Revere and a bicycle-sharing company began partnering this month to give local residents and visitors a way to get around the city on two wheels. The idea invites comparisons between Revere and Cambridge and Somerville and jokes about strange bedfellows.
But the city by the beach is actually an ideal place in more ways than one to deploy a fleet of bright yellow bicycles. Revere Beach already attracts bikers of the pedal and motorized varieties and people come from Lynn and other communities to spend a few hours biking up and down the beach and getting something to eat or drink along the beautiful sandy expanse.
As anyone who drives down Revere Beach Boulevard knows, Revere’s waterfront is undergoing its biggest transformation in a quarter century with new construction along the beach. Some of the future tenants and residential owners moving into the new buildings will be people, young and old, who equate recreation with bike sharing.
It’s a stretch to imagine people riding bikes up and down Broadway or busy Squire Road, much less pedaling up the daunting hills that divide the city’s center from West Revere. Don’t tell that to ofo — the firm claims it has a global reach with more than 10 million bikes in 180 cities across 13 countries.
According to a city press release, ofo has “generated more than 25 million daily transactions and has provided over 200 million global users with 4 billion efficient, convenient and green rides.”
Revere has the distinction of being the firm’s third bike share city. It could also become a flagship for bike sharing in small cities. Even as a new skyline takes shape along Revere Beach, dreams and visions are poised to transform Suffolk Downs and Wonderland Greyhound Park into future development sites that stand a good chance of linking to a 21st century industrial complex eventually taking root on the NECCO site.
The people hired to work in businesses springing up on these three major development sites are sure to include bike riders, including commuters who live in Boston and take advantage of Revere’s proximity to not one but three Blue Line subway stops, including one across from the defunct dog track and another at Suffolk Downs.
These developments turn a broad swath of Revere bordering the beach into a bike-friendly area in the same way the Charles River serves as an attraction for cyclists who make their way in and out of Harvard Square and across the river to Boston.
No one is likely to be surprised when they find out bike sharing is the type of activity that can be paid for and mapped out using mobile technology. The prospective employees who will work in future developments at Suffolk Downs, Wonderland or the NECCO site are likely to be tech-friendly people versed in finding and paying for an ofo bike with a few clicks of a smartphone keypad.
These workers of the near future are also likely to become future Revere residents attracted by the opportunity to live on the beach with a view of Boston and a short walk or shared bike ride away from their workplace.
The future is here and it’s rolling into Revere on two wheels.