Boston’s Hubway bikes emerge for the season

Boston’s Hubway bikes are coming out of hibernation this week.

Six stations for the city’s bike-sharing program were scheduled to come back online on the last day of February, the earliest in the season the bikes have ever been re-deployed, Hubway said on its website.

Plans on the site include bringing 26 stations online by Friday.

Boston, Somerville and Bookline bring their Hubway stations inside for the winter for repairs. Cambridge, meanwhile, offers bike-sharing year-round.

As warmer months approach, Boston continues to eye expansions for the program, Stefanie Seskin, the city’s active transportation director, said in an interview.

She said she hoped to add “a few stations this year.”

One additional station is slated to pop up for the first time at the corner of Nashua Street and Martha Road near North Station.

It “will be going out hopefully this week, assuming everything goes well,” Seskin said.

Since its launch in 2011, 4 million trips have been logged on Hubway bikes, she said, adding she expects the system will surpass 5 million trips by the end of summer or early fall.

“I think we have surpassed all the initial expectations for what bike-share in Boston could be and how well it would be used and received by both residents of the city and those who come to visit Boston,” she said. “Also, there is a lot of unmet demand for more bike-sharing in all of our neighborhoods.”

The city announced the roll-out of 11 new docking stations in October.

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