News Release - Zagster to Begin Winter ‘Hibernation’ After Successful First Season

City of Rochester

News Release

(Monday, Oct. 30, 2017) — Mayor Lovely A. Warren and Zagster, Rochester’s bike share system owner and operator, announced today that the program will close its inaugural season Wednesday on a high note. The program attracted more than 8,000 riders and logged more than 22,000 trips since it launched in July.

“We couldn’t be happier with the response from our community and the performance of Zagster in its first season of bike share in Rochester,” said Mayor Warren. “We can now head into the winter hibernation season with a renewed sense of confidence that bike share is here to stay in Rochester and will be even more successful when Zagster returns in the spring. I want to commend Zagster for this tremendous first impression and thank the many sponsors who have contributed to the success of this program. Bike share is an important part of our efforts to create more jobs, safer more vibrant neighborhoods and better educational opportunities for our citizens.”

“The strong utilization is the result of not only our convenient model melding dedicated stations with the flexibility to start and end rides at any public bike rack, but also the fact that Zagster worked closely with the City, bike groups and civic leaders to ensure the program took root in the community from day one,” said Zagster Director of Growth Strategy Adrian Albus. “We look forward to further expanding the program next spring.”

Zagster will begin its winter hibernation Wednesday by removing bikes from city streets. In preparation for the return of bike share on April 1, Zagster and the City will engage the community to determine how best to improve and expand bike share and recruit additional sponsors to join one of the most successful bike share programs in the United States.

The initial positive response will be helpful as Zagster and the City work to expand the system next season. The program launched July 20, with 340 bikes spread across 46 stations. The average ride lasted 21 minutes, and the vast majority of riders rated their experience as overwhelmingly positive.

According to data compiled by Zagster, the first season ridership translates to a total of almost 4 million burned calories; more than $63,000 of incremental spending Downtown; and 9,120 fewer single-occupancy car trips for a diversion of 3,100 pounds of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

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About Zagster 

Founded in 2007 and headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., Zagster is the largest and fastest-growing bike-share provider in the United States. Zagster operates more than 200 programs in 35 states across North America and specializes in making bike sharing available in areas where traditional providers can't reach. Unlike other programs in which riders must drop off bikes at designated stations for every stop, Zagster’ s programs give users the freedom to ride as long as they want, wherever they want. And because Zagster manages all aspects of its programs — from bikes and technology, to maintenance and marketing — Zagster partners can create and deploy scalable bike-share systems that best suit their needs and work within their budgets.

More information about Zagster and its programs can be found at  www.zagster.com/.

News Media: For more information about the City, contact Press Officer Jessica Alaimo at 428-7135; For more about Zagster, contact Zagster communications manager Jon Terbush at 617-681-4914 or email jterbush@zagster.com.