Here’s the latest on Blue Bikes this March

Last December, the City of New Orleans and Social Bicycles launched Blue Bikes, the city’s first bike-share program, with 115 bikes and 15 stations. Now, three months later, it has 62 hubs and 538 bikes within its service area.

Since launch, there have been nearly 30,000 rides (totaling nearly 3 million miles of use), over 2.6 million calories burned, and an estimated carbon reduction of 57,000 pounds, said Destinie Hammond, the outreach coordinator for Blue Bikes.

This past February, Blue Bikes’ most popular hubs included Esplanade Avenue and Frenchmen Street; Bienville Street and North Peters Street; Magazine Street and Jackson Avenue; Armstrong Park; and St. Charles and Jackson avenues.

Though, Blue Bikes was busiest during this past Carnival.

“Since Mardi Gras we’ve seen our numbers blowing pre-Mardi Gras out of the water,” Hammond said. “We’re just excited to encourage people to use them, and see how people are using them. We’re excited that people will be moving into festival season efficiently and stress free.”

Hammond said that the bike-share program is still expanding, but there’s no official date on when all 70 hubs and 700 bikes will be operable. Once the current set hubs and bikes are complete, Blue Bikes plans to move into its second phase of expansion, where it will add 20 hubs and 200 bikes to its service area. You can check out Blue Bikes’ current service area on its official website.

• City launches its new bike-share program today with 115 bikes ready for use [Curbed NOLA]