree, Passyunk Square ought to have a lot of potential customers for the service.
In addition, a location down by the stadiums makes sense. Yes, healthy tourists go to ballgames too.
It’s worth noting that most bikeshare stations are modular, so while there may only be a single station there, it could also be a larger station. Dupont Circle in DC, for example, used to have a single bike share station, but it was also significantly larger than a normal station.