By SHANNON O. WELLS
As a Pitt undergraduate student in 2019, Lucy Klug took part in the pilot first-year class to test POGOH, Pittsburgh’s bike-share program, in partnership with the University.
In August 2023, she became the mobility specialist in Pitt’s Office of Sustainability, positioning her well to further the program’s record participation numbers while promoting low-to-no carbon modes of transportation for the Pitt community.
“The city of Pittsburgh is a fantastic partner to POGOH and essential in strengthening the network of POGOH stations across the city,” she said, “which further supports and encourages Pitt ridership.”
Bike Share Pittsburgh celebrated a year of record-high ridership in 2023, with more than 200,000 trips. POGOH expanded by 22 stations last June and currently operates 60 stations and 600 bikes across the city. More than half of its bike fleet are electric-assist bikes.
Klug took time from her summer schedule to address some questions from University Times about POGOH’s increasing popularity among those who like being able to grab a bike from one of a growing number of stations, pedal to their destination and return the bike when their journey — or errand — is complete.
University Times: What do the record-high ridership numbers in 2023 and the 215,000 POGOH rides anticipated for this fiscal year mean to you? Does this go beyond your hopes and expectations?
Lucy Klug: This year of record-high ridership exceeded my expectations while meeting my hopes! Given that the Pitt community took 48,000 POGOH rides last fiscal year, this year’s ridership numbers show a substantial boost in usage.
I am beyond excited by this growth and proud to be involved in such an uplifting program. POGOH bikes provide mobility independence for the Pitt community while reducing carbon emissions and improving personal and public health. Even if users aren’t necessarily thinking about the many benefits of riding POGOH bikes, they are still contributing to them while having fun along the way.
UTimes: What do these numbers say about the appeal of cycling on campus and around the city? Does the program appeal to residents/students who have their own bikes as well as visitors and those who need to borrow one for a short or spontaneous ride?
Klug: Cycling culture is growing on campus and beyond, with POGOH playing a crucial role in this development. As a person who owns their own bike, I can personally say that the POGOH program appeals to both bike owners and bike renters. In conjunction with Pitt’s PRT benefit of free bus, light rail and incline rides, POGOH bikes provide the perfect opportunity for multimodal transportation around Pittsburgh.
For example, I often ride a POGOH bike to the grocery store, then take the bus home. Sometimes using my personal bike isn’t the best option for my needs, so having access to POGOH is game-changing. POGOH bikes are also useful for first- and last-mile transit connections, meaning someone could ride a POGOH bike to a bus station or from a bus station to their destination. POGOH bikes create transit connectivity. The bike share appeals to all bike users, especially since the stations are abundant across Pittsburgh and available as pedal, electric-assist, and adaptive bike types.
UTimes: How many bike stations are now in Oakland and around the city? Will they continue to be added to improve the practicality of the service?
Klug: There are 15 POGOH stations in Oakland and 60 around the city. POGOH is in the process of expanding its network to include an anticipated 53 stations. They are seeking feedback on proposed locations, which folks can learn more about and get involved with here: https://pogoh.com/expansion/.
UTimes: What are the challenges with the program? I assume equipment maintenance, vandalism, and theft are among them. Are these relatively easy to manage so far?
Klug: POGOH manages equipment maintenance, and we have not had any issues with station upkeep or theft. The biggest challenge we’ve experienced with this program is bike availability at popular stations from so much ridership. This is a great problem to have. POGOH is working to combat this issue by rolling out a bike valet service to ensure that stations never empty out of bikes and don’t reach full capacity with no space to return bikes.
UTimes: What are the goals for the next fiscal year and the 2024-25 fiscal year?
Klug: In the next fiscal year, we hope to grow ridership even more. With increased bike education efforts at Pitt, we aim to get more people on bikes and provide them with the knowledge and resources needed to safely bike around campus and the city. These efforts include Confident City Cycling classes, POGOH demo sessions, outreach via tabling and presentations, and more.
UTimes: Is there anything you’d like to add regarding POGOH and its benefits for the Pitt community?
Klug: Partnering with POGOH has been a wonderful experience, and we are overjoyed by the high ridership and excitement about biking on campus.
Pitt students and employees who want to learn more about the program or activate their University-based benefit, can click here for more information, she added. Pitt community members will see a new POGOH voucher code in their email inbox in August to activate the benefit of free 30-minute POGOH rides for the upcoming academic year.
Shannon O. Wells is a writer for the University Times. Reach him at shannonw@pitt.edu.
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