PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Single-ride passes have returned to Philadelphia's public bike-share program, Indego. For the last six years, the shortest bike rental available to riders has been 24 hours at $15. But Indego on Thursday reintroduced the single 30-minute ride, for $4.50.
"I could see that being the kind of thing that would work really well in the city," said Center City resident Harry, an occasional Indego rider. "There's a lot of people who will end up taking it in one direction."
The city eliminated the single-ride option in 2018 because of theft, said Waffiyyah Murray, the city's Indego program manager. "Unfortunately, at the time, we had a lot of people abusing the single-ride pass option to steal bikes," Murray told KYW Newsradio.
"With things like two-step verification and other security measures the team has implemented on the back end, we're able to secure the system under the single-pass option a lot better now," Murray said. "Honestly, ever since we had to take it away, we've been receiving requests to bring it back."
She said even without the single-ride option, Indego ridership has grown, setting a new record of 5,621 riders on a single day in June.
Indego plans to expand its fleet to more than 3,000 classic and e-bikes at more than 200 stations in 2024.