Faces Of Indego: Changing How We Look At Cycling In The City

Posted on by Kiera Smalls

In celebration of all the riders who keep Indego moving, the Faces of Indego campaign will be highlighting users throughout the month of November through interviews, photographs, and stories . Want to show your face? Email marketing@rideindego.com

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Name: Albert Lee

Occupation/Interest: Social and Content Manager for Philly 311 – City of Philadelphia. | Interest – street photography, community engagement

Neighborhood: Chinatown

Favorite thing about Philly: Our honesty. We are a city.

Why do you ride Indego? It’s so convenient! You never have to worry about where you are going to park your bicycle!!! And, there are plenty of stations to choose from at any time, day or night.  

What views do you see on your ride? Center city, South Philly, Northern Liberties. Philly neighborhoods are so easily connected from one end to the other.

Any tips for new Indego riders? Keep in mind that Indego bikes are slightly heavier than most bikes so be sure to adjust your gears when you start pedaling. 

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How has Indego impacted your life and/or community? Indego has really changed how people look at cycling in Philadelphia. It has brought the conversation of safer streets and more bike lanes. For me, I’ve never owned a car and have always relied on either walking, public transit or using a bicycle. A downtown Philly with nothing but bicycles and public transit on the streets? Pinch me…

Faces of Indego: Meet The Member That Pedaled To All 73 Stations In One Day

Posted on by Kiera Smalls

Submitted by Joel Mandelman

I live at Seventh and Sansom, a block from Washington Square. I often start at the station at 8th and Market. The stations at 10th and Chestnut, 9th and Arch, and 5th and Market are also close. I wouldn’t object to a station in Washington Square, but I don’t want to sound spoiled. I know most people don’t have stations this close.

I moved to Philadelphia from Wichita in March and have been looking for ways to get to know the city. I joined Indego in June and have been using it regularly ever since. I’m a big fan. I have a bike, but I like the convenience of the bike share program. It’s great for short trips. I don’t have to worry about bringing my bike up to my apartment or locking it up, and you guys take care of the maintenance. I’ve been using the Indego map a lot and thought visiting and photographing all the stations would be a fun project. I’m an Instagram novice, but I like the app and am rooting for a bike-friendly Philly.

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The ride took about eight hours, a little longer than I thought. I was thinking, well, one minute per station would be 73 minutes, but I knew that wasn’t realistic. Five minutes per station would be about six hours. That would be possible. In the end, it took a little extra time because I had never been to most of the stations, and I took some time to explore. I’m excited to get back to the Clark Park farmers’ market for mushrooms.

I started about ten-thirty. I wrote out the route the day before. Start close to my apartment, ride out to West Philly, cross the Schuylkill at Spring Garden and get the Art Museum, head to North Philly, wrap around Fishtown, back to Logan Circle, then South Philly, and finish up with the Center City stations near my apartment. I knew where most of those stations were located, so I thought if I could get the first sixty, I know where the last ones are located. During the ride, I used the bike2go app to fine tune the route. And, at the end, I had to stop at my apartment to recharge my phone, which I was using as my camera. Then, I went back out and got the last five stations: 9th and Arch, 12th and Filbert, 6th and Race, 2nd and Market, and Independence Hall. I numbered the photos in the order I took them. I’m thinking maybe someone else can help me with a shorter route.

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I would definitely do it again. The photos turned out to be kind of a fall Philly valentine. It was a nice day, and I like photos of street scenes, interesting public spaces, brightly colored leaves, murals, the skyline, and blue bikes.

View photos on my Instagram account here: https://instagram.com/butternutsquashsoup/

Making An Impact in North Philly and Beyond

Posted on by Kiera Smalls

Indego’s outreach team has had a busy month supporting community bike rides. 

On Tuesday, October 6th, we partnered with the Dare 2 Hope, a local suicide prevention organization, for a North Philly bike ride. As founder Sarah-Ashley Andrews knows, “One way to fight depression is through exercise.” With a group of about a dozen folks affiliated with Dare 2 Hope and other organizations, we rode Indego from 16th and Girard down to the Free Library, where we helped a group that feeds the homeless on a weekly basis at this location, and then rode back up to the North Philly. Check out this video about the ride! It was a blast.

Video credit: Rejean Wilson

On October 11th, we got another great opportunity to be a part of a community effort – the annual Bike and BBQ ride put on by the Pedal Pushas Philly Bike Crew. Riders rode a mix of their own bikes and Indego bikes from a starting point at Drexel Park down to Community Bikes and Boards in South Philly for a BBQ/Block Party event, complete with live music! Thanks to Don Scott from Pedal Pushas for his support of Indego and his work promoting biking in Philadelphia. Check out this write-up of the event. Below are a few photos our Better Bike Share team captured:

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On October 24th, Indego supported a Bike Ride for Peace in South Philadelphia, sponsored by Town Watch Integrated Services, and escorted by the 1st, 3rd, and 17th Police Districts. About two dozen folks showed up for the ride, which started at 18th and Washington and travelled throughout South Philly. Special thanks to Town Watch organizer Carmetta Dickerson and Indego Ambassador (and Faces of Indego featured rider) Kim Smith for their work on this event!

