So far so good. Despite living in Cambridge and not having any stations the $60 introductory annual rate and a free helmet tempted me into becoming an early adopter. I'm not a bike rider and my previous attempts at starting have not been pretty but these bikes were extremely easy for me to pick up and ride. The system works great. Occasionally you'll run into a bike that it won't let you take (probably because someone hit the broken bike button) but all you do is just try another and it will usually give it to you. Other people have complained about being timed out for 5 minutes after returning a bike. This does happen but only for the original bike you took out. My suggestion is to just grab a different bike. My only complaint is that some of the stations aren't marked accurately on the maps however Hubway was quick to fix the ones I pointed out to them so kudos to them for listening. Can't wait until they come to Cambridge either this fall or next spring. read more

New Balance Hubway - A Hubway key. - Bike Sharing Near Me - Boston, Massachusetts

I love the idea of a bicycle sharing program in Boston but I must admit that it has left room for improvement. It's not cheap. You must pay to be a member ($85/year, $12/3days, $5/day), then you must pay for rides longer than 30 min. When you return a bike, you have to wait just under two minutes to check another out again (whether its the same bike or another bike), making it slightly inconvenient to station hop for 'free' rides. The fee scale increases sharply for rides over the 30 min mark - an hour costs $2, two hours is $20, and a full day is $100. For comparison, most bike shops rent bicycles for $30/day. For the price of a year membership you could buy a cheap bike at Target or a decent bike off Craigslist. If a Hubway bike is not returned in a day your credit card gets charged $1,000. Ive encountered a few people having difficulty buying a membership with a credit card, and one kiosk with a frozen screen. Priced as such, its clear that the system is designed for quick trips - commuting or running errands instead of recreation or sightseeing. Unfortunately, less stations were installed than planned (there are about 45 as of 8/13/11), and they are not well-placed. There are clusters of stations instead of an even spread across the city. The residential section of the Back Bay is completely left out, as is Beacon Hill, most of the North End, and a huge piece of the South End. I believe they were placed based on where they could find sponsors, not out of convenience. They have plans to expand into Cambridge and Somerville in the future. There's a cool app that tells you where the stations are, and how many bikes are available at each one (in real time, but I get a lot of 'server errors'). I have already run into docks completely out of bikes when I've needed one, and docks completely filled when I've needed to return one. In the latter case it can give you 15 extra minutes to find another, but its a big inconvenience. Hopefully they will be better at redistributing the bikes or place more stations. The bikes themselves are utilitarian, durable and very slow. Most noticeably there is no top tube, making getting on and off easy. They have an internal 3-speed rear hub controlled by a grip-shifter. The brakes, controlled by normal brake levers, are built into the hubs. The wide, hard, and slippery seat is easily raised or lowered, and cannot be completely pulled out of the frame. A generator in the front hub powers a built in white headlight and red taillights. Parts are secured to the frame with specialty bolts. There is a pseudo basket (no sides) in the front with a bungee - I'm not sure why it isn't a real basket. When a bicycle breaks you place it in a dock and press a repair button, which will prevent it from being checked out again. It would be nice if the bikes had an indicator for how long they have been checked out for, instead of having to racing an invisible clock to get to the next station in under 30 min. I think my biggest complaint is how low the bikes are geared, making it impossible to go fast on flat ground. I'm not about to count chainring teeth but at about 10mph in 3rd gear my pedals are spinning too quickly to keep up with. I'm sure this is a safety feature. Locking the bikes is actually a bit difficult; it takes a some skill to get the mechanism to properly engage the bike on the first try. A guy next to me heard the noise and walked away assuming his had locked. Luckily I noticed the tiny light flash red and re-locked it for him. I think there needs to be more of a warning when lock failed. I foresee a lot of good people getting charged 1k for a bike they thought they had returned. *Update, I have heard stories of people getting large charges after they had taken a sub-30 minute trip. At least the next guy who took it out didn't keep it! Always triple check to make sure it was returned properly, the locks are far from perfect. Within minutes of returning a bike to a station, I saw a teenager try to yank it out of the dock. He gave up pretty quickly. I'm sure drunk college kids, especially tool-wielding MechEs, will give the system a better test. Already I've encountered a few bikes with broken bells, out of true wheels, and one with a broken fender. I've also encountered two broken dock mechanisms. I hope these were lemons and the system wont fall apart this quickly. Helmets are required by the terms of the Hubway, and are sold for $8 at vendors across Boston (shown on the station map). Out of all the Hubway riders I've seen so far, I've seen one, only one, person wearing a helmets. It's also apparent that the police are not ticketing riders for violations - plenty of running red lights, sidewalk riding, and lack of signaling. This was expected. I really hope this program will expand next season. Until then, its very limited in its practicality. Please keep in mind that the program is still new; I'll try to keep this updated. read more

