POGOH bikeshare hosted our inaugural Community Coalition Annual Meeting on Wednesday, March 22 where we announced the program’s 2023 plans. POGOH welcomed more than 70 stakeholders together at the POGOH’s office in Pittsburgh’s Strip District where POGOH’s Executive Director David White announced updated pricing and station expansion plans for 2023.
The Community Coalition welcomed Kim Lucas, Director of the Department of Mobility and Infrastructure, who also spoke on City infrastructure updates, and Marcus Shoffner, President and CEO of the Outdoor Inclusion Coalition, who shared his organization’s work towards building inclusive outdoor spaces for all in Pittsburgh and beyond.
The Community Coalition was founded in 2021 as a way of connecting customers, government officials, BIPOC leaders, transportation advocates, and marginalized groups to rebuild bikeshare in Pittsburgh. During the transition from Healthy Ride to POGOH, the Community Coalition directly informed station placement, pricing, branding, and outreach holding Equity as the core value. The group has grown since its inception and is POGOH’s primary means of connecting stakeholders to Bike Share Pittsburgh’s leadership, and learning from Equity leaders in our city and in our industry.
2023 Expansion
POGOH’s Community Coalition was the first to hear about the twenty-two new stations that will be added to the bikeshare network this Spring. Among those stations, POGOH will expand to Hazelwood, connect to the Wilkinsburg busway station, expand to more Northside neighborhoods, add stations to Oakland, and connect Stanton Heights neighborhood to bikeshare for the first time.
Funding for the twenty-two station expansion came from support from a Federal Highway Administration grant for Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement (CMAQ). The grant request was supported on the state level by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and locally supported by the City of Pittsburgh.
“This expansion is focused on creating density within our network, and better connecting neighborhoods to bikeshare” said David White, Executive Director of Bike Share Pittsburgh. “We have a vision that POGOH stations cover every neighborhood in the City and that our network will even extend to many inner ring municipalities. This 22 station expansion is a great step toward growing to the size it needs to be to serve our entire region.”
POGOH’s 2023 expansion includes the following proposed station locations. Locations are all pending final approval and permits, and may change slightly.
Third Ave & Wood St
Bedford Ave & Memory Ln
Negley Station (Pierce St)
S 12th St & E Carson St
Hamilton Ave & Torrens St
Hamilton Ave & Braddock St
W Ohio St & Brighton Rd
Lytle St & Eliza St
Race St & Brushton Ave
Hillcrest St & N Atlantic Ave
Federal St & E North Ave
Technology Dr & Bates St
S Millvale Ave & Centre Ave
Brighton Rd & Sampsonia Way
Butler St & 51st St
Boulevard of the Allies & Ward St
Centre Ave @ Supermarket Plaza
Wilkinsburg Park & Ride
Stanton Ave & Woodbine St
Atwood St & Bates St
Second Ave & Tecumseh St
17th St & Penn Ave
S 22nd St & E Carson St
Pricing Updates
POGOH also announced pricing updates that will make the system more affordable for those persons who use it most often. Starting March 31, 2023. Annual Membership will now be able to rent e-assist bikes for no additional cost. Previously, Annual Members paid $1 per e-assist bike rental.
“Pittsburgh has really embraced the POGOH e-assist bikes,” says White. “We’ll be receiving 154 new e-assist bikes in the 2023 expansion and we want our Annual Members who use bikeshare the most to be able to use all of our bikes without incurring additional charges.”
POGOH will also launch a new Group Flex Pass on March 31 that allows a single customer to rent up to 4 bikes simultaneously. The Group Flex Pass will cost $60 for 480 minutes (8 hours) of ride time. The Group Flex Pass is designed with families and groups of friends in mind. Previously, riders had to each create their own POGOH accounts, purchase individual Flex Passes, and rent their own bikes, but the new Group Flex Pass provides an alternative that makes POGOH’s recreational Flex Pass ideal for families and friends riding together.
