Community bicycle program - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

A bicycle sharing system is a service in which bicycle

Bicycle

A bicycle, also known as a bike, pushbike or cycle, is a human-powered, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A person who rides a bicycle is called a cyclist, or bicyclist....

s are made available for shared use to individuals who do not own them. Bicycle sharing systems can be divided into two general categories: "Community Bike programs" organized mostly by local community groups or non-profit organizations; and "Smart Bike programs" implemented by government agencies, sometimes in a public-private partnership

Public-private partnership

Public–private partnership describes a government service or private business venture which is funded and operated through a partnership of government and one or more private sector companies...

. The central concept of these systems is to provide free or affordable access to bicycles for short-distance trips in an urban area as an alternative to motorized public transportation or private vehicles, thereby reducing traffic congestion, noise, and air pollution

Air pollution

Air pollution is the introduction of chemicals, particulate matter, or biological materials that cause harm or discomfort to humans or other living organisms, or cause damage to the natural environment or built environment, into the atmosphere....

. Bicycle sharing systems have also been cited as a way to solve the "last mile

Last mile (transportation)

Last mile is a term used in supply chain management and transportation planning to describe the movement of people and goods from a transport hub to a final destination.-Usage in distribution networks:...

" problem and connect users to public transit networks.

Public bike sharing programs remove some of the primary disadvantages to owning a bike, including loss from theft or vandalism, lack of parking or storage, and maintenance requirements. However, by limiting the number of places where bicycles can be rented or returned, the service itself essentially becomes a form of public transportation and therefore may be less convenient than owning a bicycle. Government-run bicycle sharing programs can also prove costly to the public unless subsidised by commercial interests, typically in the form of advertising on stations or the bicycles themselves.

It has been estimated that as of 2010, there were more than 200 such schemes operating worldwide.

Types

Although users of such systems generally pay to use vehicles that they themselves do not own, sharing systems differ from traditional for-profit bike rental

Bike rental

A bike rental or bike hire business is a bike shop or other business that rents bikes for short periods of time for a fee...

businesses. The first bike sharing projects were largely initiated by local community organizations, either as charitable projects intended for the disadvantaged, or to promote bicycles as a non-polluting form of transportation. In recent years, in an effort to reduce losses from theft and vandalism, many bike sharing schemes now require a user to provide a monetary deposit or other security, or to become a paid subscriber. Most large-scale urban bike sharing programs utilize numerous bike checkout stations, and operate much like public transit systems, catering to tourists and visitors as well as local residents.

To date, no publicly owned and administered bicycle sharing program has yet been able to consistently operate as a self-funding enterprise, using only revenues generated from membership subscriptions or user fees and charges. As a consequence, most publicly owned bicycle sharing systems utilize funding from public governmental and/or charitable sources. Bike sharing schemes may be administered by government entities, nonprofit private organizations, or via public-private partnership

Public-private partnership

Public–private partnership describes a government service or private business venture which is funded and operated through a partnership of government and one or more private sector companies...

s.

Many bicycle sharing schemes have been developed by a variety of organizations over the years, all based on one or more of the following systems:

Unregulated: In this type of program the bicycles are simply released into a city or given area for use by anyone. In some cases, such as a university campus, the bicycles are only designated for use within certain boundaries. Users are expected to leave the bike unlocked in a public area once they reach their destination. Because the bike is not required to be returned to a centralized station, ready availability of such bicycles is rare, and since unlocked bikes may be taken by another user at any time, the original rider is forced to find alternative transportation for the return trip. Bicycle sharing programs without locks, user identification, and security deposits have also historically suffered large loss rates from theft and vandalism.
Deposit: A small cash deposit releases the bike from a locked terminal and can only be retrieved by returning it to another. Since the deposit (usually one or more coins) is a fraction of the bike's cost, this does little to deter theft. Other bike sharing programs have implemented rules requiring the user to provide a valid credit card, along with substantial security deposits for bicycles and mandatory security locks.
Membership: In this version of the program, bicycles are kept either at volunteer-run hubs or at self-service terminals throughout the city. Individuals registered with the program identify themselves with their membership card (or by a smart card

Smart card

A smart card, chip card, or integrated circuit card , is any pocket-sized card with embedded integrated circuits. A smart card or microprocessor cards contain volatile memory and microprocessor components. The card is made of plastic, generally polyvinyl chloride, but sometimes acrylonitrile...

, via cell phone, or other methods) at any of the hubs to check out a bicycle for a short period of time, usually three hours or less. In many schemes the first half-hour is free. The individual is responsible for any damage or loss until the bike is returned to another hub and checked in.