See all

I work in Cambridge, live downtown, and I just started commuting with the New Balance Hubway bikes. - a one-way, 4.3 mile ride takes me 23 minutes - checking a bike out/returning one takes less than a minute - roundtrip commute burns ~500 calories - add a few calories because I seem to smile non-stop riding these wonderful bikes along the Esplanade - thats about 3.29 pounds a month! read more

When the only weaknesses of a service are an under-developed infrastructure and the potential ignorance of users who believe they're beyond the application of standard terms and conditions, well sir, you've got a pretty stellar thing going. The Hubway, for the uninitiated, is a network of community bikes meant to be a feel-good alternative to public transit. It is not, I repeat NOT, a bike rental for a day of joy riding. Just as you wouldn't hop in a cab and take it around for grocery shopping, dinner and to catch a flick, you should not consider Hubway for long-term use. It's plastered on every bike, at every station and contained in your rental agreement. Complaining to the contrary is just silly. In fact, the key to its success is the short-term nature of use: 30-minute rides mean a constant flux in inventory, which means greater availability to all. The current price structure is $6 for a day-tripper, $12 for a three-day run (oh hey, long weekend), $20 for a monthly pass and $85 for a full year. All of these memberships have the same terms: unlimited 30-minute cycles, with an up-charge for times beyond. Be mindful of this. Find stations and refresh the 30 minutes often (pop your bike in, get a new code and take it out again). If a station is full, you can easily request a Time Credit from the terminal and get 15 minutes to find another station. Purty smart. Also, using a tracking app like Spotcycle or Biximo to plan your course and know what's full - luckily, there's usually another setup nearby. Some stations build up bikes; others are seemingly always naked. I'd hope this is being evaluated as they expand. And of course, as the number of stations tally up, Hubway only gets more effective. It'd be nice to see some sort of timing function (a stamp on your paper code, perhaps), so you're not relying on your iPhone for those returns at the wire. Finally, a printed confirmation for a bike return? I know the green light flicks on, but if there's ever discrepancy, there's no real record for the user. The wheels themselves are durable, functional 3-speeds that ride purposefully casually (read: slow). It's really an amazing service, and in three(?) years, has made a tremendous impact to the local commuting scene. Even as a bike owner, I'll be using Hubway often. read more

CAUTION!!! READ THE FINE PRINT. $91.00 for a 6 hour bike rental??? By all accounts, the new HUBWAY service should be a home run: Affordable bicycles for rent with convenient pick-up and drop-off locations all over the city. The only problem is that they forgot they affordable part! Here's the scoop: I needed to have my car serviced over near Fenway on August 15th. Not wanting to inconvenience my wife with the drop-off logistics, I decided to give the HUBWAY service a try. The check out process was very confusing as the electronic checkout system takes you through various information screens that need to download before allowing you to checkout. This was annoying but not a deal breaker. The deal breaker is that despite all the screens of information you are forced to sift through, the pricing structure is not very clear and the pricing is a bit ridiculous if you intend to have the bike for more than an hour or so. According to the HUBWAY website, a 30-60 minute rental would cost $5.00 (24 Hour Membership Fee) + $2.00 (for the actual time on the bike). $7.00...not bad for some convenient transportation right? (they do offer a few different membership packages that would also be charged independently of the time on the bike: 3Day+$12.00, Yearly = $85.00) But after the first hour the pricing goes up dramatically and is calculated every half hour as listed below. (the company does offer discounts to registered users versus casual users) 0 - 29:59 min $0.00 $0.00 30:00 - 59:59 min $2.00 $1.50 60:00 - 89:59 min $6.00 $4.50 90:00 - 119:59 min $14.00 $12.50 2:00:00 - 2:29:59 hours $22.00 $18.50 2:30:00 - 2:59:59 hours $30.00 $24.50 3:00:00 - 3:29:59 hours $38.00 $30.50 3:30:00 - 3:59:59 hours $46.00 $36.50 4:00:00 - 4:29:59 hours $54.00 $42.50 4:30:00 - 4:59:59 hours $62.00 $48.50 5:00:00 - 5:29:59 hours $70.00 $54.50 5:30:59 - 5:59:59 hours $78.00 $60.50 6:00:00 - 6:29:59 hours $86.00 $66.50 6:30:59 - 6:59:59 hours $94.00 $72.50 7:00:00 - 23:59:59 hours $100.00 $80.00 Given the pricing structure, I am sure that a few unsuspecting tourists and denizens alike will find they could have purchased bicycles more cost effectively than using this rental service. I will add that the Customer Service agent I spoke to at HUBWAY was very polite and immediately offered to credit back 50% of the $86 I was charged for my time on their bike. All in all, I will walk or taxi next time. Caveat emptor! read more

