The City has given approval for the ofo bike sharing service to begin a pilot program in Chelsea this week, with yellow bikes soon to appear throughout the municipality’s streets and sidewalks.
“ofo is coming to Chelsea,” said City Manager Tom Ambrosino. “I think they may launch this week.”
Based in China, ofo has already launched successfully in nearby Revere, where the distinctive yellow bicycles have gained considerable popularity since their recent rollout. City Councilor Roy Avellaneda introduced the ofo concept to Ambrosino, and following their discussion, the City agreed to permit a 60-day pilot program featuring approximately 150 bikes distributed across Chelsea.
“We’ll see how it goes,” Ambrosino explained. “I think this concept is in some ways better because there’s no investment. HubWay wanted a major investment from the City for infrastructure and they were still reluctant to come to Chelsea. This business is far superior from that perspective. The only question is are they going to be a nuisance. As long as you they get the right numbers for the usage, I don’t think they’ll be a nuisance.”
According to Ambrosino, the City has made no long-term commitment to the program. The bikes will be collected in December, at which point the City will assess the pilot’s performance.
Among bike sharing options, ofo competes with services like HubWay, which operates exclusively in Boston. A key distinction is that ofo lacks the fixed docking stations that HubWay requires, which can consume sidewalk and parking space. Instead, ofo bikes employ GPS tracking and users can leave them anywhere. The bikes lock automatically and unlock via QR code through a smartphone app. The service costs just $1 per hour.
Currently, Revere represents the only other municipality in the region offering ofo service, which could complicate cross-city travel to Everett or East Boston.
Ambrosino indicated the City is pursuing a regional approach through a Request for Proposals from the Massachusetts Area Planning Council (MAPC). He stressed that regional connectivity will likely be a crucial factor in this decision.
“I think the goal is to have what the region goes with,” Ambrosino stated. “MAPC will put out an RFP for a regional user. They will select one company so there is interoperability between cities and towns. I think we’ll be wanting to use the same one in Chelsea. You can’t have one in Boston and one in Revere and one in Chelsea…We’ve told ofo that’s where Chelsea wants to go.”