Many of the membership programs are being operated through public-private partnerships. Several European cities, including the French cities of Lyon

Vélo'v

Vélo'v is a bicycle rental service run by the city of Lyon, France, in conjunction with the advertising company JCDecaux. The relationship with JCDecaux allows the city to provide the service on a cost neutral basis for the city, and at very low cost to users, in return for providing exclusive...

and Paris as well as London, Barcelona, Stockholm and Oslo, have signed contracts with private advertising agencies (JCDecaux

JCDecaux

JCDecaux Group is a multinational corporation based in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, that is active primarily in advertising....

in Brussels, Lyon, Paris, Seville and Dublin; Clear Channel

Clear channel

A clear-channel station is an AM band Radio station in North America that has the highest protection from interference from other stations, particularly concerning night-time skywave propagation. Usually known as class A stations since 1982, they are occasionally still referred to by their former...

in Stockholm, Oslo, Barcelona, Perpignan and Zaragoza) that supply the city with thousands of bicycles free of charge (or for a minor fee). In return, the agencies are allowed to advertise both on the bikes themselves and in other select locations in the city. These programs attempt to reduce losses from theft by requiring users to purchase subscriptions with a credit card or debit card (this option requiring a large, temporary deposit) and by equipping the bike with complex anti-theft and bike maintenance sensors. If the bike is not returned within the subscription period, or returned with significant damage, the bike sharing operator withdraws money from the user's credit card account. Some other programs are not linked to an advertising deal, for example Smoove

Smoove

Smoove is a French company that designs, manufactures and markets products related to bike-sharing. The company produces lightweight bike stands that require virtually no civil engineering and no electricity. The lock is on the bicycle, situated in the fork...

with Vélomagg'

Vélomagg'

Vélomagg is a bike sharing scheme in Montpellier, France launched in June 2007, engineered by Smoove. This community bicycle program comprises 750 bicycles and 59 stations for short and long term renting, optionally coupled with tramway, bus and car sharing services.Individual bicycles can park in...

in Montpellier

Montpellier

-Neighbourhoods:Since 2001, Montpellier has been divided into seven official neighbourhoods, themselves divided into sub-neighbourhoods. Each of them possesses a neighbourhood council....

, Vélopop'

Vélopop'

Vélopop is a bike sharing scheme in Avignon, France launched in July 2009, engineered by Smoove. This community bicycle program comprises 200 bicycles and 17 stations for short term renting....

in Avignon

Avignon

Avignon is a French commune in southeastern France in the départment of the Vaucluse bordered by the left bank of the Rhône river. Of the 94,787 inhabitants of the city on 1 January 2010, 12 000 live in the ancient town centre surrounded by its medieval ramparts.Often referred to as the...

, Libélo in Valence

Valence, Drôme

Valence is a commune in southeastern France, the capital of the Drôme department, situated on the left bank of the Rhône, south of Lyon on the railway to Marseilles.Its inhabitants are called Valentinois...

and Vélivert

Vélivert

VéliVert is a bike sharing scheme in Saint-Étienne, France launched in June 2010, by STAS. This community bicycle program comprises 400 long term renting bicycles and 300 short term renting bicycles....

in Saint-Étienne

Saint-Étienne

Saint-Étienne is a city in eastern central France. It is located in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon in the Rhône-Alpes region, along the trunk road that connects Toulouse with Lyon...

but can be financed by public support.

A system has been proposed whereby a member need not be return the bike to a kiosk, rather the next user can find it by GPS.

Long-term checkout

Sometimes known as Bike Library models, these bicycles may be lent free of charge, for a refundable deposit, or for a small fee. A bicycle is checked out to one person who will typically keep the bike for several months, and is encouraged or obligated to lock it between uses. A disadvantage of this system is a lower usage frequency, around three uses per day on average as compared to 10 to 15 uses per day typically experienced with other bike sharing schemes.

Advantages of long-term use include rider familiarity with the bicycle and a mode of travel that is always nearby and instantly ready for use. The bicycle can be checked out like a library book, a liability waiver can be collected at check-out, and the bike can be returned any time. A Library Bike in a person's possession can be chosen for some trips instead of a car, thus lowering car usage. The long-term rental system generally results in fewer repair costs to the scheme administrator, as riders are incentivised to obtain minor maintenance in order to keep the bike in running order during the long rental period. Most of the long-term systems implemented to date are funded solely through charitable donations of secondhand bicycles, using unpaid volunteer labor to maintain, and administer the bicycle fleet. While reducing or eliminating the need for public funding, such a scheme imposes an outer limit to program expansion. The Arcata Community Library Bike Program of Arcata, California has loaned over 4000 bicycles using this system.

Partnership with public transport sector

In a national-level programme that combines a typical rental system with several of the above system types, a passenger railway operator or infrastructure manager partners with a national cycling organization and others to create a system closely connected with public transport. These programs usually allow for a longer rental time of up to 24 or 48 hours, as well as tourists and round trips. In some German cities the national rail company

Deutsche Bahn

Deutsche Bahn AG is the German national railway company, a private joint stock company . Headquartered in Berlin, it came into existence in 1994 as the successor to the former state railways of Germany, the Deutsche Bundesbahn of West Germany and the Deutsche Reichsbahn of East Germany...

offers a bike rental service called Call a Bike

Call a Bike

Call a Bike is a bike hire system run by Deutsche Bahn in several German cities, which uses a system of authentication codes to automatically lock and unlock bikes.-Usage:...

.

