Some of the village’s busiest hot spots–Gould Park, Dobbs Ferry Public Library, the Waterfront Park and Memorial Park–were once bustling with only pedestrians. On July 15, that changed, with several e-bikes now lining the sidewalks donning one distinct name: Project MOVER.

Project MOVER, according to their website, is an “electric bike program designed to provide a sustainable and convenient way to travel around the Westchester Rivertowns.” Project MOVER initially began in Ossining in July 2024. After a one-dollar unlocking fee, it is 20 cents for every minute a person is riding the bike. There is also a monthly plan, which is $20 per month. Compared to New York City’s Citi Bike, which charges $5 for 30 minutes and 38 cents per minute after, it’s far cheaper.  

Back in 2008, Dobbs Ferry established the “Dobbs Ferry Energy Task Force” (ETF). The ETF, composed of residents, aims to help the town become better stewards of the environment. In 2017, Dobbs Ferry was recognized as the first village in the state to be a Clean Energy Community (a designation given by the state government).  

Robert Baron, a Dobbs Ferry resident since 1998, has been a part of another climate initiative, “Sustainable Dobbs,” and the village traffic committee since 2007. In recent years, this committee turned its attention to a new plan: a bike-share program.

“I took a trip to Montreal in 2010. They had protected bike lanes, and I used bike-share for my whole trip,” Baron said. “There were a number of people who asked for a bike-share program. It’s a complicated endeavor, but we ended up being approached by a consortium.” 

Shared Mobility, based in Buffalo, is one of the companies partnering with the project since 2023. Alex Maccalini is the project manager at this company.

Maccallini and Baron met and walked around the village to discuss where the best places to put the bikes were.  The next steps were listing those ideas to the village administrators to get the project moving. 

“These spots are strategically placed to serve a variety of uses. Tourists, people visiting to shop the local businesses and especially commuter workers use the bikes the most,” Maccallini noted. “Gould Park and the Metro North [Waterfront] location confirm that there is a substantial population using it for commuting.” 

Launched in mid-July, Project MOVER saw strong, early use, with August as the first month of data showing a total of 393 trips. There were a total of 178 trips for September.

When analyzing the data, Maccalinni found a clear pattern regarding the usage in certain parts of the day – specifically during commuting hours.

“In the morning, people are coming from higher elevation points in the village, and at the end of the day, it is the opposite,” Maccalini said.

Commuting hour in Dobbs Ferry is the notorious time when traffic is at its peak because of the load of the different transportation situations: Masters cars, Dobbs Ferry school drivers, pedestrians and the rest of the town running their errands or getting to work. 

Senior Louisa Knauss rides her bike to school every other day, but is still affected by the immense traffic in Dobbs Ferry.

“I think it’s mostly because the streets are so narrow, and there are cars parked on either side that you have to wait your turn to go through,” Knauss said. “But it looks like Project MOVER is actively trying to solve this issue, as well as improving CO2 output.” 

Baron sums up the relationship between cars and bikes in terms of space (that being the narrow roads in Dobbs Ferry).

“Cycling is a more space-efficient way to get people moving around. A bicycle doesn’t take up as much space as a car, so it doesn’t contribute to the car congestion on Ashford Avenue,” Baron said. 

Project MOVER helps cars move around more efficiently, reduces vehicle miles traveled, gets people active and even has safety precautions towards the potentially dangerous lithium-ion batteries.

Maccallini said, “E-bikes are such great assets that you have in your community. We want to enhance them with more hubs across different towns. Our goal is to expand this project.”

This story was originally published on Tower on October 20, 2025.