Arsenal Yards The BlueBike station outside Arsenal Yards.
Watertown will have up to four new BlueBike stations after being gifted one bikeshare docking station and receiving a grant for up to three more.
A 19-bike station was donated to the City of Watertown by BlueCross BlueShield and Lyft, City Manager George Proakis announced at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting.
“They ended up with a spare station, and communities could apply for it,” Proakis said. “We responded and this is a free station being granted to us as a gift. It will be installed near the Parker Annex Building next to Casey Park.”
When the new station is installed next to the City’s municipal government annex on Watertown Street and another already installed next to City Hall, Proakis said City employees will have the opportunity to bicycle from one building to the other.
Councilor Lisa Feltner asked whether City staff knew what was the value of the gift. Assistant City Manager Steve Magoon said it is in the ballpark of $40,000.
Meanwhile, Watertown was awarded a joint community grant with the Town of Arlington and the City of Newton to expand the BlueBike system by eight or nine stations. Watertown will receive $90,667 from the Mass. Department of Transportation, which will pay for one to three more stations, Magoon said. Watertown will provide a 20 percent match, or $22,667. The grant money will be sent to the lead applicant, Arlington, which will then disburse the funds.
How many stations will added in Watertown through the grant is not yet certain.
“(The grant) doesn’t specify the number of stations. That is dependent on the locations we pick and the associated costs,” Magoon said.
The locations remain up in the air, Magoon said, but Watertown Senior Transportation Planner Zeke Mermell is collecting input from people about where they think the stations should go.
“There are some geographic limitations. The system has to grow incrementally so that you don’t have orphan stations where people might expect to get a bike and isn’t one available, or leave a bike and there isn’t a dock available. We have to have stations within reasonable proximity.”
Councilor Emily Izzo, who represents the Westside of the City, said she believes there are good places for BlueBike stations on Pleasant Street, Waltham Street, and Main Street.
Councilor Tony Palomba asked whether Watertown would have to cover any of the costs of the stations. There is a $50 per dock per month fee for operational costs charged to cities, but Magoon said that there is a sliding scale based on use and if the bikes are used enough the City won’t have to pay the fee.
It is not likely the stations in Watertown will reach the threshold to eliminate the fee, Magoon said. The grant does not cover the operational costs, he said, and it will likely be covered by other grant funds or come out of the City’s Department of Community Development and Planning budget.
See more about the BlueBike grant in the memo to the City Council by clicking here.