In Guangzhou

Guangzhou

Guangzhou , known historically as Canton or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of the Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. Located in southern China on the Pearl River, about north-northwest of Hong Kong, Guangzhou is a key national transportation hub and trading port...

in China, the widely praised bus rapid transit

Bus rapid transit

Bus rapid transit is a term applied to a variety of public transportation systems using buses to provide faster, more efficient service than an ordinary bus line. Often this is achieved by making improvements to existing infrastructure, vehicles and scheduling...

system, under a private operator, is combined with bike lanes and a public bike system with 5,000 bikes.

Partnership with car park operators

Some car park operators such as Vinci Park in France lend bikes to their customers who park a car.

Operations

Many of the community-run bicycle programs paint their bicycles in a strong solid colour, such as yellow or white. Painting the bicycles helps to advertise the program, as well as deter theft (a painted-over bicycle frame is normally less desirable to a buyer). However, theft rates in many bike sharing programs remain extremely high, as most shared-use bikes have value only as basic transportation, and may be resold to unsuspecting buyers after being cleaned and repainted. In response, some large-scale bike sharing programs have designed their own bike using specialty frame designs and other parts to prevent disassembly

Chop shop

In motor vehicle theft, a chop shop is a location or business which disassembles stolen automobiles for the purpose of selling them as parts. It may also be used to refer to a location or business that is involved with the selling of stolen or fraudulent goods in general, an example of the latter...

and resale of stolen parts.

Another advantage of bike sharing systems is that the smart cards allow the bikes to be returned to any station in the system, which facilitates one-way rides to work, education or shopping centres. Thus, one bike may take 10-15 rides a day with different users and can be ridden up to 10000 km (6,213.7 mi) a year (citing Lyon, France). The distance between stations is only 300–400 m (984.3–1,312.3 ) in inner city areas.

It was found—in cities like Paris and Copenhagen—that to have a major impact there had to be a high density of available bikes. Copenhagen has 2500 bikes which cannot be used outside the 9 km² (3.5 sq mi) zone of the city centre (a fine of DKr 1000 applies to any user taking bikes across the canal bridges around the periphery). Since Paris's Vélib' program operates with an increasing fee past the free first half hour, users have a strong disincentive to take the bicycles out of the city centre.

European programs

The earliest well-known community bicycle program was started in the 1960s by Luud Schimmelpenninck in association with the radical group Provo in Amsterdam

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...

, the Netherlands. This so-called White Bicycle Plan provided free bicycles that were supposed to be used for one trip and then left for someone else. Within a month, most of the bikes had been stolen and the rest were found in nearby canals. The program is still active in some parts of the Netherlands (the Hoge Veluwe National Park

Hoge Veluwe National Park

Nationaal Park De Hoge Veluwe is a Dutch national park in the province of Gelderland near the cities of Ede, Arnhem and Apeldoorn. It is approximately 55 square kilometers in area, consisting of heathlands, sand dunes, and woodlands. It is situated in the Veluwe, the area of the largest terminal...

; bikes have to stay inside the park). It originally existed as one in a series of White Plans proposed in the street magazine produced by the anarchist group PROVO.

Years later, Schimmelpenninck admitted that "the Sixties experiment never existed in the way people believe" and that "no more than about ten bikes" had been put out on the street "as a suggestion of the bigger idea". As the police had temporarily confiscated all of the White Bicycles within a day of their release to the public, the White Bicycle experiment had actually lasted less than one month.

In 1974 the French city of La Rochelle

La Rochelle

La Rochelle is a city in western France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department.The city is connected to the Île de Ré by a bridge completed on 19 May 1988...

launched a free bike-sharing program, Vélos Jaunes (Yellow Bikes), featuring unisex bicycles that were free to take and use. In terms of public usage and acceptance, it is regarded today as one of the first truly successful bike sharing programs. The program continues today, albeit in modified form (rental charges apply after the first two hours, and personal identification is required for all bike rentals).

In 1993, a Green Bike Scheme bike sharing program was initiated in Cambridge

Cambridge

The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...

, United Kingdom, using a fleet of some 300 bicycles. The overwhelming majority of the fleet were stolen within a year of the program's introduction, and the Green Bike Scheme was abandoned.

In 2001, the not-for-profit organization BiCyBa released White Bicycles into public use in Bratislava, Slovakia. During the next three months all the bikes were stolen or destroyed, and the project was cancelled.

In an attempt to overcome losses from theft, the next innovation adopted by bike sharing programs was the use of so-called 'smart technology'. One of the first 'smart bike' programs was the Grippa™ bike storage rack system used in Portsmouth

Portsmouth

Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...

's Bikeabout scheme. Bikeabout was launched in October 1995 by the University of Portsmouth

University of Portsmouth

The University of Portsmouth is a university in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England. The University was ranked 60th out of 122 in The Sunday Times University Guide...

, UK as part of its Green Transport Plan in an effort to cut car travel by staff and students between campus sites. Funded in part by the EU's ENTRANCE program, the Bikeabout scheme was fully automated. For a small fee, users were issued 'smart cards' with magnetic stripes to be swiped through an electronic card reader at a covered 'bike store' kiosk, unlocking the bike from its storage rack. CCTV camera

Closed-circuit television

Closed-circuit television is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors....

surveillance was installed at all bike stations in an effort to limit vandalism. Upon arriving at the destination station, the smart card was used to open a cycle rack and record the bike's safe return. A charge was automatically registered on the user's card if the bike was returned with damage or if the time exceeded the three hour maximum.

