PEABODY — While some local towns are fighting tooth and nail over building new recreational trails, Peabody is getting in gear to make the city more bike friendly.
Tired of lugging his kids’ bikes around, Ward 1 Councilor Jon Turco is asking city officials to look at implementing a bike rental program similar to recent efforts in Salem and Revere.
“I see over and over again these bike kiosks that are placed in cities and towns,” said Turco. “With the South Peabody trail, the Greenway, and even with the new Crystal Lake improvements, if we could get those kiosks, I think it would be great. Me as a father trying to lug three or four bikes in a car, I’d rather just put my credit card in a machine, pull four bikes out, ride the bike trail and bring them back at the end of the day.”
Salem teamed with Cambridge-based Zagster, Inc. this year to bring 18 rental cruiser bikes to three rental stations this spring.
This fall, Revere launched a bike sharing program with Beijing-based startup ofo. The eight-week pilot program deployed 200 bright yellow bicycles citywide available for $1 per hour.
In Peabody, the key to a bike sharing program could be teaming up with neighboring communities, according to Curt Bellavance, the city’s community development director. At a recent meeting of North Shore mayors, town managers, and planners with the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC), there was talk of establishing a regional bike share program.
“One bike share program for one community might not work, but a network of communities might work,” said Bellavance. He said the MAPC will bring more information about a regional program back to the next meeting of the North Shore coalition.
If the bike share program becomes a reality, Peabody riders could also see a few more miles of trails in a few years.
The Community Preservation Committee is looking for City Council approval of funds to help pay for Phase II of the extension of the Peabody Independence Greenway project. The $116,385 in Community Preservation Act funds would help pay for the extension of the trail from North Shore Mall Road to Endicott Street as well as a feasibility study for a bikeway crossing at Route 1 and 95.
The future construction of the second phase of the bikeway project will increase the Independence Gateway to eight miles, according to the project proposal from the community development department. The bikeway crossing program project would provide a link for the Boston to Border Trail project.
