Bike Share Program

Lime intends to pause bike share operations for the winter and return the fleet to their warehouse in Malden between December 1, 2019 and March 15, 2020. They are gradually reducing the fleet as it gets colder and colder and they intend to pick up all bikes by November 30, 2019. 

MAPC has developed an interactive website that examines the first 18 months of Lime's dockless bike share program in Metro Boston. Click here to view!

Dockless bike share in the City of Melrose has officially launched! Melrose belongs to a 15-community regional system coordinated by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) that also includes Arlington, Bedford, Belmont, Chelsea, Everett, Malden, Medford, Milton, Newton, Needham, Revere, Waltham, Watertown and Winthrop.

With dockless bike sharing, you can use your phone to easily find, unlock, and rent bikes for short-term use. Since there are no stations (unlike with Bluebikes in Boston, Brookline, Cambridge, and Somerville), dockless bike share is less expensive to the user. Lime, the dockless bike share vendor, charges $1 per 30 minutes to ride their manual bikes, $1 to unlock and $0.15 per minute to ride their pedal-assist e-bikes, or $29.99 per month for the LimePrime membership, and they offer discounts for students, corporations, and low-income riders.

Lime will station bikes in a handful of hot spots around Melrose, including downtown, around the three MBTA Commuter Rail Stations, and on Washington Street near Oak Grove Station. Bikes will be redistributed on a regular basis by Lime to ensure that they are readily available and removed when a significant snow storm will render them impractical. Because this is a regional system, riders can pick up or drop off a Lime bike in Melrose or in any of the other participating communities.

Questions about dockless bike share in Melrose? Contact Emma Schnur, Senior Planner, at eschnur@cityofmelrose.org or 781-979-4193.

Click here to view a presentation on dockless bike share from October 7, 2019.

How to Lime

1. Download the Lime app (from the App Store or Google Play) and create an account.
2. Use the app to locate a bike and scan the QR code on the bike to unlock it.
3. Park and pull the lever to lock the bike after your ride.

Please do:

Please do not:

Park at or near a bike rack
 

Park curbside, leaving at least 3 feet of clear sidewalk width
 

Follow traffic rules while riding

Lay bikes on the ground
 

Block driveways, sidewalks, street corners, crosswalks, bus stops, ADA ramps, loading zones, or fire hydrants

If you see a LimeBike parked incorrectly or that is broken or inoperable, please notify LimeBike through one of the following customer service outlets:

How to Lime 2       How to Lime 1

Dockless Bike Parking Regulations in the City of Melrose

  • Bicycles shall be parked in the part of the sidewalk adjacent to the roadway curb (so long as compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act is maintained), at a public bike rack, or other locations expressly permitted by the municipality that is consistent with the local laws and regulations.
  • Bicycles must not be parked immediately adjacent to or within: loading zone, accessible parking zone or other facilities specifically designated for handicap accessibility, fire hydrant, curb ramp, entryway, driveway, or parklet.
  • Use of public sidewalks must not a) adversely affect the streets or sidewalks b) not inhibit pedestrian movement or c) create conditions which are a threat to public safety and security.
  • Bicycles parked in one location for more than seven consecutive days without moving may be removed by the municipality at the expense of the bike share vendor.
  • Any bicycle that is parked incorrectly shall be re-parked or removed by the vendor within 3 hours if notified between 7AM – 7PM on weekdays, not including holidays, and at all other times within 12 hours of receiving notice.
  • An inoperable bike, or any bicycle that is not safe to operate, shall be removed from the public right-of-way by the vendor and made unavailable to the public, within 24 hours of notice.
  • Vendor shall remove all bicycles from within municipality’s public right of way if more than 3 inches of snow is predicted within the 24 hour forecast or the City implements a Snow Emergency Parking Ban. The bicycles shall not be redistributed until the snow is sufficiently melted or the Snow Emergency Parking Ban is no longer in effect.