In September 1997, another Grippa™ rack-based public share system was established as a pilot project in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, for the use of commuters, but was terminated the following year due to poorly functioning electronic bike racks. The Portsmouth Bikeabout scheme was never very successful in terms of rider usage, in part due to the limited number of bike kiosks and hours of operation. Seasonal weather restrictions and concerns over unjustified charges for bike damage also imposed barriers to usage. The Bikeabout program was discontinued by the University in 1998 in favor of expanded minibus

Minibus

A minibus or minicoach is a passenger carrying motor vehicle that is designed to carry more people than a multi-purpose vehicle or minivan, but fewer people than a full-size bus. In the United Kingdom, the word "minibus" is used to describe any full-sized passenger carrying van. Minibuses have a...

service; the total costs of the Bikeabout program were never disclosed.

Other bike sharing systems were evolving to reduce operating overhead expenses, as well as find other sources of funding. The first system of this 'generation' was Copenhagen

Copenhagen

Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...

's Bycyklen København or City Bikes, launched in 1995. Copenhagen City Bikes was the first large-scale urban bike share program featuring specially designed bikes with parts that could not be used on other bikes. To obtain a bicycle, riders pay a refundable deposit at one of 100 special locking bike stands, and have unlimited use of the bike within a specified 'city bike zone'. The fine for not returning a bicycle or leaving the bike sharing zone exceeds US $150, and is strictly enforced by the Copenhagen police. Originally, the program's founders hoped to completely finance the program by selling advertising space on the bicycles, which was placed on the bike's frame and its solid disc-type wheels. This funding source quickly proved to be insufficient, and the city of Copenhagen took over the administration of the program, funding most of the program costs through appropriations from city revenues along with contributions from corporate donors. Since the City Bikes program is free to the user, there is no return on the capital invested by the municipality, and a considerable amount of public funds must constantly be re-invested to keep the system in service, to enforce regulations, and to replace missing bikes.

CityBikes of Helsinki

Helsinki

Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...

, Finland used a similar pay-through-advertising scheme adopted by Copenhagen's ByCylken, with distinctive yellow-green bicycles available at over 26 stands for a €2 deposit, refundable at any other stand. While this model of financing free community bike sharing program has since spread to other cities, a lack of advertisers combined with constraints on public funding assistance resulted in a projected deficit of over EUR 1 million for Helsinki CityBikes. In both Copenhagen and Helsinki, vandalism continued to be a major aggravating factor in program costs, requiring continual replacement of unrepairable bicycles at a cost of nearly EUR 400. Because of these factors, Helsinki CityBikes terminated operations in 2010.

A clear disadvantage of municipal bike sharing programs as implemented by Copenhagen and Helsinki have been the significant additional costs imposed due to bicycle theft and vandalism, resulting in additional law enforcement monitoring and more frequent bike repair/replacement. Because traditional municipal deposit programs are not IT-based and do not contain tracking devices, the bikes must be designed as theft deterrents: very heavy, single-speed machines with proprietary components and undesirable paint schemes.

The launch of Velo'v

Vélo'v

in Lyon, France in 2005 was an effort to improve on the performance of the traditional municipal public bike sharing model. Building on the experiences of the Portsmouth Bikeabout program, Velo'v also utilized technology to reduce losses from theft, user damage, and vandalism. Considered to be a city less than friendly to cyclists prior to 2005, the Velo'v program is credited with stimulating an increase of 500% in bicycle trips within the city, a quarter of which were due to the bike sharing system. Velo'v introduced a number of innovations that were later copied by Paris's Vélib' and most other municipal bike sharing programs, including the use of electronic locks, smart cards, telecommunication systems, and onboard computers.

United States programs

One of the first community bicycle projects in the United States was started in Portland, Oregon

Portland, Oregon

Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...

in 1994 by civic and environmental activists Tom O'Keefe, Joe Keating and Steve Gunther. It took the approach of simply releasing a number of bicycles to the streets for unrestricted use. Portland's Yellow Bike Project was an amazing publicity success, but proved unsustainable due to theft and vandalism of the bicycles. The Yellow Bike Project was eventually terminated, and replaced with the Create A Commuter program, which provides free secondhand bicycles to certain preselected low-income and disadvantaged people who need a bicycle to get to work or attend job training courses. Since 1994, many community projects around the country have attempted programs similar in nature to the Yellow Bike Project, most of which have since been abandoned.

In 1996, a pilot bicycle share project known as the Orange Bike Project was organized in Tucson, Arizona

Tucson, Arizona

Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...

by Bootstraps to Share, a homeless advocacy organization inspired by the Bikes Not Bombs
Bikes Not Bombs
Bikes Not Bombs is a Boston, Massachusetts based bicycle project which recycles donated bicycles, trains young people to fix their own bikes and become employable mechanics and sends thousands of refurbished bikes to communities in countries such as South Africa, Ghana, and Guatemala...

movement. Using funds from a taxpayer-funded government grant to obtain, recondition, and maintain 30 bicycles, project organizers announced plans to station the bicycles in downtown Tucson and areas adjacent to the University of Arizona

University of Arizona

The University of Arizona is a land-grant and space-grant public institution of higher education and research located in Tucson, Arizona, United States. The University of Arizona was the first university in the state of Arizona, founded in 1885...

