First 5 Stations of the New Bike Sharing Program in Portland, Maine, Are Here

The City of Portland and Tandem Mobility have begun Phase 1 of their plan to install 30 bike share stations across the city.

Five stations have now been installed during the first phase of the project, which offer people bikes to ride through the city for a reasonable price. Bikes can be rented at Washington Ave at Walnut Street, Middle and Temple Streets, East End Beach, Congress Street at Park Street, and Hanover and Lancaster Street.

Here's how it works:

You'll need the Movatic app in order to rent a bike. You can get it on Google Play or the Apple App Store for free. Create an account and give the app your credit card info. Then you're given the choice of membership or to pay as you go.

Pay-as-you-go rates are $1 to unlock​ and then 15 cents per minute for a pedal bike and $2 to unlock and 30 cents a minute for an electric bike. If you plan to ride the bike often, a membership might be the best option as it will save you some money at $14.99 a month which includes no unlock fees and the per minute rate is cut in half.

After you've chosen how you want to pay, you'll scan a QR code or enter the bike's number on the app to unlock it, and then you're off! When you're done, return it to any station, press the end button and lock the bike in place and attach the cable. You're done! Seems pretty simple.

Look for another 25 bike stations across Portland in the near future. You can see a map showing where they are planned at tandem-mobility.com/portland