Community Corner

JP Hubway Would Require Network of Stations

A city official said in order to have a station in a neighborhood a network would have to be built.

Jamaica Plain could get a Hubway bike sharing station this year, but it’s a long shot.

In order for the Hubway system to flow correctly, one stand-alone station would not suffice, according to Nicole Freedman, director of bicycle programs for the city of Boston.

“For us to go into JP to do it in a way that will be successful, we know we need a certain minimum number of stations,” she said.

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The average Hubway ride is under a mile, and no two Hubway stations are more than a quarter-mile apart, so despite sponsorship interest a station is not being imminently planned in Jamaica Plain, Freedman said. Brigham & Women’s Faulkner Hospital in Jamaica Plain has expressed interest in sponsoring a station.

A sponsor must commit $50,000 per year for three years, Freedman said. This provides enough funding for one station, which then typically bears the sponsor’s name. However, the city must then raise enough capital to build out the system toward the desired location.

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The Hubway is financed through system revenue (rides), advertisements, grants as well as sponsorships, Freedman said.

It takes 16 weeks to build a station once it’s been planned. Freedman said with though there is not one planned for the start of the 2013 riding season, Jamaica Plain could get a station at the end of the season or 2014.

“I would really like to see that,” she said, “but it depends on how fundraising goes.”


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