According to a Dec. 8 blog post, Healthy Ride began removing stations and kiosks last week and will continue to do so until 50 select stations are removed. The agency will still have more than 50 stations located throughout Pittsburgh after the removals are complete.
“In order to make room for things to come, we need to remove stations from the network,” reads the blog post. “We know this removal will not come without impact to our customers, but it is essential. Our goal is to consistently expand year over year and bring back more stations to your neighborhood and connect new communities to the bikeshare network in Pittsburgh.”
The 50 removed stations will be closed for 2022. Healthy Ride says it will be replacing all of its fleet with new bikes in 2022, and is using this opportunity for organizations to help the agency find new homes for the old bikes.
It’s not perfectly clear exactly what Healthy Ride’s new plans are for 2022, but signs point to the introduction of e-bikes to the fleet.
Healthy Ride has been wanting to introduce e-bikes to its fleet since at least 2019. And Healthy Ride director David White told WESA in May that the goal is to replace about 325 regular bikes with e-bikes. In March of this year, Healthy Ride announced that the Heinz Endowments had granted the agency $750,000 “to assist its transition to electric-assist bicycles.”
E-bikes have been growing in popularity. They function like normal bicycles, except that a small electric motor provides peddlers an extra boost that can help some riders reach speeds of 20 mph on flat-ground, or make it a breeze to climb a hill.
The removals are concentrated in Downtown and Oakland, though both those neighborhoods will still have several stations each. It appears that Uptown and Squirrel Hill will have all of their stations removed, according to the blog post. It’s unclear if and when they will be replaced, but Healthy Ride will make an announcement in February 2022 about the agency’s plans.
The full list of the stations to be removed is listed by neighborhood below:
Bloomfield
- 42nd Street & Penn Avenue
- 12th Street & Penn Avenue
- 11th Street & Penn Avenue
- Ninth Street & Penn Avenue
- Grant Street & Strawberry Way
- Ross Street & Sixth Avenue
- Ross Street & Fourth Avenue
- Third Avenue & Stanwix Street
- Wood Street & Sixth Avenue
- Smithfield Street & Fourth Avenue
- First Avenue & Smithfield Street
- East Liberty Blvd & Negley Avenue
- Penn Avenue & South Atlantic Avenue
- North Winebiddle Street & Penn Avenue
- Roup Avenue & Friendship Ave
- Eccrue Way & Bennett Street
- Hamilton Avenue & North Dallas Avenue
- Hamilton Avenue & Zodiac Way
- Frankstown Avenue & East Liberty Boulevard
- East Liberty Boulevard & Larimer Avenue
- Butler Street & Stanton Avenue
- Butler Street & 48th Street
- Penn Avenue & 39th Street
- Liberty Avenue & 37th Street
- Arch Street & Jacksonia Street
- West General Robinson Street
- North Craig Street & Fifth Avenue
- Fifth Avenue & South Dithridge Street
- Tennyson Avenue & Fifth Avenue
- Forbes Avenue & South Craig Street
- Semple Street & Louisa Street
- Ohara & Desoto
- Shady Avenue & Ellsworth Avenue
- Walnut Street & College Street
- Forbes Avenue & Murray Avenue
- Wightman Street & Forbes Avenue
- Schenley Drive & Forbes Avenue
- Beacon Street & Murray Avenue
- Hobart Street & Wightman Street
- Smallman Street & 31st Street
- 24th Street & Smallman Street
- 14th Street & Penn Avenue
- Penn & 29th
- PPG Paints Arena
- Fifth Avenue & Miltenberger Street
- Stevenson Street & Forbes Avenue
- McAnulty Drive & Forbes Avenue
- S 25th St & E Carson St,
- S 22nd St & E Carson St
- Stanton Avenue & North Negley Avenue
