By Adam Swift
The city council approved a five-year agreement between the city and Lyft Bikes and Scooters, LLC for the City’s bike share program, Bluebikes at its regular meeting on Monday night.
“This contract was brokered on behalf of the City of Revere and other communities within the Boston bike share system by (the Metropolitan Area Planning Council),” said Julie DeMauro of the Planning and Community Development Department. “Currently, all of the communities have agreed to the planned draft contract.”
Revere is currently under contract with Lyft to operate the city’s Bluebike program until May 15, 2026.
DeMauro said the operations of Bluebikes in Revere are funded by Transportation Network Funds and by the Community Connections and Shared Streets and Spaces grant programs.
The difference between the new contract and the upcoming agreement is that Lyft will be doing away with maintenance and operation fees, and the city will only have to pay a subsidy for pedal-assist bikes.
“This is actually going to work out to be cheaper overall for the city,” said DeMauro. “Currently, we pay a per dock per bike fee, which ranges anywhere from $15 to $55 per month, and that’s based on ridership throughout the whole system.”
Revere’s share of the new agreement would be $9,186 per year, but the city is entitled to the Blue Cross Blue Shield funds that help subsidize the system.
“We get $11,000 from that per year, so we will actually be operating with a credit for the next five years,” said DeMauro. “In addition, we have funding from different grants that we have received from Transportation Network funds, and we also have a surplus from that, so that should carry us over for the next five years, as well.”
DeMauro said Lyft will be fully responsible for managing and maintaining the bikes used in the program, and none of the costs associated with that will fall on the city.
Ward 1 Councillor Jim Mercurio asked DeMauro about the agreement stipulation that the city would have to pay for aging, damaged, or new equipment.
“Any new equipment that comes into the system in the City of Revere would be at the cost of the City of Revere,” said DeMauro. “We do have five stations coming into the City of Revere this spring and this summer. Those five stations are going to be paid for through a Community Connections grant that we got back in 2024.”
The total grant was for $165,000, and the city put in for four to five bike stations with up to 60 bikes.
“We had to provide a match for that, and that match is coming through Transportation Network funds, which is all of your Uber and Lyft ride funds … that originate and end here in Revere,” said DeMauro. “Last year, we received $147,000, and we only use a portion of that for any Bluebike projects that we do here. We’re also using a portion of that money to do all of our traffic calming for any type of studies or design work.”