I want this program to work, I really do. I love cycling and want Boston to love it as much as I do. Hubway's marketing makes it sound like you can go for a nice ride around Boston for $3/day. Not so. Instead you can go for a nice ride in 29 minute increments for $5/day. Or you can keep the bike all day, but you might as well rent a sweet Mustang convertible -- it'd be cheaper. Surprisingly though, my complaint isn't centered around their silly and convoluted pricing. My mom was in town so we thought it would be fun to ride down the Charles to Boston Common and get lunch, then ride back. I looked up pricing and how it works before we left, so I was fully aware of their pricing model. We decided to suck it up and take a leisurely trip and pay the extra money to keep the bikes for an hour one way. Our ride was beautiful and the bikes were in good condition. They're virtually brand new and are in mechanically-excellent shape. They're big and heavy but easy to ride. We had a lovely day riding around Boston. No complaints to be had until I noticed the $46 charge on my credit card. I was expecting a $14 charge -- $5/pp daily membership + $2/pp for extra time. I called to see why I was charged so much and they said it was because one of the bikes was out for 2.5 hours. I swear we checked the bikes to make sure they were docked, but Hubway's explanation was that it probably wasn't docked correctly. Therefore, someone else must have ridden the bike around on my dime, then thankfully returned it to the same dock. Customer service said I should be lucky they didn't steal it, because then I would have had a $1000 charge on my credit card for the lost bike. Only when I turned into Megzilla and started swearing at them, did they offer to reimburse me 50% of the extra charge. Better than nothing I guess, but it still more than doubled the cost of our fun afternoon out. They clearly need a better system for docking and/or a return receipt so people are more aware of whether or not the bike was really returned. I think of my mom and myself as competent people. If we screwed it up, anyone could. They also need to make the pricing more clear so people don't feel so duped when they get a gigantic bill. The other reviews here are pretty spot-on, so I hope Hubway fixes its problems before the whole city is against them. read more

I signed up for an early-bird membership when the program first started. It cost me $60. I've only used it 6 or 7 times so I probably haven't gotten my money's worth yet, but membership does have its privileges. One night my wife and I went out with a friend who was visiting from out of town. We took the bus from our place down to Kenmore and got dinner down by the Fens. On the way back to Kenmore we passed the Hubway station at the corner of Boylston and Yawkey, so I took out my key and got a bike. I had to ride in circles and go really slowly to keep pace with them. The bikes are really slow so this wasn't a problem. It's probably a net good that they're slow because you're obviously going to get some ding-dongs who don't know or care about the rules of the road when you have a program like this, and thanks to physics they'll generally do less damage at lower speeds. The bikes are heavy too. Take my advice and don't try to pop a wheelie on one. When we got to the bus stop I realized I'd much rather ride home than wait for a packed 57, and my wife seemed sincere when she said she wouldn't mind if I took off. In hindsight she may have actually been pleased. The closest station to our house is in Allston's Union Square. I had another 20 minutes to go on foot, so I figured I would need a beer from Deep Ellum to fortify myself. I had two beers instead and had to pee behind someones bushes on the way home. Hopefully my wife won't read this. read more

I echo the sentiments of everyone else who has given Hubway a poor review: READ THE FINE PRINT. Great idea and seems like a fair deal until you realize the shoddy job they do of promoting the pricing. As somone who works in marketing, it's not best practice to mislead the consumer especially when it comes to cost. As a service that is promoted as a transportation alternative, it is extremely misleading to learn that the $5.00 deal is only for "casual registered members" while $3.00 is only for "frequent registered members." Take the T or rent a bike elsewhere if you want one for the day. This really a great idea in theory, but I truly feel the pricing structure is misleading and a bit excessive. read more

Very cool idea, however, the communication about the rates is not up to par. We ended up paying a lot of money because we were not properly informed about the rates. Check rates online first! This program is designed for short term rental only. The rates go up by the hour, because they want to discourage people from using the bike too long. read more

Hubway is great! After doing a 24 hour membership, I signed up for the year long one at the $60 rate. I barely take the T anymore, and love biking around the city. The pricing is not confusing, if you take the time to read it. This is meant to commute from point A to point B, not as a full day bicycle rental. Seems like a lot of people are blaming the company for user error.... Even when docks are full, there is a convenient app to tell you where open ones are, and all are within a few blocks of one another. No, helmets are not provided, but sharing helmets is kind of gross anyway. Would love to see an expansion in South Boston, Cambridge, Allston etc, but I believe they are working on it. Highly recommend to anyone who spends a lot of time in Boston, likes getting exercise and dislikes the T. read more

