Hoboken Launches Bike Sharing Program

Mayor Dawn Zimmer and Cake Boss Buddy Valastro inaugurated the city's upcoming bike share program on Thursday morning in a short ride along the water front. 

Zimmer used a Sobi bike, one of 25 bikes that will be placed in the streets of Hoboken, while Valastro drove off on a regular rental bike from Bike and Roll.

The program will bring traditional bike rental and waterfront bike tours along with a 6-month pilot bike-sharing program to Hoboken, the city announced. The initiative will be at no cost to the city.

The Sobi bikes, which can be locked in regular bike racks and don't need docking stations like the ones in New York City, are meant for Hobokenites who want to use the bikes for short rides around town. Bike and Roll is offering the more traditional bike rental program. The location of the bikes will be tracked by a Global Positioning System.

Combining the two together — as well as offering a bike-boat-bike option in cooperation with NY Waterways to make it easier to go between New York and Hoboken — is a first.

"It's a tremendous opportunity for Hoboken residents and visitors," said Zimmer.

"It's saving the planet," said Valastro, who attended the announcement on Thursday morning to promote tourism. "And burning a couple of calories isn't the worst thing in the world."

The rental bikes will be available as of Sunday and the sobi bikes will be available on June 1. Signing up for the bike share program will be done on a first come first serve basis and 150 people will be able to use the pilot program.

The price for the Sobi bikes is $25 a month or $75 for the season.

Zimmer was joined by Chris Wogas, the president of Bike and Roll, Ryan Rzepecki, the CEO of Social Bicycles and Tom Glendening, the founder of E3Think.

"Hoboken is at the cutting edge of bike sharing," said Glendening, who called the program "a new form of urban mobility."

Valastro said he hopes that the many tourists who visit his store will take the opportunity to bike around Hoboken and explore the waterfront.

"It's totally affordable," Valastro said. And at that, he added, pretty easy because the bikes can be parked anywhere. "You take a ride, lock it up, bada bing, bada boom."