1 Month In, Bike Share Rides On

Nearly 500 different people e‑biked more than 4,500 miles across more than 2,700 different trips in the first month of the city’s revived bike share program.

Those stats come courtesy of Greg Ledovsky, a Devil’s Gear bike shop co-owner who also co-runs the local bike mechanics group that contracts with the city’s parking authority to help operate Ride New Haven.

That short-term bike rental effort, run in partnership with the San Francisco-based Drop Mobility, officially launched on Sept. 3 — more than four years after the city’s previous bike share program, called Bike New Haven, folded.

Unlike last time, this bike share program is spearheaded by the city’s parking authority, rather than by the city’s transportation department. I’s funded primarily by user subscriptions and parking authority subsidies, instead of by advertisements. So far, it uses exclusively e‑bikes, rather than traditional pedal-powered bikes.

The program also includes several different ways to pay: by the minute, month, or year, as well as steeply discounted ​“equity memberships” for certain low-income residents. Click here to check out the latest rates, and to download the smartphone app required to rent bikes through Ride New Haven.

According to September bike share program data put together by Ledovsky, in that first month, Ride New Haven saw:

• 1,075 signups

• 489 active users

• 2,709 total trips

• 4,524 total miles biked, including an average trip length of 1.67 miles

• 41,421 total minutes biked, including an average trip duration of 15.29 minutes

• 345,175 calories burned (!)

As of last Friday, Ledovsky told the Independent, 95 out of the program’s 100 e‑bikes were available for rent. Others were out of service for repairs.

Of Ride New Haven’s 31 stations so far, the top ten busiest have been at:

• Orange Street and Linden Street in East Rock (294 bike share trip starts, 325 bike share trip ends)

• York Street and Chapel Street downtown (292, 305)

• The Lawrence Street dog park in East Rock (283, 290)

• Orange Street and Pearl Street in East Rock (272, 253) 

• The Yale Post Office on Elm Street downtown (251, 258)

• Paul Russo Park in Wooster Square (238, 254)

• The Farmington Canal trail at Munson Street in Science Park (220, 225)

• Union Station (188, 195)

• Sherman Avenue and Chapel Street in Edgewood (171, 165)

• College Street and South Frontage Road by Yale’s medical campus (147, 175)

“I think the numbers speak for themselves” about how successful the program has been to date, city parking authority director Doug Hausladen told the Independent on Tuesday. He said September was a ​“record month for bike share in New Haven,” already beating out the last bike share system’s highest usage numbers.

As for what’s working the best so far about Ride New Haven, he said, ​“People really like the e‑bikes.” Riders can scoot along at a max of 15 miles per hour without breaking a sweat — that’s ​“a big difference in the cycling experience from the prior system.”

He said the bike share program’s operators plan to make some ​“user interface changes” to the bike rental process soon. ​“It’s really important that users remember to create their username and put the payment info in before trying to rent a bike,” he said. 

“People would love a little signage,” Hausladen added. ​“We’re trying to figure out what can be done on all the stations.” The first bike share signs should be going up at the bike share rental spots at the train station and at parking authority-owned parking lots, he said.

Hausladen said that the program likely won’t add a ​“day pass” option for the time being. ​“I think for us, with the number of bikes we have, we’re being mindful to grow at the right speed. Things like a day pass might put a little more strain on the system.”

He also said that 100 retrofitted traditional bikes from the previous New Haven bike share program should be available for rent alongside the current stock of e‑bikes by Thanksgiving.

Finally, through a partnership with the New Haven Coalition for Active Transportation (NCAT) and the Community Alliance for Research and Engagement (CARE). the bike share program has been hosting electric bike classes, including at the Fair Haven library.

Hausladen encouraged people to send feedback about the bike share program to the parking authority at support@ridenewhaven.com to help them improve the system.