PHOTOS: Hubway Kicks Off Bike Share Program

While it may not hit Brookline until 2012, bike sharing has officially come to Boston.

The Town is still seeking donations from local businesses to help bring bike sharing to town. Director of Planning and Community Development Jeff Levine notes that, without funds to match federal and state grants, we won't be able to launch the program. 

Thursday in Boston, Mayor Thomas Menino was joined by Senator John Kerry at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the project, part of the nationally-recognized Boston Bikes program.

“This is a great day for Boston,” Menino said. “Over the past four years, we have taken great strides toward making Boston a city that welcomes and encourages bicycling but this innovative system is the most significant step yet."

Boston visitors and residents will have multiple options for renting the silver bicycles, which are easily adjustable and come equipped with a handlebar basket. Stations have already been set up outside the South End Branch Library, along Mass Ave near the Boston Medical Center and at the intersection of Washington and Rutland streets. A fourth station is planned for the area surrounding the Boston Center for the Arts, and will likely be located at Tremont and Milford streets. View a map of all Boston stations here.

Boston's Hubway features “swipe card” payments and costs $5 per day with free trips that are 30 minutes or less, and $85 annual memberships. Since the program's website went live on July 13, over 700 annual memberships have been activated, according to the Mayor's office.

“I’m so excited to see just how far this program can go and just how much Boston becomes the great bicycling city it can be," said Nicole Freedman, director of Boston Bikes.

Click here for more information on the program or to become a Hubway member.

 Any Brookline businesses interested in sponsoring the Brookline leg of Hubway should contact Jeff Levine. Phone: 617-730-2130 Fax: 617-730-2442 E-mail: jlevine@brooklinema.gov