On Tuesday, Mayor Toni Harp of New Haven announced the launch of the city's first bike rental program, Bike New Haven. In its first phase, the bike share program will feature 10 stations and 100 bikes throughout the city center.
Mayor Harp downloaded the Bike New Haven app on her phone and scanned the QR code on a green bicycle, unlocking the inaugural bike share's first ride around the corner of Audubon and Orange Streets, one of the rental stations' locations.
“New Haven’s bike share program will get underway with about one-third of its system to begin with. The rest of the bikes and stations ready for deployment later this year,” Harp says.
Karen Jenkins, with the League of American Bicyclists, a bicycling advocacy group, says she believes that everyone should have access to transportation, like bikes.
“The League also encourages that everyone consider issues of equity and social justice when they are planning infrastructure enhancements such as a bike share program so that everybody has the ability to have access to them.”
Riders downtown can buy a single 45-minute ride for $1.75; an $8 daily pass; a $20 monthly pass or a $90 annual pass. The next phase will branch out to neighborhoods like Edgewood and Fair Haven. By April, riders will be able to access 30 stations and 300 bicycles throughout the city.
