For more than a decade, Pittsburgh\u2019s bikeshare program has made rentable bicycles available to residents and visitors looking to get around town without a car. And POGOH, as the program has branded itself, has long relied on a sponsorship partnership with Highmark Health and Allegheny Health Network.<\/p>\n
That will change in 2027, when AHN\/Highmark\u2019s sponsorship contract with the program ends, AHN\/Highmark confirmed in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe believe the organization is well positioned for continued success, and that a new partner can help support and advance its mission in the years ahead to make biking more accessible and beneficial for Pittsburgh,\u201d the statement read.<\/p>\n
\u201cOver the past 10 years, we have been honored to support Bike Share Pittsburgh as it has expanded its reach and advanced its mission. We are proud of what we have accomplished together and the positive impact this partnership has had on our communities,\u201d<\/p>\n
A spokesperson declined to say how much money the Highmark and AHN had paid to sponsor the bike-share. But financial reports show that between 2021 and 2024, POGOH received between $560,000 and $651,000 annually in revenues from sponsorships. Those arrangements amounted to between one-sixth and one-half of the program’s annual revenue in recent years, depending on how much POGOH received from other sources.<\/p>\n
Still, POGOH executive director David White sounded an optimistic note, saying he was \u201cnot worried\u201d about the sponsorship deal ending. POGOH is already seeking new sponsors, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’re really excited to talk to existing partners, and new partners. There’s a lot of energy around this, and I think that folks that we’ve talked to so far have been really interested in learning more about how far this partnership could go,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
White said AHN\/Highmark\u2019s sponsorship was a \u201cphenomenal relationship. \u2026 We’ve been able to amplify a lot of the community health initiatives from their side, and we’ve been able to get a lot of people on bikes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Originally called Healthy Ride, POGOH has grown over the years: White said the program is coming off of a \u201crecord-breaking\u201d year for ridership, and plans to install more than 40 new stations using Federal Highway Administration funding and philanthropic dollars later this year. The new stations will bring POGOH into some city neighborhoods \u2013 including Squirrel Hill, Larimer, and Highland Park \u2013 for the first time.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am very optimistic that we’re gonna find a way to work with our next corporate partner to [make] a big splash,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Eric Boerer, advocacy director with Pittsburgh bike group BikePGH, says he knows POGOH \u201cheavily depend[s]\u201d on its primary sponsor. BikePGH has shared contacts with the organization as it searches for a new partner, he added.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really hope that somebody steps up to be able to get that great visibility for a project that has been very positive for the city,\u201d Boerer said.<\/p>\n
POGOH, he said, has been \u201csuch a game-changer for getting people on bikes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cJust being around town, I see so many more people riding POGOHs than ever before,\u201d he said. \u201cI see more people on POGOHs than personal bikes in certain parts of town. So they’ve really done a great job in helping get people out riding [and] making sure that the bikes are available in a number of different neighborhoods.\u201d<\/p>\n
Barb Warwick, a Pittsburgh city councilor who often advocates for non-car transportation, said the end of AHN\/Highmark\u2019s support for POGOH was concerning. She said she\u2019s been trying to be \u201ca cheerleader\u201d for POGOH\u2019s services, which she called an \u201cincredible resource.\u201d<\/p>\n
POGOH\u2019s nonprofit model, she said, allows the agency to offer services in less-concentrated areas of the city \u2013 areas a for-profit bikeshare company might pass up.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith any nonprofit provider that is providing discount services and putting operations in communities where there might not be as much density \u2026 that costs money, right?\u201d she said. \u201cThat is why you see nonprofits doing that type of work, and not for-profit providers.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI really value the way that POGOH runs its program,\u201d she added. \u201cI want to see that continue [and] grow, all over the city.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For more than a decade, Pittsburgh\u2019s bikeshare program has made rentable bicycles available to residents and visitors looking…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":282895,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[73,75,74],"class_list":["post-282894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=282894"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282894\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/282895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}