Bike-sharing finally arrives in Philadelphia

By now you've probably started to see the bright blue bikes from Philadelphia's new bicycle-sharing program rolling around town.

The long-awaited launch of Indego this past Thursday was the culmination of many years of effort and encouragement by public officials, cycling advocates and enthusiasts across the city.

One of those advocates is Katie Monroe, who writes Philly.com's Sharing the Road blog on cycling in Philadelphia. And one of those enthusiasts is... well... me. I first encountered bike-sharing five years ago on a vacation trip to Montreal, and I knew right away that it could be a really cool thing here.

Now we finally have it, and I'm thrilled. I've already been on a few rides across town, and I've found the custom-built Trek bikes to be comfortable and easy to use.

The first of those rides came at the Indego launch event. I rode with my Philly.com colleagues Colin Kerrigan and Allie Volpe from Eakins Oval to Independence Hall. Colin was behind the camera as I interviewed Katie in the video you can watch above, then he strapped on a GoPro and shot some really neat footage of our trip across town. Allie was chronicling all of the day's events for Philly.com's Snapchat account.

You can get more information about Indego and sign up for a subscription on the organization's website.