Bountiful bicycles: The city’s bike-share system is adding 1,000 new docking points next year

More bikes are rolling into West Philly.

On Thursday, Indego, the bike-share program operated by the city, announced it plans to add 1,000 new bike docks to its system in 2024. Those new docks will be spread across 45 to 50 new stations.

Most of the new docks will be located in West Philly neighborhoods, like Mill Creek and Parkside, and Kingsessing. The expansion will also include new docks in Kensington and Richmond, Wynnefield and Overbrook, and Upper East Falls. The expansion is scheduled to begin in mid-January, and will continue throughout the rest of the year.

“We’re really excited about next year’s expansion and are planning to build on the success that we’ve had this year, where we’ve seen record levels of ridership across the system,” Nate Bowman-Johnston, Indego’s general manager, said to The Inquirer via email. “Our goal in 2024 is to make Indego even more accessible in our existing service areas and to expand to new areas of the city where there is high demand and where additional transit options are needed.”

The new docking points allow for more widespread use of the bike-share system, making it easier for riders in these neighborhoods to find a start and ending point close to where they live. Indego also pledges to add 650 more e-bikes, or bicycles with motors that assist pedaling, to its fleet, as well as a yet-to-be-determined number of classic bikes.

Indego’s Community Engagement Team worked with local community leaders to determine where the new docking points would be most useful, and reported receiving 370 responses to its online suggest-a-station form since March.

“I’m very proud of our Indego Community Engagement team and community partners who are instrumental in helping Indego uphold its commitment to equitable access, including outreach to historically underserved communities,” said Waffiyyah Murray, the Indego program manager with the city’s Office of Transportation, Infrastructure and Sustainability, via email.

Indego’s expansion also involves filling in station gaps present in the citywide system, not just the focus neighborhoods. The announcement promises to add to areas which do not have stations within a 1,000-foot radius, as well as high-traffic zones like Center City and University City. As the expansion gets underway, Murray said that Indego will continue to coordinate with the city’s Complete Streets program to include safety projects which prioritize safe access to those utilizing the bike-share system and other modes of transit.

“With each year’s expansion, the driving vision is to serve more and more Philadelphians with a world-class bike-share system and in 2024, we are going to do just that,” Bowman-Johnston said.