Yesterday I read an article in the Boston Globe about the use of bicycles for transportation in Holland and the lessons we might learn from the Dutch regarding cycling in Boston. So at the end of the day yesterday, I picked up my Hubway bike from the kiosk near our offices at HubSpot and bean my trip back to Porter Square.

Sidebar note: For the first time in my career, three years ago - I became a commuter -- a real commuter -- taking the commuter rail. But a year ago I discovered the Hubway and it essentially changed my commuting life. For $85/year I have the use of a Hubway bicycle whenever and wherever I want it anyway in the downtown Boston and Cambridge areas. It's great for trips of less than 30 minutes (essentially all of my trips during the work week) and the best part is it just works. The technology is really good, billing is accurate and fair and customer service is awesome. Does it work all the time? - no - I have had some glitches - but the positves far outweigh any snafus.

So far this year during my membership, I have taken 105 trips - I get a complete and accurate report of my start location, end location and time on the bike - great for those who like to track their "exercise".

Here is a sample of my report:

Gives me chance to get an extra 30 minutes of exercise every day.

Anyway back to traffic -- you know things are changing when in addition to watching out for cars on the road you have to pay attention to bikes passing you "on the left" as the chant goes or sometimes on the right? with no warning. 

As I cycled out Cambridge Street and onto Beacon street - it was difficult to find a place to stop at the traffic lights between all of the other bikes. This was the first time I have encountered this much bike traffic in all of my riding days in the US ( and by the way - I started out riding in New York City -- biking over the 59th Street Bridge from Queens to Manhatten before it was legal to do so)

Things are improving here in Boston for folks who enjoy cycling and want to use this as a form of transportaion for their commute. The bike lanes are helpful, Hubway is awesome -- just need cyclists and drivers to have a bit more education so we can share the road.

I had seen the HubWay bike depot

at North Station for months as I got off the commuter rail from Lincoln, MA on my way to HubSpot (no relation) on First Street in Cambridge. It looked interesting - twenty five or so shiny silver bikes neatly sitting in a bikeracklock device. I never thought much about checking it out.

One night in October, one of my classmates at the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School showed me the Hubway depot near the law school. As he got on his Hubway and rode away I thought "hey I should give this a try". So the next day I took my bike helmet with me and when I got off the train at North  Station I walked across the path and had my first encounter with the hubway distribution technology.

Through a very simple user interface, Hubway had accepted my credit card. printed a receipt and printed out my take-bike code. I selected an available bike and punched in my take-bike code and the green light flashed and the bike was now mine. Ok - was now mine for 30 minutes. I put on my helmet got on the bike and rode the 8 minutes to Lechmere Station in Cambridge where I docked the bike(very important to do this part correctly - see below) grabbed my messenger bag from the nice carrying device on the bike and walked a half block to my office.

This was the greatest - I thought -- i didn't have to descend downstairs and wait for the GreenLine to get to Lechmere -- and it was at least as quick if not quicker to take the bike. At the end of the day - I just walked a half block to Lechmere station and put my credit card back in the HubWay Kiosk and not without some trepidation that I would be charged again(I wasn't) got a new take-bike code, selected a bike, punched in the code, removed the bike and away I went to North Station to catch the train. Arrived at North Station, docked the bike and caught the 5:40 train to Lincoln.

So how much does this cost? Well for $5.00 you get as many 30 minute usages of the bike as you want -- you will not pay a penny more (they do hold a $100 deposit on your credit card just in case) UNLESS you go over 30 minutes. In that case you are charged a progressively escalating fee - but if you go over by a few minutes, you are charged an extra $1.00 billed to your credit card.

I repeated this routine every day for 3 days at which point I was hooked. I signed up online for the HubWay key for $85.00 which gets me unlimited use of the system for a year -- of course with the 30 minute tranche limitation. But having the key speeds things up dramatically. I walk up to any bike, stick my key in the socket, wait for the light to turn green and take my bike away.

The wait for the light to turn green is especially important on returning a bike -- when you are taking a bike - you can't take the bike until the light turns green it is locked. But when you return a bike you need to make sure that the green light comes on after you put the bike back. If not, you could find a charge on your accountfor $65.00 on a day where I took the bike and rode it 12 minutes from Kendall Square to Lechmere. Apparently I didn't lock it in well or wait for the green light --

Needless to say I was surprised to see a $65 charge on my account. However, I called support at HubWay - by the way they are open 24/7 and answer their phones promptly. When I had the rep look up my account and explained what had happened he told me no problem as a first time situation we will credit your account - but make sure to wait for that green light each time you return a bike. So SUPERB customer service at Hubway!

In the meantime, I am delighted to be using the HubWay system every day - there are convenient stations all over Boston and Cambridge with more coming. I gett my daily dose of exercise and am enjoying biking in traffic with the many bike lanes that Boston and Cambridge has designated. I was especially pleased to see a sign as I was riding near the Museum of Science that said - something like bikes can take the whole lane.

So my commuting life has become a combination of fun, exercise and adventures in driving a bike in the city - highly reminiscent of my bike riding days growing up in New York City.