The Bike-sharing Blog

Better By Bike

noreply@blogger.com (Paul DeMaio) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 18:24:00 +0000

As reported by TreeHugger, Mexico City has a new bike rental program called Mejor En Bici or Better By Bike. "To use the bikes, users must register, sign a form, and leave a piece of identification and a deposit of 200 pesos (about $20), which is returned when the bike is dropped off at the same station. The bikes are available from Tuesday to Sunday 10 am to 6 pm."

While not quite bike-sharing as the three urban stations appear to be staffed and don't allow for a different drop-off location, bike use programs of all kinds such as this one and employer bicycle fleets (i.e., bicycle libraries) are gaining popularity around the world with the rise in the cost of energy and greater concern about the environment.

Image credit: Travesias

Employment Opportunities

noreply@blogger.com (Paul DeMaio) — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 16:27:00 +0000

In order to facilitate bike-sharing companies in staffing their programs and job-seekers in finding these companies, The Bike-sharing Blog is now offering a service where bike-sharing companies may place an ad linking to their employment page for a fee. For more information on ad placement, bike-sharing companies should contact MetroBike.

Albuquerque Plans to Roll in 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Paul DeMaio) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 13:04:00 +0000

The City of Albuquerque has selected Clear Channel Outdoor to provide its SmartBike bike-sharing service. According to local TV station KRQE, "Mayor Martin Chávez said he plans to have 500 bicycles in more than 25 kiosks throughout the city by early next summer." Pricing for use of the program has yet to be worked out, however, the mayor promises it would be affordable.

After the problems Clear Channel has had in D.C. with the local power company, PEPCO, metering and electrifying the stations, Clear Channel is considering making their stations solar. This is a good idea in general and especially so in the American Southwest which has some of the highest rates of solar energy in the U.S.

image credit: Wikipedia

Is There Such a Thing as Too Much Velib'? Hmmm, No.

noreply@blogger.com (Paul DeMaio) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 19:21:00 +0000

Streetfilms produced this interesting video about Velib' - the largest bike-sharing program in the world. Eric Britton of the New Mobility Agenda, and Celine Lepault and Didier Couval of the City of Paris discuss their city's phenomenal bike-sharing program. Britton states that it's more than a coincidence that the rise of bike-sharing programs was timed with the world's increased concern about global warming, as a majority of existing bike-sharing programs have launched in the past 3 - 4 years.

I also have a catchy new soundtrack from this video which will be playing in my mind the next time I'm bike-sharing.

Happy Birthday, Velib'

noreply@blogger.com (Paul DeMaio) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 12:24:00 +0000

July 15, marks the first birthday of Velib' in Paris. The social experiment called bike-sharing has been tremendously successful, even though it has experienced a few bumps along the way. According to The Times, Parisiens and tourists have made 27 million bicycle trips on the Velib' in the past year which is a 70% increase in bicycle traffic. When many cities talk about doubling their bike traffic in 5 - 10 years, Paris getting close to doing this in one year is phenomenal.

The Times also reports that there have been three fatalities since the beginning of the program which is tremendously unfortunate, however, according to the article, "the overall [bicycle crash] rate has declined by 20%." This is due to the law of safety in numbers.

Research from John Pucher and John Buehler of Rutgers University, titled "Making Cycling Irresistible" shows that countries with the highest bicycling rates not coincidentally have the lowest injury and fatality rates. Click on the two graphs below to enlarge them (or break out the magnifying glass).

The Netherlands, Denmark, and Germany have some of the highest percentages of trips made by bike and are therefore some of the safest places to ride a bike. (The data was collected before Velib' began.)

Velib' and other bike-sharing programs around the world are creating cities that are more bike-friendly. Without Velib', Paris would not be as bike-friendly as it is today. This is not to say that bike-sharing alone can make a city safer for bicyclists as this also requires great political will and financial commitment to create a network of safe bicycle facilities BEFORE a bike-sharing program is implemented.

So Happy Birthday, Velib'! Thank you for introducing a wacky concept that supposedly would never work to the masses. Without you, much, if not most of the work that is going on around the world on bike-sharing programs would not have been done. Cities are places for experimentation and Paris has show that this experiment works.

Start Spreading the News...

noreply@blogger.com (Paul DeMaio) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 20:29:00 +0000

The Big Apple is hoping also to become the Big Bicycle with today's release of a Request for Expressions of Interest by the New York City Department of Transportation. New York is an ideal city for bike-sharing with its population density, flatness, climate, and transit infrastructure. Bike facilities in the city also are ever-improving and they are experimenting with the Ciclovia concept of weekend openings of major streets for bicycle and pedestrian use in August.

