FireDoor211 said30 minutes eh? That's such a short amount of time. How do they enforce this?
You swipe your card to unlock the bike and (I believe) swipe it when you return it (it could also just automatically register the bike as "returned" when it's parked in another Hubway station, which is no more than a bike rack like in the OP's original post pic).
The passes and membership fees require a credit card, so if you go over the 30-minute period, they add additional charges to your card, so that's how they enforce it. And the overage charges are pretty steep, so riders need to be aware of how the system works. But there are soooo many of these stations around the city, that you could conceivably pull up to one within the 30-minute period, return your bike, and then take another one immediately.
This isn't really meant for biking enthusiasts (like me) who plan to ride around the city for extended periods of time for exercise, etc. It's more for commuters and people who could use them for basic errands, but find taxis to be too expensive or the subway and bus system to be too inconvenient. Biking is also a much quicker way to get around Boston given the congestion at rush hour.
Certainly not for everyone, but I see more and more people using them every day, and another testament of its success is the planned opening of more and more stations across the city. Clearly, the whole system will lose its appeal (and they'll likely remove the bikes altogether) in the winter months when we're blanketed by snow.