. The publicly shared bicycles, painted bright orange by Earl Scheib

Earl Scheib

Earl Scheib was a company which specialized in repainting and collision repair of automobiles, with locations in 23 states in the US. It ceased operations nationwide on July 16, 2010.-Company history:...

to identify them, were primarily intended for use by the homeless or those without means of affordable transportation. The initial 30 bicycles placed into service for the Orange Bike Project were all stolen within a few weeks. A total of 80 bicycles were eventually used in the Orange Bike Project, all of which were either stolen or vandalized beyond repair. In one case, an Orange Bike Project bicycle was thrown in front of a freight train, in others, bikes were found with major frame damage consistent with deliberate vandalism. The program was terminated after only five months of operation.

In 1996, Madison, Wisconsin

Madison, Wisconsin

Madison is the capital of the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Dane County. It is also home to the University of Wisconsin–Madison....

, instituted its Red Bikes Project, a public bike sharing program. These red-painted bicycles were available for the use of the general public, primarily in the student areas of State Street

State Street (Madison)

State Street is a pedestrian mall located in downtown Madison, Wisconsin, United States, near the Wisconsin State Capitol. The road proper extends from the west corner of land comprising the Capitol westward to Lake Street, adjoining the campus of the University of Wisconsin - Madison at Library...

between the University of Wisconsin campus and the Wisconsin State Capitol

Wisconsin State Capitol

The Wisconsin State Capitol, in Madison, Wisconsin, houses both chambers of the Wisconsin legislature along with the Wisconsin Supreme Court and the Office of the Governor. Completed during 1917, the building is the fifth to serve as the Wisconsin capitol since the first territorial legislature...

. Initially, the only rule regarding the use of a Red Bike was that the bike was required to remain outside and unlocked, and available for any passerby. After a surge in bicycle thefts and vandalism, the program was modified to require a valid credit card and $80 in security deposits for both the bicycle and the included bicycle lock. The program is now only available seasonally, from spring (when all snow has melted) to November 30.

In 2012 New York City will launch its bike share program. New York City Department of Transportation

New York City Department of Transportation

The New York City Department of Transportation is responsible for the management of much of New York City's transportation infrastructure...

(NYCDOT) Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan

Janette Sadik-Khan

Janette Sadik-Khan is the current Commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation, appointed by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on April 27, 2007, to replace Iris Weinshall....

and Deputy Mayor Howard Wolfson

Howard Wolfson

Howard Wolfson is counselor to the Mayor of New York City and a Democratic political strategist. He replaced Kevin Sheekey as Deputy Mayor of New York City for governmental affairs....

announced the selection of Alta Bicycle Share, Inc. to develop and operate a privately funded bike share system in New York City It will include approximately 10,000 bicycles, distributed at 600 stations in Manhattan south of 79th Street, as well as in Brooklyn neighborhoods from Williamsburg, Crown Heights and Bedford-Stuyvesant to Park Slope and Carroll Gardens.

Canadian programs

From 2001 to 2006, BikeShare, operated by the Community Bicycle Network

Community Bicycle Network

Started in 1993, the Community Bicycle Network existed to provide a network for bike recycling clubs and other community economic development projects in Toronto...

(CBN) in Toronto, was for a time the most popular community bicycle sharing program in North America. Its initial success inspired launches of large-scale bike sharing programs such as Washington, D.C.'s Capital Bikeshare

Capital Bikeshare

Capital Bikeshare is a bicycle sharing system that serves Washington, D.C., and Arlington County, Virginia. The stations and bicycles are owned by the participating local governments and operated in a public-private partnership with Alta Bike Share, Inc...

and Montreal's Bixi

BIXI

Bixi is a public bicycle sharing system developed by the Public Bike System Company , which itself was set up by the parking authority of Montréal to create a modular bicycle sharing system for Montréal....

. BikeShare was intended to overcome some of the theft issues by requiring yearly memberships to sign out any of the 150 refurbished yellow bikes locked up at 16 hubs throughout central Toronto. At its height, over 400 members could sign out a bike from any hub for up to 3 days. The hubs were located at stores, cafes and community centres where the staff would volunteer their time to sign bikes out and in. Despite steadily increasing administrative, implementation, and maintenance costs, CBN could only charge users around 20% of actual costs, as users were unlikely to spend more than $50 per year for a membership. Without sufficient funds in the form of private and government grants, CBN was forced to discontinue BikeShare in 2006.

From 2005 to 2008, a largely unregulated bike sharing program was operated by the Peoples' Pedal organization in Edmonton

Edmonton

Edmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta and is the province's second-largest city. Edmonton is located on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Capital Region, which is surrounded by the central region of the province.The city and its census...

, Alberta

Alberta

Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...

. The program suffered from high theft and vandalism rates, with 95% of the bikes placed into service stolen by 2008. The program was terminated the same year.

