March 22nd, 2012 by Greg Hum Posted in Bikeyface, biking, Boston Bikes, Hubway
CITY NEWS
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It was only the second day of spring here in Boston, but yesterday felt more like mid-summer; people and bicycles were out and about, emerging from the indoor confines of a (not-so-brutal) winter to enjoy the sunny high-of-79-degrees-Fahrenheit breeze. Rolling outbound on my bike down Commonwealth Ave. by Boston University, I stumbled upon two friends, Galen Mook and Graham Conway, who also happened to be part of the awesome Hubway crew installing bike share stations all over Boston.
Graham tidied up the inner cabling and positioned the panels, while Galen used a power drill with a socket wrench to tighten the bolts on the panels. Both of them were focused on the job at hand: To assemble and prepare each nut and bolt on these Hubway stations with speed and precision to prepare them for the thousands of students, tourists and commuters who will be using it for the year. Galen explained the process.
“An hour to drop it off with the crane and an hour to install it.” Graham looked up for a few seconds to clarify, “We’re rolling out five stations a day, and it’s a lot of work.”
After installing the cabling and all the panels, Graham grabbed his handy spray-bottle of tri-flow lubricant and greased up the locking plates the Hubway bikes lock into.
In the top-secret control panel behind the kiosk panel, Galen flipped a switch that was on the mainboard and pointed his finger to the tiny green LED on the circuit board, indicating the power was on. “Soon they’ll start blinking, and we’ll be in business.”
Galen then ripped off an inch of scotch tape to stick on a partial-service notice to the Hubway map and snapped into place the last panel to install: The one that sits atop the map with the name of the station’s location.
Finally, in the pickup truck next to the station, Galen picked up one of the two Hubway bikes to be left at this station.
And soon, the station popped up on the online Hubway station map, showing the fruits of Galen and Graham’s labor:
Last year when Boston rolled out the Hubway bike share system, the bicycling landscape of Boston was changed forever. Tourists, students, commuters, and everyday folk were riding Hubway bicycles everywhere. Hubway closed up shop and put the stations away for the winter, but now they’re back.
Friends, this year’s seasonal bicycling epidemic is now officially underway, and, no doubt, Hubway will be exploding even more than it did last year. As blogger and artist Bikeyface observed last year, morning commutes on the esplanade with Hubway riders will become more common:
Happy Spring, Boston Bikers!
