After an incredible year of introducing Healthy Ride to the city of Pittsburgh, we decided to reach out to some of our most frequent riders to hear more about their experience, what they’re using the system for, their favorite things about Healthy Ride, and of course, what we can do to improve.

Bike share amplifies the advantage of living in a city.

With over 317 rides in 2015, Jesse H. is a #SuperUserPGH! Jesse’s lived everywhere from New York City to Cuba to Boston to Washington D.C. When he arrived in Pittsburgh to pursue his PhD in History, he also took on the bike share system! He got rid of his personal bike years ago when he started moving cities so frequently, but had commuted by bike while teaching high school in New York and D.C. Biking on city streets isn’t new for him. Jesse was drawn to the system because he considers bike share as an integral part of making cities work for people through urban infrastructure. It’s “easier than having a car,” he said.

When it’s not so cold out, Jesse bikes from East Liberty to Oakland everyday and also uses Healthy Ride to commute for social purposes. He’d like to see stations in Polish Hill and North Oakland in order to use the bikes to make even more trips.

While Jesse’s favorite thing about the Healthy Ride system is convenience, he said that it’s also very inexpensive and, “As a grad student, that’s the bottom line.” Furthermore, he mentioned that he likes riding the bikes and that he “bikes safer on the [Healthy Ride] bikes,” as opposed to his personal bike.

Thanks, Jesse!

–The Pittsburgh Bike Share Team