This feature is part of our series displaying the phenomenal people who work behind the scenes at MoGo!

How long have you been working at MoGo and what do you do?

Since February of 2017. I started as the Program & Access Manager and now am the Director of Programming & Operations. As you might gather from the title, my job is really split up into two parts: (1) managing our equity and accessibility MoGo for All programming and (2) working closely with our operations partner Shift Transit to ensure that the system is working the way it needs to.

What is your favorite thing about MoGo?

• Of the service itself: probably the on-demand convenience. It’s always around whenever you need it. We take a lot of pride in making sure that working bikes and docking points are always available at all of our stations and that it is quick and easy to get a bike and get going.
• Of what we do: it would have to be the impact that we’ve had in ways that I wouldn’t have expected when I first started in 2017. I’ve signed dozens of people up for our $5 annual Access pass. Many of these people have been folks who don’t have many options when it comes to transit or healthy recreational options. They’ve always been grateful for our ability to offer a pass for $5 for the year. We also get a lot of great feedback about our street skills classes. Myself and one other instructor have taught nearly 200 people how to ride a bike and/or ride a bike safely. I’ve been a bike commuter for a while, but previously didn’t think of myself as someone who had knowledge to share when it comes to safe cycling practices.

What do you want people to know about MoGo, and what makes MoGo unique?

I think the casual MoGo user probably assumes MoGo is a large corporate entity that maybe isn’t concerned with who its users are or what those users think about our service. On the contrary, we’re a small group of hard-working people who put a ton of effort into making sure that this is something for all folks living and working in the cities that we serve.

What do you think MoGo’s greatest accomplishment has been?

There are a number of them that are up there for me: our launch event in 2017 was a rush and a great community event, hitting 100,000 rides in 4.5 months was so unexpected and exciting, and surpassing 20 percent of our annual pass subscriptions being Access pass users was a big goal that we were aiming for and reached last year.

How has MoGo changed your experience in Detroit or our other service areas?

I had never been to the cities in MoGo north nearly as often as I have since we expanded on June 4, 2020.

Rapid fire:

• Favorite station? Vernor & Scotten
• Iconic or Boost? Iconic, because standard pedal bikes need some love too.
• If you could put a station anywhere today, where would you put it? I’m pretty lucky in that I have stations close to my home and my work, so if I had to choose, in the spirit of democratic processes, I would defer to the location with the most suggestions in our Suggest a Station map.

Read more about everything that Rory mentioned, and more, at mogodetroit.org, and follow MoGo on social media!

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Love Travels Imports sells artisan goods that journey from across the world – from South Africa, Guatemala, Peru, and Haiti – to a curation destination in Detroit! Their mission is to bring to others a love of handcrafted art, love of the sustainable Earth, and a love of helping neighbors. These works of art connect distant people and cultures in ways that only a Love Travels Import can.

MoGo riders can show their MoGo card, key fob, Transit app, or receipt to receive 10% off Equal Exchange products (coffee, tea, chocolate) at Love Travels Imports! This perk can be redeemed in-store, or online using promo code MOGO10.

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Love Travels Imports

Closest Station: Livernois and Chesterfield (at Outer Drive) or Livernois and Norfolk

19939 Livernois, Detroit, MI 48221

Detroit Mini Donuts is co-owned by Karen Hudson and Karla Willis, making it a 100% women and minority-owned and operated business! Detroit girls at heart, with a ‘failure is not an option’ attitude, these girls will get the job done! Check out their menu full of Italian Ice, donuts, lemonade, and more, and place an order online or in person. Their truck is always on the move, too – check here to see where Detroit Mini Donut is heading next! MoGo riders can show their MoGo card, key fob, Transit app, or receipt to receive 15% off at Detroit Mini Donut!

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Detroit Mini Donut

Closest Station: Paradise Valley

214 E Grand River Ave, Detroit, MI 48226

The Lane is MoGo’s newest blog series. Read on for information, analysis, and updates on MoGo, and bike share overall. Read Issue #1: Improving Bike Infrastructure.

When many of the United States’ current bike share companies were founded – all in the past decade or so – they were intended to be ‘last mile connectors’. That is, someone taking the bus from their workplace to a stop still a mile from their home would be able to get on a bike at their bus stop and get themselves much closer to their neighborhood. (Taking the Dexter bus from the Rosa Parks Transit Center up to the Wayne State area, and hopping on a MoGo to get back to your home in Woodbridge).

While this approach continues to benefit a number of commuters and casual riders, the bike share world has been dramatically changed since the introduction of e-bikes a few years ago. In bike share systems, e-bikes are most often electric bikes that propel you forward as you pedal, usually maxing out at 15-18mph (in MoGo’s system, they are the black Boost bikes).

Why did e-bikes change the game so dramatically? Other than the excitement of riding faster, farther, most e-bikes have a 35-40 mile range, making it incredibly easy for commuters to make their entire commute via bike share. Why ride just the 1 mile home when you could make the entire 5, 10, or 15 mile trip without breaking a sweat?

In other words, e-bikes have expanded bike share’s ability to function as its own transit option, rather than just a complementary option.

With the onset of the pandemic a year ago, MoGo became a primary method of transportation for many essential workers who had previously relied on buses or other enclosed transit options to make their commute. This was reflected in an uptick in Boost ridership: in 2020, Boost bikes made up just 8% of the total fleet, but accounted for 20% of all trips. Boost bikes also averaged twice as many trips per day.

MoGo wasn’t alone in the e-bike boom of 2020; a recent New York Times article reported an increase in fleet size, ridership, and distance traveled on e-bikes across the United States. Read the article, and see how MoGo is keeping pace with some of the U.S.’ biggest bike-share programs!