I definitely will not be using Hubway again. I appreciate the concept of bike sharing and thought this would be an easy way to enjoy a bike ride with some friends, but apparently missed the idea of a "short ride." If you don't do fairly extensive research on this bicycle sharing service you will get hit with many fees. First, be aware that they will take out a security deposit. I rented two bikes for 24 hours and the next day found $203 taken out of my account by Hubway. I did some research from articles and reviews and found out that's a security deposit. It's been three business days and five total days since I rented these bikes and I still don't have that money back yet, even though when I called yesterday they said they had released that hold. Then I noticed I had two separate charges of $54 taken out from Hubway. This is because I wasn't aware of the 30 minute ride limit. Again, after doing research I now understand their pricing model, but if you're looking for a quick option, you might not be aware of the concept of bringing the bike back every 30 minutes. I can see the benefit of a service like this, but I really feel that they need to make these fees easier to find, as of right now it's cost me around $322 in total to rent two bikes for a 24 hour period and return them within about two hours. Nowhere on my receipt do I see any indication of these fees, it didn't remind me of consenting to these fees when I entered my credit card information. I understand that had I looked more throughly, I would have been made aware of some of them, but that's kind of the problem. My suggestion, go on Craigslist and buy a cheap bike. read more

LOVE that this service has come to Boston! Check-in process is similar to putting money on the T's Charlie card - it's a breeze if you get it, but tourists, non-English speakers and college kids (without funds for the $100 deposit) won't get it right away, which holds up the line. I plan on using this service every weekend - saw parts of Boston I've never seen - feel like a tourist in my own city! read more

Good and comfortable bikes for rentals to go around Boston. Excellent activity if you are new in Boston or friends are visiting. Great way to tour the city. Bike around the Charles River is a unique experience. Make sure to cruise by the Esplanade! Rentals are affordable and there are many spots to pick up of drop off the bikes. read more

A great system that I'm glad to see arrive in Boston, which did many things right and just a few wrong. What Boston got right is the choice of system (the same as in used in London, and thankfully not the primitive one used in Paris) including annual passes and simple to operate kiosks. This system makes checking out bikes fast and easy, and the bikes themselves are, though a bit heavy compared with typical owned bikes, are perfect for the task: tough, solid, comfortable, with a low center of gravity and easy to use and flexible storage. What Boston got (very) wrong is the scale and scope of the initial deployment of the system. Something like this just won't work unless it's done at scale (London started with 6000 bikes compared to Boston's 600). In particular (and this is part of the confusion some reviewers are having about pricing) the system is intended for station-to-station use: whenever you're not using a bike to ride, it should be possible to easily find a station nearby where you can dock your bike and stop the clock. The small number of stations in a narrow range of locations makes this hard. There are also minor nits to pick about the style of the kiosks (not nearly as nice as London's) or the way the stations are (not) integrated into their surroundings (they look temporary, which perhaps they are) or the failure to integrate closely with the public transport system (as such schemes are in Europe and Asia). But overall, things look promising, and it's great to see the system being used. And: nothing in Cambridge or along the Minuteman Bikeway-- really?! read more

Take $101 and customer service not knowing how long till it (the deposit) is returned, customer service at 2:00 sounds like they have slobber between their lip and pillow. Great concept ruined by a shitty customer service experience. Pull your name off these bikes New Balance and quit extorting money. K-Mart needs to be on these because this sucks. read more

A great idea but wouldn't you think that grabbing a bike and pedaling ones ass around the city would be cheaper and safer (no helmets provided) than the T? It's not. read more

Broken system with no support. CONS App was telling me there was 14 docs available and 1 bike False-there was no docs available and a bunch of bikes. The whole system was down yet the app did not state that nor did they reset the app to the current situation after I called them. Inconveniencing everyone who went there. I checked a few hours later and the app still said the same thing. Tell me again what is the app for? Got another bike at another location, time to drop it off. App said 4 docs available and 15 minutes later theres only 2 docs and they are both out of service. Customer service tells me its my problem without any consideration that i had to punch in to my job. The said I had to bring it to another location a few blocks away. Mind you my phone is going to shut down on low battery and I have no idea where this other location is. Since they have your credit card they can charge you, if the bike goes missing and if you leave it undocked so of course they don't care and say there is nothing they can do. They said we can't send anyone out to help just because of me. Failing to realize this is their fault because of an app that does not work correctly. Failing to let us know there are broken docs. or that a system is down. Failing to realize we have places to be. Failing to understand that phones die. Failing to understand that people work. Failing to provide service when needed. I'm done with the HUB. Don't trust it. Oh yea yesterday they said that I didn't dock your bike when I did and sent an email saying I am responsible if the bike goes missing or anything of that matter and will be charges $1,000. Someone took the bike, but thank GOD they returned it although they still charged me $5.00. They freely take money out of your account once again failing to accept they are the problem. NO GOOD DOCS. read more

