Massachusetts Special Commission on Micromobility Report
“Bikeshare is not a marginal service but one with sizeable and growing ridership. It merits public-transportation‐level investment rather than ad-hoc sponsorship so that systems outside of the Boston core, where it may be less profitable to operate, can also make this form of public transit available to residents.” (Special Commission on Micromobility Final Report, January 2026, p. 78)
Earlier this year, Massachusetts Department of Transportation released the final report of its Special Commission on Micromobility, a first-of-its-kind statewide effort to assess how e-bikes, e-scooters, and shared systems fit into the Commonwealth’s transportation future. The commission brought together a wide coalition of stakeholders, including bike shop owners, mobility advocates, state agencies, law enforcement, academics, community-based organizations, and elected officials, all chaired by the Secretary of Transportation.
The report covers recommendations for all micromobility devices, like speed tier classifications, sidewalk rules, and education campaigns, as well as recommendations focused on shared micromobility, specifically what it will take to grow bikeshare in Massachusetts.
The Bluebikes system logged more than 4.7 million trips in 2024, more than double its 2020 ridership, with its most popular stations clustered around public transportation hubs. The other large shared micromobility system in Massachusetts, ValleyBike, serving the Pioneer Valley, grew from under 80,000 trips in 2019 to over 116,000 in 2022, and Metro Mobility has expanded e-bikeshare to mid-sized cities like Worcester, Lawrence, and Lowell.
These increases reflect systems that are actively serving real transportation needs, but, as the commission notes, the funding model hasn’t kept pace with demand. Many publicly owned bikeshare systems still rely heavily on short-term sponsorships, federal grants that don’t support operations, and uncertain local budgets.
Recommendation 13: Expanding Bikeshare
The commission’s most direct bikeshare recommendation calls on the legislature to establish a reliable and sustainable funding mechanism for publicly owned, docked micromobility share systems. The commission proposes expanding Massachusetts’ existing Last Mile Grant program to explicitly include municipally owned bikeshare systems or “creating a dedicated companion program for publicly owned shared micromobility.” (Special Commission on Micromobility Final Report, January 2026, p. 78)
The commission envisions a two-part funding structure: formula-based operating support to give existing municipal and regional systems predictable annual funding, combined with competitive capital grants for system expansion. The goal is to move away from ad hoc sponsorship models and toward the kind of stable, transparent public investment that bus and rail receive.
After looking at the two largest shared micromobility systems in Massachusetts, the commission came to the conclusion that, while there were several federal programs that could help with capital investments, there was a clear lack of funding opportunities to help increase or support operating capacity.
NABSA spoke with Kris Carter, Chief Innovation Officer, The Lab @ MassDOT, and Jaclyn Youngblood, Deputy Chief Innovation Officer, The Lab @ MassDOT, who served as staff to the commission, about how the bikeshare recommendations came together.
“[A lack of] operating dollars for bikeshare was limiting our ability to grow sustainable, reliable, accountable budgets for operating a bike share system. [Sustainable funding] was needed to have us grow those systems here in Massachusetts, and without that, there would be sort of a ceiling of both the size of the systems, and the communities they could actually operate in.” shared Carter.
Youngblood noted that shared micromobility had broad support among commissioners developing these micromobility recommendations. “People recognize that it is public transit. It is, in many cases, available 24/7, and so we should treat it like public transit from our funding.”
“Micromobility works best when it’s designed into our transportation system, not treated as an afterthought,” added Carter.
What Comes Next?
Members of the Commission are actively working to advance the recommendations that don’t require legislative actions through their own organizations. This includes a broad public education campaign and a micromobility “buyer’s guide” through the Safe Routes to School program, however the commission’s recommendations related to shared micromobility funding will require legislative action.
As shared micromobility and micromobility in general become larger parts of the transportation ecosystem across the United States, operators, advocates, and governments can use the work that Massachusetts had done as a template for their own communities. You can take a look at the final report here.