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Like other Philadelphians who work in the city, Justin Thomas frequently starts his mornings on two wheels.
Whenever he can, he takes his bike to work, and on mornings when he’s on daycare drop-off duty, he’ll walk his kid to daycare and bike the rest of the way to work using an Indego bikeshare bike from a nearby rack. His employer covers a yearly Indego subscription that allows free rides on Indego’s nonelectric bikes, so using one on his way from daycare to work is, as Thomas describes it, “a no-brainer.”
But Thomas said recently he’s been finding that the racks around him and the daycare are out of non-e-bikes, so he walks the rest of the way to work because he wants the exercise of using a traditional bike.
Traditional bikes are healthier, but a 2022 study found that regular e-bike use can still improve aerobic fitness, with health benefits comparable to conventional cycling in the limited studies that directly compared the two. Indego’s e-bikes aren’t fully electric; they assist users who are already pedaling. The bike will not move if you do not pedal.
Matt Sun, a Fishtown biker who says he cycles around 30 miles a week along the Schuylkill River Trail, says he’s also noticed the disparity between electric and traditional bikes on Indego docks but isn’t bothered by it.
“Seems like Indego bikes are just putting out the bikes that their customers want to ride, and I’m OK with that,” said Sun. “Their audience is definitely most people who don’t own their own bikes, but want to occasionally do a trip here and there.”
Indego is Philadelphia’s city-owned bike-share system, launched in 2015 — then with just 600 bikes at 60 stations. The city of Philadelphia owns the bikes and stations, while the Office of Transportation and Infrastructure Systems manages the program and Bicycle Transit Systems operates it. Indego is among the country’s largest bike-share programs, ranking sixth among major U.S. systems by ridership in 2024. The system now has roughly 2,100 bikes and over 250 stations across Philly with plans to expand to 350 stations by the end of 2026.
Through the first half of 2026, roughly 72% of all 689,235 Indego rides in Philly were on e-bikes. A July 8 analysis of Indego’s live interface by a user on the r/PhillyCycling Subreddit found 1,571 e-bikes and 469 classic bikes available at stations at that moment, meaning roughly 77% of the bikes on racks were electric.
Indego general manager Nate Bowman-Johnston said the Philadelphia fleet was a mix of 70% electric bikes and 30% regular bikes.
“Rider demand initially drove the scale up of electric bikes in the system,” said Bowman-Johnston. “However, we’ve increasingly heard from passholders that they value a mixed fleet. As a result, we’ve made a concerted effort to maintain the existing classic bike fleet and have plans to grow it over the next several years.”
According to Bowman-Johnston, Indego plans to add roughly 200 regular bikes to their fleet by 2027 and another 500 classic bikes by 2028.
Jacob Russell, an organizer with Philly Bike Action, a grassroots group advocating for safer, protected bicycle infrastructure in Philadelphia, said he’s heard some frustration in the Philly cycling community regarding the perceived lack of traditional bikes.
“There is a pretty big price disparity in using the two,” said Russell. “If you’re expecting to use the regular bike, then it’s not available to you; you’re forced to pay the fee or change your entire subscription plan. I think that’s certainly pretty unfair.”
Long-term subscriptions are Indego’s most popular options, accounting for roughly 88% of all rides in the first half of 2026.
• Indego30 ($20 every 30 days): Includes unlimited 60-minute classic bike rides. E-bikes cost an extra $0.20 per minute.
• Indego365 ($156 annually): Includes unlimited 60-minute classic bike rides. E-bikes cost an extra 20 cents per minute.
• Indego365 Plus ($230 annually): Includes unlimited 60-minute classic bike rides plus two 30-minute e-bike rides per day.
Indego30 prices have climbed since it launched; the subscription rose from $15 a month to $17 in 2018 and then again to $20 in 2022.
Indego e-bikes cap out at 17 mph but can exceed that going downhill. 2026 has seen sweeping electric bike bans or restrictions in cities like New York City, Chicago and Denver where e-bikes have been banned from sidewalks. In January, New Jersey enacted a law requiring electric bike riders to be at least 15 and hold either a driver’s license or an electric bike license, while all e-bikes must be registered with the state and some faster models must also be insured.
“My normal bike and an Indego bike go the same speed,” said Russell. “I don’t think folks are particularly concerned about the speed of normal bicycles; the devices I think are actually causing a lot of harm are not actually bicycles. They are like electric motorcycles that happen to look like a bicycle.”
Russell said Philly Bike Action has no overall preference for electric vs. regular bikes.
“We want to see a healthy, thriving bike system here in Philly,” said Russell. “E-bikes can be a part of that but we don’t want the extra costs of e-bikes to be a barrier to people using that system.”