The Hubway bicycle project in Boston is expensive if you keep the bike for over 30 minutes. Bikes are easy to use and easy to return at a completely different location. It's great for tourists or people looking to hop around downtown and then return within an hour. I've used it twice but only for the 30 minute period. (it's $5 just for membership during the day, but if you have it for more than 30 minutes it gets expensive) A person would not be able to casually ride along the Charles River pathway without having to constantly check his/her watch to keep track of the time. Zipcar is 20% cheaper in most cases and that's renting a full on car. (not exactly geared towards the same thing, but still the price comparison was my point) I bought a bike after realizing what the Hubway bicycle system was. It's a service that looks nice at first but doesn't really make sense economically. It doesn't make sense for the thousands of people that would use it if the pricing were different... say $3 or $4 an hour. My expectation comes from renting bikes in Beijing, Seoul, Osaka, and Fukuoka... All of those places offer bikes for low hourly rates or discounted daily rates. Fukuoka was the most expensive as it was just $15 a day... Boston could do better. read more

Works great, I love the bikes, and can't wait to see more. I look forward to seeing the MIT students come back for the new school year and hack these things. Three notes: 1) the pricing is crazy if you do not drive directly to another bike station. I see a lot of tourists riding the bikes in the North End. Those who do not speak English well are getting screwed on pricing, I talked to one German couple who thought it cost $5 a day at a flat rate. Typical bike rentals are for the whole day and it isn't clearly explained that these bikes are meant to be ridden more or less from bike station to bike station, that station-station strategy is implied by the pricing, but only if you understand the pricing, it should say in big letters in multiple languages that the bikes are meant to be ridden to another bike station. 2) I paid for a 1 day pass, and was given a code to use to unlock the bike, the code was 22133. I used the bike for just under 30 minutes from the North End to City Hall and returned it to the station at City Hall. The City Hall station was almost completely full, just 2 openings. What would I do if the station was full of bikes with no place to dock mine? Later that afternoon I went back to City Hall to get a bike and my code did not work to unlock any of the bikes there. I called the help number and they said I had to swipe my credit card again to get a new code to unlock the bike. It worked and I was on my way again. 3) the terms of service contract is a bad joke, it's 159 pages of legal language that is displayed on the terminal screen when I rented the bike. read more

Stayed at a Back Bay hotel between Fenway and the Harbor area and used the Hubway to get around. Had a couple close calls with cars making right turns while I was crossing intersections. Bike experience and confidence is helpful. The good news is that there are so many bikes on the street that they have become part of the driving landscape and car drivers are less likely to not see you. The price is cheap, bikes were well maintained and there were bike stations everywhere I wanted to go. Will definitely use Hubway next time I'm in Boston. read more

Very misleading. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE this concept! My boyfriend and I rented some bikes near BU Central last night for less than half an hour to ride them back to Brighton. We were all excited and they were easy to grab and go. However, they forgot to mention (well, it was in VERY fine print on a tiny screen), that they would be placing a $200 hold on my boyfriend's credit card because he took out both bikes, and this is some sort of "hold" which is going to last for seven days, for renting them for less than 25 min. We could have bought a bike or two from Craigslist for the same price. read more

Lots of problems with the docking stations. First one had a single bike left, yet the station says there aren't any. This is after the online map shows that there were seven (7) there! So I had to walk 4 blocks to the next closest station. Then when I tried to dock at Boylston & Berkeley, the dock would lock but not register the bike. The light was red, but it was locked hard and impossible to remove bike. Had to call Hubway, who eventually diagnosed the dock had a syncing problem. Lastly, the bikes are super heavy and really need maintenance. Combined with grinding gears, rough pedaling, lots of friction & lack of gears, biking on anything short of flat or downhill is taxing. Oh yea, some of the bikes have worn brakes, so be careful. Almost died yesterday because the brakes didn't work and nearly went right into traffic. Sturdy bikes are good. But for them to weigh more than my old mountain-bike, that's ridiculous. Not suitable for road biking. read more