Opened in 2011 right next to City Bird, Nest offers a complementary selection of quality goods and gifts for the home. Some of their products include plants, apothecary items, candles, accessories for the kitchen and bar, office accouterments, and toys and games. MoGo riders can show their MoGo card, key fob, Transit app, or receipt to receive 10% off at Nest!

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Nest

Closest Station: Cass and Willis or Second and Prentis

460 W Canfield St, Detroit, MI 48201

Founded in 2005, City Bird opened its flagship store in the Cass Corridor in Midtown, Detroit in 2009. Visit and you’ll find art, design, and handmade goods from more than 200 artists throughout the Great Lakes region, as well their popular house line of locally-themed products, produced in their Detroit-based studio. With hundreds of products to choose from, the Cass-Canfield shopping district’s oldest store has so much to offer! The best part? MoGo riders can show their MoGo card, key fob, Transit app, or receipt to receive 10% off at City Bird!

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City Bird

Closest Station: Cass and Willis or Second and Prentis

460 W Canfield St, Detroit, MI 48201

Since MoGo launched in 2017, the ‘MoGo For All’ motto has been incredibly important to us. In a constant effort to make MoGo as equitable, accessible, and inclusive as possible, we’ve created a number of programs, including Adaptive MoGo, Pay With Cash, Street Skills, and the Access Pass.

Each of these programs has had a different type of impact in the Metro Detroit community, though the Access Pass has seen the highest usage; 28% of current MoGo members are Access Pass holders!

The Access Pass is a $5 Annual Pass that is only accessible to registered members of certain state benefits programs (see the full list and sign up). In every way other than the cost, the Access Pass functions like the Annual Pass; it’s simply meant to be more affordable for those who need it to be.

The pictures simplify it: ‘Got a Bridge Card? Get an Access Pass!’

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve remained dedicated to providing bike-share as an accessible, open-air transit option for essential workers and others, and the Access Pass has played a large role in that. 

As this article indicates, a number of bike-share programs across the country remain inaccessible to low-income members of the community. MoGo is proud to be a leader in this area, and proud to provide safe, equitable transit during these unprecedented times.

If you have questions about whether or not you’re qualified for an Access Pass, call or email us anytime!

Throughout the month of February, Detroit organizations, museums, and businesses are celebrating Black History Month both virtually and in-person. Despite the extremely cold weather that we’re experiencing, there are plenty of events that are accessible by MoGo!

For the entire month of February, the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History will have a mix of ongoing, weekly, and special events, including a Virtual Storytelling series every Wednesday, an Excellence in Black Cinema series occuring on Thursdays, The Blackness Project: Identity and the African American Community, and plenty more. For details on all of these events and more, click here (closest station: John R and Farnsworth).

The DIA will also have a series of events throughout February, telling stories and sharing the history of African American culture. A couple of events of note include My Blackness & Yours: Celebrating Black Photographers, occurring on February 13, and Hughie Lee-Smith: A Detroit Story on February 16. The DIA will also be hosting a number of streaming events. Click here for the DIA’s Black History Month calendar of events (closest station: John R and Farnsworth).

If you’re interested in any other in-person or online events, check out Metro Parent’s guide to Black History Month events across Metro Detroit, or Visit Detroit’s 7 Ways to Celebrate Black History Month in Detroit. For the February 25th event at the Detroit Historical Museum, the closest station is Woodward and Kirby.

In addition to all of these events, the City of Detroit is launching a new initiative called Undefeated, which “…aims to give creatives a platform by highlighting arts and culture in the city with monthly digital showcases.” Read all about Undefeated and its upcoming programs here!

We’re super excited to announce our newest Rider Perk, Eastern Market Brewing Company! Our first Rider Perk partner out of Eastern Market, EMBC is a local brewery that creates classics that continue the tradition of craft beer in Detroit. Plus, they’ve got one-of-a-kind beers with local flavor that only the freshest Eastern Market ingredients can provide! MoGo riders can show their MoGo card, key fob, Transit app, or receipt to receive discounted Happy Hour pricing! All $5 and $6 draft pours are $4 for MoGo riders!

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Ferndale Project

Closest Station: Gratiot and Russell or Wilkins and Russell

2515 Riopelle St, Detroit, MI 48207

In Detroit, where biking continues to gain popularity as both a commuter and leisure activity, bike lanes and other rider protections are of the utmost importance. Known fondly as the Motor City for over half-a-century, Detroit’s transformation into a Motorless, Bike-focused City has been nothing short of remarkable. The bike lane totals in Detroit have grown from just 13 miles in 2007 to over 240 miles today, with multiple projects promising the construction of new bike lanes in the near future.

Beyond bike lanes, Detroit has seen an impressive improvement in its Places for Bikes ranking, nearly doubling its 1.6 overall score in 2019 to a 3.0 in 2020. The rating combines ridership, safety, network, reach, and acceleration to determine a city’s score; Detroit has improved in nearly every category each of the last 3 years.

MoGo has contributed to biking’s popularity since 2017, when it launched with 43 stations and 430 bikes in 10 neighborhoods in greater Downtown Detroit. In 2020, MoGo’s third year of operation, it nearly doubled its station footprint, while seeing average trip distance and duration among riders rise 70% year-over-year.

Though the construction of bike lanes in new neighborhoods across Metro Detroit spurs economic growth, encourages healthy habits, and strengthens the presence of alternative mobility options, rider safety needs to become a greater priority.

Imagine if more money was directed towards bike lanes and bike safety? As the author writes, “[We are] focusing on enabling human life on another planet when we struggle to make life great here on Earth.” Bike lanes, and safer bike lanes in particular, are a great way to improve our quality of life. 

Read the rest of the article, Let’s Build Bike Lanes Before Going to Mars here.