Bicycle Sharing in Portland, Kind of

After enjoying a brief layover in Boston (on the way to another location in Massachusetts for Father's Day) this weekend, I was pleasantly surprised to see that Portland, Maine kind of has it's own bicycle sharing program up and running. The company operating the Portland operation is called Zagster.

There is currently just one one station located at the Portland Transportation Center and it's more a rental program than a sharing program, but it's still a positive sign in a city that is exploring possibility of setting up an "actual" multi-locational bike sharing program similar to Boston's Hubway or New York City's new Citi bike.

I haven't had a chance to test out the bikes, and I am probably not in their desired demographic since I own a bike and already commute on it every day. But at only $20 for a day's use, it sounds like this would be great for visitors to our fair city (assuming they make it through the cyclist hell hole of highway ramps that is right next to the transportation center!). You can read about the program here on Boston.com. I haven't seen it mentioned in the local media yet.