I tried out the hubway system for the first time on Monday. The pricing structure is a little confusing, but makes sense when you take the time to read it carefully. Before checking out a bike you MUST be a member. You can choose to be a member for 1 day (5$), 3 days (12$) or the entire year (right now there is a promotion for 60$). Once you are a member you can take an unlimited number of rides during your membership period. If your ride is less than 30 minutes long, you pay no additional charge. If your ride is longer than 30 minutes, they charge you extra (a lot extra) so be careful! I have checked out 4 bikes since I started using the system. They were all in working order and had a convenient basket that held my bag and a grocery bag (after I went shopping). I don't think I would ever try to park the bike anywhere other than the designated stations because I would be liable for the theft and because it would probably make me exceed the 30 minute free window. For all that I love about the hubway, I am looking forward for them to add stations. Right now, the station choices are a little limited, although for me it works well because there is one near where I live and one near where I work. I would be especially happy to see expansions into Jamaica Plain and Brookline. read more

I've used this 2 times so far and I am a fan. I love riding bikes and now I can any time I want! I had an issue the first time where I asked it to print out my code for me, but there was no paper in the machine I guess, so I called the number and they told me to wait 5 mins and swipe my card. It worked but it was a bit of a pain to wait around. If there isn't paper it should just tell you that! I love this and you will too! read more

GREAT commuting option for some of us! I'm giving this a 5 stars - but this is due to my experience so far and my needs. No service is perfect on the initial startup. This has shaved 15 minutes off my commute - each way in the morning. Here are the PROs and CONS PRO: Best commuting option from North Station to Fort Point Channel /South Station and some other places Good solid bikes and good system Spotcycle Smart Phone application is great to have to make sure you both can get a bike and have a dock when you are done Locations work well for me - so far Great for a short commute, which means most Boston commutes. (Mine is 9 minutes on bike, 25 by walking OR by subway, when the subway is not backed up. CONS: They need more docks, more bikes and more locations, but note, this is the first year and docks have been where I need them. Pricing system is painful for a one time user. I have a monthly pass, which I highly recommend. Not good (at all) for long term rentals - nor is it designed for it. Best for sub-30 minute commutes Overall, a great service, a new way o get around town. A new way to get to lunch places currently out of your range - if docks are nearby. I have done this a number of times - and is a great new option. It will be even better once it is expanded, hopefully next year! read more

I was only too happy to sign up for a year membership with Hubway, even though I have my own bike that I ride pretty much everywhere. For one thing, I believe firmly in bike-sharing and want to see the system spread. But more than that, it's still convenient for me: sometimes I take the T into Boston and run errands in a way that makes it inconvenient to constantly come back to where I parked my bike. When I'm shopping along Newbury St. and don't want to double back, Hubway is there to speed me on my one-way route. My beef with Hubway, as another reviewer has noted, is the small scale of the launch. There should be a station at Park St. as there is at Government Center; in fact, there should be stations at every T stop, and halfway in between too. The more stations, the more people will understand that the system is intended for station-to-station travel, the fewer complaints there will be about misleading pricing. (Although I think that people who imagine that you can rent a bike for $5 for an entire day are approaching the whole thing naively.) Install many more stations very quickly and I'll be five-starring Hubway before you can say "Boston bike-sharing." read more

Hubway is seriously the coolest thing to hit Boston in ages. It's fun, smart, efficient, green - and is just the right thing to have in a city like this. You can hop on a bike by yourself, with a few people, or even with a large group and have a blast doing so. It's great any day of the week and at any time. And they really take care of the system. Hint: Get the Biximo app for iPhone to see where locations are and how many bikes/open racks are at each. It's frustrating that it's only in Boston and that only certain parts of the city have it. We need Cambridge and Brookline to play along. Word on the street is that Brookline is spinning their wheels (ha!) trying to get Hubway installed at 3-4 locations in March 2012. Also would be great to see more locations up and down Comm Ave into Allston/Brighton. I will agree with others that the pricing structure is agitating. It's VERY expensive if you keep the bike more than 30 minutes or want to take it somewhere all day. For this reason, you'll often see people on one bike, dropping it off, and then immediately picking up another. $5 for 24 hours is great because in theory you can ride a few times so long as it's less than 30 minutes. I hope they can adjust the pricing structure to be a little more friendly, but otherwise this thing is perfect. read more

Simply put, I adore Hubway. It embodies everything that a bike share should offer: 1) the bikes are safe, sturdy, and well-maintained. In the past 3 months, I have taken 95 trips on Hubway bikes and I have never once had an issue with a bike 2) the bikes are ever-increasingly ubiquitous. They are well placed throughout Boston, Cambridge, Somerville. It would be great to see more in Dorchester and Roxbury. 3) Hubway does a good job trying to maintain bike and dock availability by recirculating bikes. There are times when docks are empty or full, but that's in the nature of sharing pretty much anything. Sometimes you can't have it when you want it. 4) Hubway customer service is super responsive, 24/7. I've called them with silly questions and they've always been kind and helpful. 5) the pricing structure is great to encourage frequent short trips and keeping the bikes available. Free for 30 minutes, then $1.50 for the next 30 minutes. You can always stop by any station, plug the bike in, and then take it again for longer trips. 6) the fact that the bikes are available for $5 per year to low-income individuals is incredible. 7) SpotCycle and BosBikes are both terrific for real-time data on bike and dock availability. If you're looking for an easy way to be active and healthy in the city, Hubway is your ticket. read more

