Boston Bikes Asset Management Improvement

Boston Bikes manages a growing fleet of more than 400 bicycles that support community programming across Boston, including youth bike education, adult learn-to-bike workshops, and community events. These programs rely on having the right bikes in the right place at the right time, while also ensuring bikes are safe and ready to use.

We began the project with a process mapping session to better understand how bikes move through the program, how staff coordinate events and repairs, and where operational challenges were occurring. Working closely with mechanics, instructors, and program managers, we identified pain points in the current workflow and collaborated on solutions that would fit seamlessly into the team’s day-to-day operations.

Based on these conversations, we designed a combination of technical and non-technical tools to improve fleet visibility, maintenance tracking, and event planning. Technical solutions included a GIS-based asset map to track where bikes are currently located and scheduled to be over time, mobile-friendly forms to log bike movement between locations, an event intake system to support bike reservation and scheduling, and a repair management system to track maintenance needs and repair status by bike model.

While the system is still in the early stages of implementation, the new tools are expected to significantly improve the team’s ability to manage and deploy their bike fleet. By centralizing information about bike locations, repairs, and event scheduling, the system will help staff spend less time coordinating logistics manually and more time supporting programming.

The Boston Bikes team anticipates several long-term operational benefits, including improved utilization of the bike fleet, reduced time spent locating and transporting bikes, faster identification and resolution of maintenance issues, and fewer bikes sitting out of service unnecessarily. The improved scheduling and tracking process may also allow the team to fulfill more requests from schools and community organizations by providing greater visibility into bike availability.