Canada's largest bike share system is Bixi Montreal

Bixi Montreal

Bixi is a public bicycle sharing system serving Montreal, Quebec, Canada.Launched in May 2009, it is the original Bixi system.-History:...

, which started operation in May 2009. It has since expanded to over 5000 bicycles at 405 stations. The Bixi

BIXI

design has since been exported to other cities and has been used in popular bike share programs such as Washington, D.C.'s Capital Bikeshare

Capital Bikeshare

.

With 1000 bicycles and 80 stations, Bixi Toronto is the second largest bike share in the country. It opened May 2011, using now-standard Bixi equipment.

Capital Bixi is another Bixi bike share system, serving Ottawa

Ottawa

Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...

/Gatineau

Gatineau

Gatineau is a city in western Quebec, Canada. It is the fourth largest city in the province. It is located on the northern banks of the Ottawa River, immediately across from Ottawa, Ontario, and together they form Canada's National Capital Region. Ottawa and Gatineau comprise a single Census...

. With 100 bikes and 10 stations, it is the smallest municipal Bixi implementation anywhere in the world.

Europe

As of 2004, despite the use of technology to combat theft and vandalism, no publicly owned and operated smart bike sharing program anywhere in the world had turned a profit in terms of revenues exceeding annual operating costs, let alone repay costs of planning and implementation. The expense of maintaining such programs over the long term has remained the principal objection to their adoption.

Dublin

In September 2009 Dublin launched a bike-share scheme known as Dublinbikes operated by JCDecaux. With an initial 450 bicycles, the plan reached 1 million uses in less than a year.

Paris

A resurgence in bike sharing programs is attributed by many to the launching in 2007 of Paris's Vélib'

Vélib'

' is a large-scale public bicycle sharing system in Paris, France. Launched on 15 July 2007, the system has expanded to encompass over 20,000 bicycles and 1,202 bicycle stations, located across Paris and in some surrounding municipalities...

, a network of 20,000 specially designed bicycles distributed among 1450 stations throughout Paris. Vélib’, inspired by Lyon's seminal Vélo'v project, is now considered the second largest bike sharing system of its kind in the world. While the Vélib’ program may be considered a success in terms of rider usage (daily use averages between 50,000 to 150,000 trips), a staggering 80 percent of the original 20,600 bicycles have been destroyed or stolen. Some Vélib’ cycles have been found in Eastern Europe and North Africa, while others have been dumped in the Seine

Seine

The Seine is a -long river and an important commercial waterway within the Paris Basin in the north of France. It rises at Saint-Seine near Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plateau, flowing through Paris and into the English Channel at Le Havre . It is navigable by ocean-going vessels...

River, hung from lampposts, or abandoned on the roadside in various states of disrepair, forcing the City of Paris to reimburse the program operator an estimated $2 million per year for excess costs under its contractual agreement.

United Kingdom

Some bike sharing schemes now use mobile phone

Mobile phone

A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...

s to reserve or sign out bikes. In the UK, OYBike

OYBike

OYBike is a bicycle sharing scheme in Cardiff, Reading and Farnborough in the United Kingdom. The program is similar to, but not exactly the same as, other programs in different cities. The OYBike system was developed by former-cabbie Bernie Hanning over the last 20 years but officially launched...

is currently delivering small-scale operations which may grow to this scale organically at 2 Universities, 3 Business Parks, 3 London Boroughs, and a private hotel chain in London. Like Berlin's Call-a-Bike, OYBike uses mobile phone technology to log use and charge for hires and can set up hire points in as little as 10 minutes. Many of the business users can reclaim the cost of leasing bikes and hire points as part of a workplace cycling scheme or green travel plan. Research also reveals that for many major London rail stations an unknown number of the bikes parked are used only a couple of times per week, while the option of replacing these with publicly shared (hire) bikes has rarely been considered by UK rail administrators.

London mayor Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson

Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson is a British journalist and Conservative Party politician, who has been the elected Mayor of London since 2008...

promised that an extensive bicycle sharing system modelled on the Paris Vélib' system would be introduced in London during his first term in office. The system is sponsored by Barclays Bank, and known as Barclays Cycle Hire

Barclays Cycle Hire

Barclays Cycle Hire is a public scheme bicycle sharing scheme that was launched on 30 July 2010 in London, United Kingdom. The scheme's bicycles are informally referred to as Boris bikes, after Boris Johnson, who was the Mayor of London at the time of the official launch.BCH commenced operations...

(BCH). BCH is located mainly within the central zone, roughly bounded by the 'Zone 1' area of the Transport for London zoning system, and will comprise 400 docking stations when complete, at roughly 300 metre intervals. BCH initial planning and implementation costs are expected to total more than £140 million over the first six years of the project, exclusive of operating costs. The program commenced operations on 30 June 2010.

Cyprus

Bike in Action is the latest transportation system for the greater Nicosia area, similar to programs employed successfully in various cities of Cyprus. Bicycles can be found at stations in all participating municipalities (Agios Dometios, Aglandjia, Dali, Engomi, Latsia, Pallouriotissa, Strovolos

Strovolos

Strovolos is a municipality of Nicosia. With a population of near 70,000, it is the second biggest municipality of Cyprus, after Limassol, and the biggest municipality of Nicosia...

