Hundreds of blue and white bikes are back and rolling now that a popular bike share program has relaunched in western Massachusetts.
For over a year, dozens of hubs designed to holster e-assist bikes remained empty after the ValleyBike bike share network experienced a “pause.”
Officials announced last spring that the program was on ice after ValleyBike’s supplier, Bewegen, filed for bankruptcy in its native Canada. But now, with a new vendor secured and most of the bike hubs restocked – ValleyBike has returned.
Northampton Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra and the city hosted the kickoff at Pulaski Park Monday – joined by city leaders from across the region and officials with Drop Mobility, the new vendor.
The program’s revival will involve some 300 of the older teal and white Bewegen bikes, as well as at least 50 “Drop e-bikes” – many of which will go to Springfield while the rest of the fleet transitions to the newer, all-white models.
The service will also be seasonal out of the gate, with an eye toward returning to year-round service in the near-future, according to Carolyn Misch, Director of Planning & Sustainability for the City of Northampton.
Misch told reporters that members of the public immediately noticed when the bike program ceased and that getting it back was a priority for the communities that hosted it.
“When we had to shut down, when our previous vendor closed, it was a real hit, and … we received many calls from people who were wondering where the bikes were, and each staff member from all the eight communities and UMass were committed,” she said.
In addition to Springfield and Northampton, other communities taking part include former ValleyBike hosts as well as newcomers.
Hosts include Amherst, the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Easthampton and Holyoke, as well as West Springfield, and South Hadley. Agawam is also expected to take part in 2025, ValleyBike staff tell WAMC, while the City of Northampton listed Westfield as a participant on its website, as well.
One returning host includes Chicopee, with Mayor John Vieau taking part in Monday’s kickoff.
“I think it's really important that we focus, as Western Mass and Pioneer Valley, on the opportunity to use bikes as a primary source for commuting, for recreation - as an avid biker, a person who rides his bike every single day, I'm excited to jump on one of these pedal assist bikes and have this opportunity to potentially even commute to work with it,” the mayor told those gathered for the relaunch.
Misch says the bikes essentially cost around $1,200 each, per year. Covering the costs are the hosts – prorated for each community taking part. Offsetting the costs are sources like user membership fees and sponsorships.
Also a help – thousands of dollars in Community Mitigation Funds from the Massachusetts Gaming Commission awarded last month.
While exact totals were not readily available, Chicopee and Holyoke are making use of the grant money for ValleyBike. Northampton also benefitted – getting $75,000 for “ValleyBike Bike Share Operations”
“We know that for some folks, this was a main source of transportation for them - it's how they went to get groceries, it's how they got to work. It was used recreationally, of course, and it was beautiful to take one and cross the river and go to another community and go on the bike trail, but we know that for some people, this was really their main transportation mode, and so it's really important to be able to keep that going,” Sciarra told WAMC.
Data from an “End of Year” 2022 report showed ValleyBike made some 116,860 rides possible – a figure that had only increased since the service’s start in 2018. The report said the program then involved at least 568 bikes across 71 stations.
ValleyBike Lead Technician Edgardo Cancel says the fleet of 350 bikes hitting the road now is only expected to grow.
Jacob Roberts, ValleyBike’s operations manager, tells WAMC just installing the current number of bikes appeared to elicit excitement.
“Even when we were putting the bikes out over the past couple days - people honking their horns, people asking, ‘Is that the new bike? Are we getting it back?’ You know, just a lot of enthusiasm,” he said. “I think, clearly, these communities are bike-friendly communities. The cool thing for us is we're actually introducing these bikes to other communities that haven't had the system before.”
“For some folks … they were missing what they had, and for some folks … they're eager to get what they never had,” Roberts added.
