PHOTOS BY OLLIE GRATZINGER

Getting around Pittsburgh, and getting some exercise in the process, in a convenient and sustainable way continues to become more accessible. With the launch of POGOH in 2022, which was a rebrand of Healthy Ride, bike sharing stations connect various neighborhoods in Pittsburgh that cyclists can navigate with the option of pedal and electric bikes.

Because of the program’s growing popularity, POGOH will be adding 220 more bikes and 22 new docking stations by the end of June. Of the 220 new bikes, 154 will be electric assist and 66 will be pedal, says David White, POGOH’s executive director. 

White says the electric assist bikes are the most used. 

“If you’ve ridden a bike in Pittsburgh, you’ve come across a big hill at some point in your ride,” he says. “It’s just a much more pleasant way to get around the city with the hills that we have if you have a little bit of electric assist.” 

The addition of electric assist bikes also makes the bike share more accessible to everyone, which is a priority for the nonprofit. Other efforts to equitably serve the city include the Mobility Justice Membership, which provides qualifying persons to receive unlimited rides for $10 per year, and partnerships with organizations centered around mobility, justice and racial justice. 

“We also think it’s important to make it available and accessible to everyone as we partner with organizations who are doing this kind of work,” White says. 

Since launching POGOH a year ago, the nonprofit reported 85,000 rides in the 2022 calendar year with the busiest month in February. 

The 22 new stations will be added to Hazelwood, Oakland, additional North Side neighborhoods, Stanton Heights and more. White says the bike share is most used in Oakland, but hopes to expand to serve the greater Pittsburgh region. 

“In three years we hope to be well on our path toward a much larger bike share system that not only blankets the entire city but also includes some of the inner ring municipalities,” White says. “We hope we’re able to begin expanding the network to really serve the Pittsburgh region and not just a select group of Pittsburgh.” 

Under the program, cyclists rent and return bikes to any of the stations with just a scan of a QR code. The electric bikes charge when docked. 

POGOH currently offers four types of memberships: an annual membership for $120 per year that gets you 12 months of unlimited 30-minute rentals, the mobility justice membership for residents who receive government assistance, a flex pass for $25 per 200 minutes of ride time, and a pay-as-you-go plan for $4 per 30 minutes plus $1.50 for every e-assist ride. 

As of March 31, POGOH eliminated an extra e-assist rental fee as part of the annual membership.

“We wanted to make it more affordable for the people who use it the most. We thought it was important to make members of the community feel like it really is for them,” White says. “And we heard from people who said, ‘Hey, I really love the new POGOH system, I have a membership, but the additional charge for the bikes makes it hard to use the system.’”