Great idea and looking forward to more bikes in Cambridge and Somerville and other places I need to go. If Zip car had the drive to another station feature ? I would get rid of our crappy old sedan and only use Zip Cars and Hubway bikes. Now we need a really good and portable helmet. Also roads without potholes and real bike lanes? Perfection. read more

Very misleading billing....we ended up getting charged $102 to rent two bikes for 3 hours! Called customer service and they readily refunded half...clearly billing is a common problem...but it was still too much. We could have rented a car or taken a cab for that much. Also very difficult to return...if the station is full you are stuck! Their solution? They give you an extra 15 minutes to find an empty stall at another station! Its like some kind of demented scavenger hunt...how is a visitor to find another station...and what if that one is full as well? Maybe it works for locals...more trouble than it's worth for visitors tho. read more

As an avid biker who usually rides around the city on a touring cycle, I found the bikes perfect for what they are. They are damn slow, but that's for the best, max speed has got to be around 18 mph, maybe less. I liked the internal hub, but ultimately only had use for the 3 3rd speed. So, whats the problem? They door a poor job of communicating pricing, if you use the bike for over 30 min. you start being charged steeply. I'm no dummy, and I certainly thought I was paying $6 for 24 hours of bike usage.... not so. I biked to a friends house, hung out for a few hours, then biked home, and was charged $84... Now I'm sure that info is buried in TOS someplace, but its certainly not upfront and out there. It seems if you complain, they will offer to reimburse you 50% , but I saw screw-em, and dispute the charge on the card you used, their practices are deceptive. I'm sure they have received numerous complaints by now, and have not made an effort to make it clear to customers how the pricing works. read more

Disclaimer: I will start by saying that at first I thought the bike sharing between docking stations is a great concept and apparently my brother and many others agree and have good experiences with it. MAKE SURE YOU SEE A GREEN LIGHT SIGNAL AS YOU DOCK THE BIKE BEFORE YOU LEAVE THE STATION!!! Today, however, I tried it for the first time because my brother encouraged me that it was worth the fee and let me tell you why I had the worst experience with the system ever! First of all, because I am new, I only opted for the 3-day pass and a single rental for $12. I tried to memorize the access code to unlock a bike, but had to try a couple times since I mixed up the sequence the first time, lol. Then, as I was riding the bike, I couldn't help but feel like it was too heavy and cumbersome and switching gears to make it easier to pedal is impossible! Keep in mind that I am only 128 lbs and 5'5", so managing a bike of this size was not ideal. But I guess they need a universal size that is sturdy and safe for a majority of their customers... Anyway, I didn't have a helmet so I took a chance and tried riding it to the next station without a helmet or turn-by-turn directions. Also, the spotcycle app is not connected to Google Maps, so you are unable to hear directions if you are new to the city, as in my case. I enjoyed pedaling up Beacon Hill and coasting down to the Boston Commons, but I had to stop and look up directions as well as watch traffic at every intersection since it was very busy that day. Luckily, I arrived alive at the next station and docked the bike and left to go shopping. I did not know you had to wait to make sure the green light turned on to ensure the bike was locked and registered. When I got back to the station, I found the same bike docked at the same station, but could not reaccess it when I put my card in or tried the same code I used at the first station. There was a lady there who told me I needed to get another code with my card and she seemed to be really happy with the service. Long story short, I got frustrated with the system and was running late so I ended up walking back home to meet my brother. I told him the story and called up hubway who told me I had to go back to the station to relocate the bike and they gave me the bike ID#. If somebody had been tampering with the station and tried every dock, I could've been $1200 in debt. Luckily, this was not the case. Yet I was still charged a $22 overage fee because there are only 30 minutes allotted between each station! Plus, the dock I initially tried was malfunctioning and would not lock. Wish I had known about the green light before using or leaving the station. Really Hubway?!? Really SpotCycle?!? Thanks a lot for a great first experience! P.S. - If you're a new customer trying out this bike rideshare, plz make note of the headline at the top. Enjoy! read more

HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE! DO NOT USE. After half an hour trying to get a code to use the bike and another half an hour with awful customer service, I am done. Don't waste your time and money, stick to the good old T! read more

