Zagster: bike sharing service launches at Hyatt Regency, its 2nd Philly location

Guests at the Hyatt Regency at Penn’s Landing can now reserve bikes for a day through a new partnership with Cambridge, Mass.-based bike sharing startup Zagster.

Founded in Philadelphia in 2007 by two Drexel University graduates, Zagster already has one local partnership with 1500 Locust Apartments. That partnership launched in early 2012. The Hyatt Regency will have four Zagster bikes for guests to borrow.

Zagster, originally CityRyde, left Philadelphia for Cambridge in late 2011 because “other cities like Boston just offered more in terms of support, mentorship and investment,” said cofounder Tim Ericson in an interview with Technically Philly at the time. A TechStars Boston company, it had also made connections with the Boston tech scene.

In late 2011, when Zagster left Philadelphia, Ericson noted that the city did not have any plans for a bikeshare initiative. That has since changed.

Zagster has eight employees, including two that work out of Drexel University’s Baiada Institute. Ericson said Zagster will continue to grow its Philadelphia team.