Suffolk County to launch bike share program this August

Bethpage Ride, a new bike sharing service, is coming to four communities in Suffolk County this summer, as Suffolk County begins rolling out a new out a new county-wide bike share system.  The system will launch in four locations (Patchogue, Babylon, and two others yet to be determined) with 24 stations and 100 bikes, and the system is eventually expected to grow to 400 bikes.  The system is expected to launch in August with stations at train stations, parks, and other downtown destinations.  Officials announced the launch of the program at a press conference in Patchogue yesterday.

Photo of an orange Bethpage Ride bike (Photo: Discover Long Island)

Zagster, a Boston-based operator of more than 200 smaller bikeshare systems nationwide, will operate the service.  Bethpage Federal Credit Union is sponsoring the program, which will be called "Bethpage Ride" after the bank, not the place it operates in (Bethpage is located in Nassau County and is not part of the program).  The service will be operated at no cost to the county.

Riders will be able to unlock bikes using Zagster's Pace mobile application.  The application allows riders to unlock the bikes by entering a code (unlike Citibike in New York, this system would be dockless and bikes not checked out from/returned to a specific dock, which has the opportunity to offer riders a lot more flexibility as to where they begin and end their trips).

Specific details about rates have not been confirmed, but it is expected that rides will cost $1 per 15- or 30-minutes for those wishing to pay as they go, or $10 monthly/$60 annual memberships available for more frequent riders (both include unlimited 30-minute rides), both of which are rather reasonable.

While Bethpage Ride would be the first large-scale regional bike sharing system, it is not the very first bike sharing system on Long Island.  SoBi (Social Bicycles) has operated in various locations in the City of Long Beach on a seasonal basis over the last few years.  SUNY at Stony Brook also has a bikeshare system called Wolf Ride for getting around its campus, and is available from March through December to students, faculty, staff, as well as visitors.  That system was used by an average of 228 people in April 2019.

As downtown development becomes more popular and parking situations at stations become more and more difficult, both municipalities and the LIRR need to be exploring new solutions to station access issues, including supporting expansions of bike sharing (and doing so in a flexible way that can be useful to people living outside of downtown areas), electric bikes or scooters (like the Town of Hempstead's proposed electric scooter share pilot program), or other ways to help the first-last mile conundrum.