New sponsorship will upgrade, re-brand Boston's Hubway to Blue Bikes

BOSTON — Boston bike share system, Hubway, is getting a major facelift and upgrade thanks to a new sponsorship agreement.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts has partnered with Hubway’s operator Motivate International to expand the Hubway system and increase access to the bike share.

As part of the sponsorship, Hubway will be rebranded as Blue Bikes and will increase the number of bikes to 3,000 by the end of next year.

"The Hubway bike share program began in the City of Boston in 2011 and quickly became integral to our transportation system," said Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh. "More recently, we introduced bike share in East Boston and substantially expanded the program in Brighton, Roxbury and North Dorchester.”

There are currently 1,800 bikes in rotation throughout metro Boston – including Cambridge, Brookline and Somerville.

The new bikes will be accompanied by a new mobile app, which Hubway just launched its first iteration of this past year.

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Cox Media Group