) and returned after their use at any station.

North America

In addition to Europe, bike sharing is currently enjoying some popularity in North America. Two of more prominent launches have been a small program started in Washington D.C., and a much larger program in Montreal, Canada, called Bixi

BIXI

Montréal

Bixi Montreal

Bixi is a public bicycle sharing system serving Montreal, Quebec, Canada.Launched in May 2009, it is the original Bixi system.-History:...

became North America's largest bike sharing system in May 2009. Montreal began a limited pilot project of Bixi

BIXI

bike-sharing bicycles in fall 2008. Bixi is a publicly funded bike share scheme, designed to encourage locals and tourists to make use of the city's already well-established network of bike paths. The rental bicycles, costing some $2,000 each, are available from depots located throughout the city, where bikes can be rented from automated stations using a credit card. Users must purchase a daily, monthly, or annual subcription, as well as pay additional usage fees for trips lasting longer than 30 minutes. A hold of $250 per bike is validated on the user's credit card upon a request for a subscription, and is kept 3 to 10 working days. The system was expanded twice during 2009, with 5000 bicycles available at 400 depots. Although initial program costs were $15 million for planning and implementation of the Bixi project, subsequent additional costs incurred in expanding the program have driven costs upwards of $23 million dollars. In 2008 the Bixi program was ranked by Time Magazine as the 19th best invention in their 50 Best Inventions of 2008.

UC-Irvine

In the Fall of 2009, the University of California Irvine introduced its Zotwheels automated bike share program. Students and university employees may sign up for a Zotwheels membership card at an annual cost of $40, which enables the user to check out a bike from any bike station located throughout campus for a maximum of three hours and drop it off at any other station. A $200 charge is imposed for a lost, stolen, or severely damaged bike. Bicycle availability and station operational status may be determined using an interactive map. Revenues from membership fees are sufficient to offset only a small fraction of the total operating costs of the program; all remaining manufacture, installation, maintenance, and implementation costs of the Zotwheels systems and the bicycles themselves are borne by UCI. Zotwheels was developed as a collaboration between the UCI Parking and Transportation Services, The Collegiate Bicycle Company, CSL Ltd, and Miles Data Technologies.

Mexico City

In February 2010 the government of Mexico City inaugurated a new bicycle sharing network called EcoBici. Initially launched with 85 docking stations and 1,000 distinctive red and white liveried bicycles, the network has since expanded and currently stands at 90 stations with 1,200 bicycles. The system is run by a private company, Clear Channel, but funded by the government with an initial investment of 75 million pesos. Users of the system are required to purchase an RFID card at a cost of 300 pesos which will provide them with access to the bicycles for one year. Use of a bicycle is free for the first 45 minutes; extra charges are applied for use beyond this time limit.

Washington, DC

In Washington, D.C., a privately operated bike sharing project known as SmartBike DC

SmartBike DC

SmartBike DC was a bicycle sharing system implemented in August 2008 with 120 bicycles and 10 automated rental locations in the central business district of Washington, D.C. The network was the first of its kind in North America, but was replaced by the much larger, publicly-funded Capital...

opened for service in 2008 for the District of Columbia. Operated by a private advertising firm, Clear Channel Communications, SmartBike DC's annual operating costs were ostensibly funded by providing Clear Channel with prime advertising space at city bus shelters and other venues along with revenues from user subscription fees and charges. However, the program suffered from perennially low membership and rider usage rates, as well as a limited number of bike rental stations. After D.C. officials and Clear Channel failed to reach an agreement over expanded service, the program was officially terminated in January 2011.

In September 2010 the city of Washington, D.C. introduced its replacement for SmartBike DC, Capital Bikeshare

Capital Bikeshare

(CaBi). Unlike SmartBike, CaBi is a public taxpayer-supported bicycle sharing program involving both the District of Columbia and Arlington County. The initial scheme involved some 1,100 bicycles at 100 stations located throughout the District of Columbia and parts of Arlington County, Virginia. The cost of planning, implementation and administration for Capital Bikeshare totaled US$5.0 million, with first-year operating costs of $US2.3 million for 100 stations. The District's share of planning, implementation and first-year operating costs was partially financed by a US$6.0 million grant by the United States Department of Transportation. Arlington County's operating cost share of the plan was US$835,000 for the first year, funded by public contributions including a grant from the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation as well as subsidies from Arlington County Transportation, Crystal City (Arlington) Business Improvement District, and the Potomac Yard Transportation Management Association. In November 2010, Capital Bikeshare Director Chris Holben stated that administrators were hoping for future project revenues that would reach 50% of annual operating costs, exclusive of planning and implementation expenses. CaBi recently announced plans to expand services with an additional 20 bike stations by spring of 2011.

Miami Beach

In March 2011, DecoBike

Decobike

DECOBIKE is a bicycle sharing system deployed in the City of Miami Beach. It’s a green program initiative aimed to replace the need for cars and taxis for local and short trips within the city. The program was rolled out on March 15, 2011 with approximately 60 kiosks & 500 bikes throughout the city...

launched in Miami Beach, Florida

Miami Beach, Florida

Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States, incorporated on March 26, 1915. The municipality is located on a barrier island between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the latter which separates the Beach from Miami city proper...

