SP’s ZipBikes in the west bike room.

Boston may lay claim to the title of most walkable city in America, but sometimes walking just won’t cut it. In such times, savvy citizens become savvy cyclists: Strap on a helmet, hop on a bike, and ride. But where can a non-cyclist find a bike?

Sidney-Pacific residents need look no further than the West Bike Room. The SP ZipBikes program, administered by the SP Bikes Chair, offers free bicycle rentals for recreational use by residents, around half of whom don’t own a bike. For those without personal vehicles, SP ZipBikes—checked in and out at the front desk—make shopping trips and distant errands a breeze. As with any public resource, however, bikes for common use cannot help but invoke a tragic general neglect. Time and again SP ZipBikes have been found damaged and unlocked in random places in the crowded SP bike rooms, costing Sidney-Pacific—and hence residents, through the house tax—the price of repairs, new locks, and new bikes.

To promote responsible bike sharing, the ZipBikes program is piloting a new temporary checkout procedure, starting on April 1st. Instead of checking out keys from the front desk, residents can reserve a bike using a shared Google calendar and pick up keys from the Bikes Chair the evening before the scheduled rental. Residents may reserve up to two bikes a maximum of two weeks in advance, with a one-day rental period. All bikes must be returned to the West Bike Room, and keys must be returned to the Bikes Chair by 10PM or by individual arrangement. If you would like to participate in the ZipBikes bike rental program, email the SP Bikes Chair at sp-bikes-chair@mit.edu for access to the ZipBikes calendar (spzipbikes@gmail.com).

While SP ZipBikes provides a free bike rental option that’s close to home, residents should also consider joining the alternative Hubway bike rental program. Hubway provides bike rental services within the Boston/Cambridge metro area for a daily or annual fee, with two stations on the MIT campus (Kendall and Massachusetts Ave.). MIT offers subsidized $25 annual memberships for students and affiliates, which is an incredible deal. However, while Hubway bikes are very convenient for short trips, the service provides only heavy commuter bikes and allows travel only within the Hubway network of stations—an extra fee applies for trips longer than 30 minutes. SP residents are thus encouraged to join and use Hubway for short trips and to lobby the SP House Government to provide high-quality road and mountain bikes for free full-day rental through the SP ZipBikes program.

Biking at Sidney-Pacific: By the Numbers

(Survey of 87 SP residents)

• 51% of respondents don’t own a bike, 22% own a road bike, 13% own a mountain bike, 17% own a hybrid (more than one option allowed)
• 75% of SP bike owners paid less than $400 for their bikes
• 60% of respondents have never rented a bike from SP
• 79% of respondents have heard of Hubway, but only 5% are currently Hubway members

By Joel Jean, outgoing SP Bikes Chair