Jersey City, Hoboken & Weehawken Partner on Regional Bike Share Initiative

Hoboken, NJ - Monday, December 16th, 2013



Jersey City Mayor Steven M. Fulop, Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer and Weehawken Mayor Richard Turner announced today that the three cities are partnering on a Regional Bike Share initiative that will see a minimum of 650 bikes placed in strategic locations throughout the three Hudson County municipalities.

As part of the initiative, the three municipalities as one entity will issue an RFP for a vendor to install solar-powered bike share hubs.

In Jersey City, a minimum of 300 bikes will be installed in 30 locations throughout the city. In Hoboken, there would be a minimum of 250 bikes and a minimum of 100 bikes in Weehawken.

“We are pleased to partner with Hoboken and Weehawken to bring this bike share program to our three cities as it will provide a viable and affordable transportation alternative to motor vehicles for our residents, employees and visitors,” said Mayor Fulop. “We know that our transportation network is a regional one that connects our three waterfront communities, which is why it was important to partner on this initiative. It is our goal to make Jersey City the best mid-size city in America and to do that we must provide alternative and sustainable transportation options.”

All three City Councils will be voting on this RFP at their upcoming meetings. The program is being designed so it could be further expanded into additional municipalities.

“Following Hoboken’s extremely successful bike share pilot this summer, we are ready to scale up to a full-scale, regional bike share program,” said Mayor Zimmer. “Hoboken has the highest rate of transit commuters in the country, and this program will improve our region’s transportation resiliency and provide another low-cost, healthy transportation and recreation option.”

According to the RFP, the bike share system should utilize technology that would allow a user to release a bicycle from a station in one municipality and return it to a station in one of the other two cities.

“Weehawken Township, in conjunction with Jersey City and Hoboken, looks forward to the initiation of this bike share program,” said Mayor Richard F. Turner. “Weehawken residents will have the opportunity to not only utilize the bike service within Weehawken, but will also be able to use it while visiting their neighboring communities.”

The system will allow users to register online or using a smartphone app (iOS, Android), submit payment data and execute a user agreement. A walk-up user would also be able to rent bicycles directly at the stations, including submitting credit cards and registering and executing a user agreement. Each bike will be equipped with a GPS and user data will be logged continually. Analysis of this data will allow the municipalities to adjust according to user needs.

Additionally, this bike share system will reduce congestion, ease parking issues and encourage an active lifestyle. Bike share users also tend to shop closer to home, keeping local dollars local and promoting main street shopping.

As compensation for providing the three municipalities with the services of the bike share system, the vendor will collect membership/user fees, advertising and sponsorship revenues and other revenue sources, as approved by the municipalities. There will be a variety of membership levels to make the program accessible to all residents.

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