. The initial rollout of the program will include "approximately 100 solar-powered stations and 1,000 custom-designed bikes available to residents and visitors." This public bicycle sharing and rental program is owned and operated by DecoBike, LLC, a Miami-based company, and operates under a long-term agreement with the City of Miami Beach. The service is available to both residents and visitors: any adult with a major credit card can check out a bike to pedal to their next location. An iPhone app and an interactive map on the DecoBike website allows one to locate the nearest "station" and displays the number of bikes available and the number of free docking spaces in real-time.

Asia

Bike sharing has also become popular in China. Hangzhou's bike sharing system has 60,600 bikes, surpassing Paris's Vélib program which offers over 20,000 bikes. Bike sharing stations can be found in Hangzhou every 100 meters compared to the 300 meters in Paris. The first hour is free to users in Hangzhou, followed by 1 yuan ($0.15) for the first hour, 2 yuan the second hour, and 3 yuan each additional hour. During their first year operation, no bikes were stolen and very few were damaged or vandalized compared to the half that were stolen or damaged in Paris. In preparation for the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai, China; Shanghai has launched a bike share program which are accessible by RFID cards. Users can purchase 100 ride credits for about $30. Short rides are rewarded credits and longer rides subtract credits once the bikes have been re-docked. Shanghai plans to expand to 3,500 Bicycle Hot Spots throughout the entire city by 2010.

Australia

The first municipal bicycle share system in Australia, Melbourne Bike Share (MBS) was launched in Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

in June 2010. MBS and CityCycle in Brisbane, Australia are the only known bicycle share schemes that operate under a mandatory helmet requirement.

Melbourne

MBS is a publicly funded scheme based on Montreal's BIXI system and was launched initially with only 10 stations, with the aim of having 50 stations by July 2010. Implementation and planning costs totaled $5.5 million AUD over four years, which required a usage rate of 500 trips per day, or 15,000 per month, for the scheme to break-even. During the first week of operation, the system was only used 253 times. This use rate dropped to only 136 times per day by October 2010, for a total of 20,700 trips, with nearly 650 subscribers. The low popularity of the scheme in comparison to other cities has been attributed to Melbourne's mandatory helmet laws, acknowledged by the government, which recently began subsidising helmet purchases at $5 per helmet from local convenience stores and vending machines. The helmet subsidy added an additional $5 million AUD to the cost of the bike share program. After the introduction of subsidised helmets, MBS bicycle usage rate increased to 183 trips per day. This usage rate increased to 283 trips per day (8,500 trips per month) in December 2010, with another increase to 433 trips per day (13,000 per month) by May 2011. Promotional efforts to advertise MBS have been limited, though mobile phone optimized websites have also been created, such as BikeShare.Tel, allowing users to locate stations and see bike availability. Currently the MBS uses 500 cycles at about 50 stations around Melbourne's central business district.

MELTours launched a bicycle tour based on the MBS within a month of launch as a way to enable tourists to see the city using the MBS and to learn how to use it. The tour was designed around the available MBS pods where each leg is no more than 30 minutes in duration. This means that the cost to the customer is as low as possible while a 2 hour activity can still be taken.

Brisbane

Subscriptions for CityCycle, a Vélib-style community bike hire scheme by JCDecaux

JCDecaux

JCDecaux Group is a multinational corporation based in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, that is active primarily in advertising....

for Brisbane

Brisbane

Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...

started on 1 September 2010 with bikes planned to available from 1 October 2010 at 150 stations from the University of Queensland

University of Queensland

The University of Queensland, also known as UQ, is a public university located in state of Queensland, Australia. Founded in 1909, it is the oldest and largest university in Queensland and the fifth oldest in the nation...

to Tenerrife. Currently CityCycle uses 1,000 cycles at 101 locations, with plans to expand to 2,000 cycles at 150 stations by December 2011. Currently Citycycle has no plans to rent helmets to riders, who must carry their own helmets to the station for each journey.

Brisbane City Council Mayor, Graham Quirk conceded the Citycycle service had "not got off to a flying start". By October 2011 there were 416 trips per day for 1060 bikes available for hire at 104 stations. In mid August 2011, Brisbane City Coucnil cut the daily casual subscription from $11 to $2. There were only 200 $11 daily casual hires in July 2011 and 332 in August 2011. Casual hires jumped up to 1064 in September 2011 in response to the price reduction to $2 per day. Council has also attached 400 free helmets to bikes on an honesty basis. JCDecaux Australia chief executive said there was "no doubt" the mandatory use of helmets constrained the use of the scheme. An $8M investment to establish the Citycycle scheme resulted in 80,000 bike trips during the first 12 months. Council is proceeding with expanding from 104 to 150 stations and increasing bike numbers from 1064 to 2000.

External links

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Types

Long-term checkout

Partnership with public transport sector

Partnership with car park operators

Operations

European programs

United States programs

Canadian programs

Europe

Dublin

Paris

United Kingdom

Cyprus

North America

Montréal

UC-Irvine

Mexico City

Washington, DC

Miami Beach

Asia

Australia

Melbourne

Brisbane

See also

External links