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Indego is proud to support grassroots community bike efforts like these – looking forward to more in the future!

The Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia does outreach and education on behalf of Indego, and their work is made possible by the Better Bike Share Partnership, an initiative funded by the JPB Foundation, which seeks to create a socially equitable and replicable bike share model for Philadelphia and beyond.

Faces of Indego: A Part of My Daily Routine

Posted on by Kiera Smalls

In celebration of all the riders who keep Indego moving, the Faces of Indego campaign will be highlighting users throughout the month of November through interviews, photographs, and stories . Want to show your face? Email marketing@rideindego.com

Name:Keola (Kay-ola)

Occupation/Interest: Financial Planner

Neighborhood: West Philadelphia (born and raised). Yes – the playground was where I spent most of my days 🙂

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Favorite thing about Philly: The architecture. My favorite thing to do in Philly is to ride Indego to the Schuylkill River Trail, sit across from the Cira Centre at 30th Street and embrace how beautiful this city is. Please try it!

Why do you ride Indego? I ride Indego to gather my thoughts after a long day at work. I release stress and exercise at the same time. No gym membership necessary.

What views do you see on your ride? You see change and opportunities up close and personal. The kind of view that you’ll never experience while riding in a car.

Any tips for new Indego riders? Be fearless!

How has Indego impacted your life and/or community? Indego has given me a new look on bike riding. I used to think of it as a way to exercise but now it’s a part of my day to day routine.

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Faces of Indego Press Release

Posted on by Kiera Smalls

This week you may see some shiny new posters starting to pop up at Indego stations and bus shelters throughout the city, featuring Philadelphians who use bike share. These are part of Indego’s new campaign, “Faces (and Voices) of Indego,” which aims to highlight the stories of individual riders and real Philadelphians who use the system. For this campaign, we photographed and interviewed five community leaders who have become Indego ambassadors in their neighborhoods and who use the bikes in different ways in Philadephia.

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The Indego ambassador program is part of the Better Bike Share partnership, a collaboration funded by the JPB foundation to create a socially equitable and replicable bike share system in Philadelphia and beyond. Together with the Mayor’s Office of Transportation and Utilities and the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, Indego is working towards ensuring that the Philadelphia’s bike share system is accessible to all riders. 

”This campaign is a reflection of a commitment Philadelphia made from day one to make sure that bike share was for everyone” said Carniesha Kwashie, the Better Bike Share Partnership grant manager. “We are proud to partner with community leaders, as they have helped build and share Indego as a transportation and recreation option, and represent some of the many faces and voices of the community we aim to serve.”

In celebration of all the riders who keep Indego moving, the Faces of Indego campaign will be highlighting  users throughout the month of November through interviews, photographs, and stories . Want to show your face? Tweet and Instagram photos of yourself with an Indego bike while using the hashtag #facesofindego and/or email marketing@rideindego.com to share your story. Remember to practice safe selfie-ing and never take a picture while on a moving bike or in traffic.

Indego, sponsored by Independence Blue Cross, is an initiative of the City of Philadelphia Mayor’s Office of Transportation & Utilities. The program launched on April 23, 2015. Since then, over 330,000 Indego bike rides have been taken between 73 stations across the city.

Better Bike Share Partnership Making An Impact

Posted on by Kiera Smalls

Indego’s Better Bike Share team had an awesome outreach weekend – one of our busiest yet! Scroll down for the highlights…

City staff from the Mayor’s Office of Transportation and Utilities joined us at Strawberry Mansion Community Day. In addition to taking test rides and member sign-ups, Strawberry Mansion residents were able to provide their input about where new bike share stations – coming next Spring – should go in their neighborhood.

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At the 8th Annual Point Breeze Community Appreciation Day, sponsored by Councilman Kenyatta Johnson, Indego set up our table next to our Better Bike Share partners, Mural Arts Program. Courtesy of Mural Arts, Point Breeze residents could screen print their own t-shirt for free – with designs that match the ten #RidingMurals bikes in the system, and also a future ground mural planned for the triangle at 22nd and Tasker. We even had a special guest appearance by the Phillie Phanatic, who wasn’t half bad at riding our bike!

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On Sunday, like every Sunday, we offered free Indego rides at the Food Trust’s Common Ground Marketplace at Broad and Mount Vernon (come visit us sometime!). This week was special, though – we had one rider, Joyce, who got on a bike for the first time in 20 years. Congratulations, Joyce! You’re inspiring.

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One of our bilingual Indego representatives was out at the Mexican Independence Day Festival at the Delaware River Waterfront to check out the festivities there and share info about Indego with attendees. She snapped this great photo:

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The Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia does outreach and education on behalf of Indego, and their work is made possible by the Better Bike Share Partnership, an initiative funded by the JPB Foundation, which seeks to create a socially equitable and replicable bike share model for Philadelphia and beyond.

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