In theory this is a good idea and I know it is in the beginning stages, but there are some kinks to be worked out and I found out the hard way. To test it out, i tried the $5 (24 hour) casual membership and it worked 50% of the time. 4 attempts at renting and only 2 successful times of getting a bike out. The most recent time being the most frustrating. I had planned on going home from work for lunch, about a 8 minute bike ride and when I went to get the bike out I plugged in my code and it did not release the bike. I then tried again with a different bike and it would not allow me. So then I went to the kiosk and attempted to resolve the problem by getting a new code and I was greeted with a warning something along the lines of not being allowed to sign out bikes concurrently... which I obviously wasn't because I had no bike to begin with. (So now I'm about 20 minutes into my lunch break, when I would have been home and had my face in a pasta salad bowl for about 10 minutes by now) I called the customer service line and spent 15 minutes on hold with no greeting from an actual person... If anyone has ever spent any amount of time on the line with verizon or Comcast, you obvously know how frustrating this process can be. I actually felt like eating lunch today so I opted to "press one for an answering machine." I have not gotten a call back as of yet. So I wasted my $5 on the membership, didn't get to go home for lunch, eat a free lunch that I had at my house and ended up spending $8 on lunch. $13 swing with no benefits of being able to enjoy the membership I paid for. Who knows if they actually think I have a bike out on the road now and am being charged exorbinate amonts of money as the time clicks by. They better work their kinks out and they better work them out soon. I would not reccomend Hubway until next year (you can't ride in the winter anyways) and hopefully they'll have figured it out. Very frustrating. read more

Understand this: This is not a Free Service at all! THIS DOES NOT GIVE YOU 24 HOURS FOR 5 dollars!!!! They tack on USAGE UP TO 100 DOLLARS over 7 hours!!!! Tourists: This is a trap for exploring all , unless you want to ride the bike in 20 minute increments and find all the kiosks. Take the T read more

Seemed like a great idea. I could use the bike to get around, run errands on my lunch hour, etc. while getting some MUCH NEEDED exercise. Way better than a gym. Unfortunately the bikes are only rated up to 260 ibs. I had to really dig to find this information, they don't exactly make this clear to you before enticing you to spend your money. You have to sign a contract promising not to put more weight than that on the bike. I alone weigh more than this but add to that a backpack full of groceries, etc. This was really disappointing. If you're heavy like me and you think this might be a great way to squeeze exercise into your life while getting stuff done, here is yet another option that's closed to you. read more

I am tired of using this service. I am a student at Harvard and stay on campus until 12 AM or later. So, I rely on this service to return home. However, it has happened to me many times that, although I had properly docked the bike on previous usage, Hubway blocked my key claiming that the bike was not returned. Many times, I have had to walk home late at night or use a Uber because either customer service is not available, or the agent tells me that they can't help and I have to wait until the next day when a manager is available. To make things worse, manager are themselves unhelpful. They assume that you have lost their bicycle and until one of their agent goes to the station, they won't do anything to find out where the bike is and enable you to quickly regain access to the service. On all cases, I will later find out that the bike was "manually docked" but the system did not register it as such. Hubway customer service always seem to be doing me a favor not to charge me after they realize that it was their fault that their system doesn't work properly. I am not even mentioning cases when stations are down or empty, or when they are full and you would have to find another one where to leave the bike. too many bad experiences... not worth it. read more

Unfortunately I had a bad experience with hubway as they charged us $100 after we secured the bikes and flew back home. Called to get a refund and they wouldn't give us one. Wish it would work the way it's intended to. UPDATE: after tweeting, I received enough attention to get a full refund, and they admitted it was a hassle with their apologies. read more

Awful local-government joke. First station no bikes. Second station doesn't work. Third takes my money and then refuses to show me an access code. What a waste. read more

Hubway is a scam ! If you are a regular commuter, and are considering switching to hubway in order to - as they advertise it - never be late again, forget about it. I purchased an annual membership, and have now been using Hubway for 6 months for daily short commutes between Somerville and Cambridge. I have never been so disappointed in a service. Ever. And here is why : 1/ Unreliable service : about 50% of the times I tried to take or dock a bike I have found it empty or full. I was late on several occasions to important appointements. I also had to carry my heavy grocery bags to the next station (or the one after the next), then walk them back home (15 minutes ride, 25 minutes walk in general) several times. Monitoring these stations on the app showed that they stayed empty or full for hours on end. 2/ Poor customer service : in the cases I had an important appointement I called and told them I would be keeping the bike somewhere safe and look for a station after said appointement. They refused to wave the overtime fees. They are very responsive but could not care less. I heavily regret purchasing my Hubway membership, and would definitely not recommend getting one to anyone. Do yourself a favor and buy a bike. Or walk, even that is faster on average. read more