March 9, 2020
Bluebike stand on Cambridge Street in Boston. (Photo by Michael Jonas)

BLUEBIKE RIDERSHIP has soared in Greater Boston. While there is no single solution to our many transportation challenges, the growing popularity of Bluebikes is showing that the region’s public bikeshare program can play an important role.  
 
The Boston Globe recently reported that annual Bluebikes ridership jumped from 2.1 million trips in 2020 to 4.7 million trips in 2024, with the spike attributed to an increase in docking stations, new discount programs, and the addition of electric bicycles—or e-bikes—in early 2024. E-bikes are equipped with a small, battery-powered electric motor that helps riders reach speeds of up to 18 miles per hour when pedaling, effectively shortening distances and flattening terrain. 
 
Bluebikes aren’t just riding a wave of popularity—they are redefining how Greater Boston moves. A recent A Better City report comparing Bluebikes ridership between 2023 and 2024 found that e-bikes powered 25 percent of all rides in 2024. With roughly 700 e-bikes in the system, compared to the more than 4,000 classic bikes, each individual e-bike made almost twice as many trips on average as each classic bike. Even though e-bikes are slightly more expensive—there is a per-minute fee levied on each e-bike ride—many riders are opting for e-bikes when available.  
 
The Bluebikes system is collectively owned and operated by 13 municipalities—Arlington, Boston, Brookline, Cambridge, Chelsea, Everett, Malden, Medford, Newton, Revere, Salem, Somerville, and Watertown. Thanks to the stewardship of sponsor Blue Cross Blue Shield, the coordination of the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, and local, state, and federal investments marshaled by the participating municipalities, the Bluebikes system is expanding. 

Regional planning is underway to double the system by 2030, and the City of Boston is in the middle of a 100-station expansion. A Better City’s full report includes more detailed recommendations for improving the reliability and capacity of the system, such as expanding the e-bike fleet, integrating charging infrastructure into bike docks, and prioritizing co-location with transit and filling gaps in the network when siting new stations.   
 
Importantly, it’s not just the Bluebikes network that is growing—our regional bike infrastructure is growing too. Safe, separated infrastructure—like the Somerville Community Path, Northern Strand, and Neponset River Greenway—are drawing more commuters and recreational users alike. To help manage this growth, A Better City, with support from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, launched the Guided Ride Series last April to provide riders with the knowledge and confidence to navigate this new urban bike infrastructure. We teach best riding practices, rules of the road, safety tips and tricks, and publish routes accessible for free via smartphone. As our bike infrastructure continues to evolve, so must our education campaigns.  
 
Greater Boston has what most major metros do not: a comprehensive public transit network that is increasingly integrated with our Bluebikes system. The connectivity between the two has the potential to provide tremendous flexibility in how people can get around. More than 70 percent of the MBTA’s rapid transit stops, including the Blue, Red, Orange, Green, and Silver lines, have at least one Bluebikes docking station within 200 meters. With this overlap, a Bluebikes ride can cover the first or last mile of a multimodal commute to extend the range of MBTA trips, save time on trips via transit, and make traveling without a car convenient where it otherwise wouldn’t be feasible.  
 
What does all this mean for the future of transportation in Greater Boston? The expansion of the Bluebikes network (powered by e-bikes), and bike infrastructure demonstrates the massive potential for people to shift some of their short trips away from cars, alleviating our worst-in-the-nation traffic and reducing vehicle carbon emissions. The MassDOT Statewide Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan estimates that 57 percent of trips taken across all modes in Massachusetts are three miles or less. That’s a 12-minute bike ride, on average, if you’re riding a Bluebikes e-bike.   

For those who haven’t ridden a Bluebike yet, there are mutiple ways to give an e-bike a try. Casual riders can unlock a single ride for $2.95 plus $0.25 per minute, or purchase a day of unlocks for $10 plus $0.25 per minute. Membership options offer free unlocks and a reduced per minute rate of $0.10 for monthly and annual options, and $0.07 for income eligible riders. For employers who want to offer this type of mobility to their workers, there are several levels of subsidy available, all of which include free unlocks and discounted per minute rates on e-bikes. A Better City built a Bluebikes Calculator to demonstrate the low-cost, high-impact nature of such a benefit, which is less than 28 cents per day for an annual membership.  

With e-bikes supercharging the Bluebikes system, they are demonstrating how bikeshare can be part of the solution to address our traffic crisis and to achieve our climate goals. 

Amir Wilson is transportation and data policy manager at A Better City.