City Bike Share Program to Expand- Could Stations Come to Manayunk or Roxborough?

Indego’s current station map (above) doesn’t go near Manayunk or Roxborough

The City of Philadelphia has announced plans to expand Indego, its public bike share program, thanks to a $1.5 million grant from the William Penn Foundation.

Indego, sponsored by Independence Blue Cross, launched in April with 72 stations, located throughout Center City and other urban neighborhoods, but with none in Manayunk, Roxborough or any other Northwest Philadelphia areas.

The new grant will lead to the opening of 24 more stations, set for installation in 2016. Could some of them come Northwest? That remains uncertain, as the new stations have not yet been chosen.

Indego told us that the scope of the expansion is still to be determined; we are awaiting comment from the Mayor’s office. In the meantime, the city said in the announcement that “locations for the new stations will be selected with emphasis on increasing the accessibility of City parks and waterfronts, and with the input of residents.”

Back in February, Andrew Stober, the Chief of Staff in the Mayor’s Office of Transportation and Utilities, indicated to PlanPhilly in an interview that expansion to Manayunk, Roxborough and East Falls was possible, but that there were no concrete plans to do so at the time.