The document reads:

The New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) released this week a Request for Expressions of Interest (RFEI) to examine the possibility of creating a bike share program in New York City. If feasible and adopted, such a program would create a network of publicly accessible bicycles at minimal cost, and could provide an important transportation link at transit hubs and commercial and social areas - greatly increasing mobility citywide.

"New York is a world-class city for biking, and we are looking to build a world-class bike network," said DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan. "The number of bike commuters has increased 77% since 2000. We now have more than 300 miles of on-street bike lanes, more than 5,000 bike racks, and have distributed more than 15,000 bicycle helmets. Alongside this infrastructure investment, we continue to look for new ways to reach our goal of doubling the number of bicycle commuters."

The RFEI seeks expertise and information related to bike sharing programs from firms and other interested parties who would be able to implement such a program to serve both recreational and multi-modal transportation purposes. The RFEI notes that the most successful existing Bike Sharing Programs minimize the cost to bike share users and provide a sufficiently extensive network of stations to accommodate a wide range of potential short trips in the network's area of focus. However the agency remains open to receiving any new ideas and financing structures that would meet New York City's framework.

Bike-sharing programs elsewhere incorporate low-cost access to a bike network in an urban setting. Users either pay a per-use fee to access a bicycle at a bike station (normally, near a mass transit hub) or they hold an annual membership which allows them regular access to the public bicycles. Users are then able to return the bicycles to any station in the system. Common uses are for commuting, recreation, quick trips, and travel between transit stations, resulting in an overall reduction in the use of motor vehicles. The bicycles used in the program often include unique markings or coloring to distinguish them from privately-owned bicycles.

Respondents to the RFEI will be asked to provide detailed information on what they estimate the size of New York City's bike share market to be, as well as information on the scope of a feasible bike share program including ideas on station site selection, equipment, fee structures, technology and all related costs for both implementation and upkeep.

Only about 1% of commuter trips in New York City are made by bicycle, so as part of its strategic plan, Sustainable Streets, DOT intends to double that number by 2015 and triple it by 2020. Bike share programs exist in cities such as Paris, Copenhagen, Vancouver, Barcelona, Milan and other American cities such as Washington, D.C. have experimented with the bike share program.

For a copy of the RFEI, please visit the DOT website. The RFEI is not intended as a formal offering for the award of a contract or for participation in any future solicitation.

image credit: Opera Gallery

July Update on D.C. Bike-sharing Program

noreply@blogger.com (Paul DeMaio) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 13:15:00 +0000

There continue to be delays with the electrical hook-up of the bike-sharing stations by the local energy provider, PEPCO. Seven of the 10 stations are completed, however, three still remain unpowered, stalling the launch date of SmartBike D.C. to August.

For a sneak peak of how the bikes will be checked-out, here's a piece on bicycling's rise in America by NBC News.

Portland Comes Up Empty-handed

noreply@blogger.com (Paul DeMaio) — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 11:56:00 +0000

As reported on BikePortland, Portland, Oregon has ended its search for a bike-sharing vendor and has chosen option D - none of the above. Portland originally began its search for a vendor to provide bike-sharing services in February 2007 and had three serious bids from Clear Channel Outdoor, The Portland Bike Company, and Library Bikes. Reasons as to why none of the potential vendors were selected to operate this service has not been disclosed at this time.

Potential reasons as to why there was no selection could include: 1) an economical bike-sharing technology was not offered without an outdoor advertising contract, 2) the user cost to the public was too high, 3) sufficient insurance or indemnity to the city was not offered, and 4) a required experience level was not available.

Hopefully Portland will not give up on bike-sharing. As the nascent field of bike-sharing grows in North America, more vendors and experience will make themselves available in the future to help Portland finish what it embarked upon. Portland is certainly one of the best cities in the U.S. for bike-sharing with the highest bike mode share of medium-sized American cities.

UPDATE: BikePortland states:

"Far from giving up on the idea, [Portland] Commissioner Sam Adams’ office says just they’re taking a new approach.

"Adams’ transportation policy staffer Shoshanah Oppenheim told me that once they began to 'delve into the meat of the responses' to their Request for Proposals (RFP, which was sent out on July 17, 2007), 'it was clear we needed to do more analysis.'

"Oppenheim says the legal restraints of the RFP process tied the hands of the committee formed to choose a vendor. 'Under the contraints of the RFP,' she said, 'we can’t talk to potential providers and continue to learn from them… it was hindering our ability to do the analysis we wanted to do to make sure the program was the right style and scope that would work for Portland.' "

Montreal's Public Bike System

noreply@blogger.com (Paul DeMaio) — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 02:11:00 +0000

Montreal is well on its way to becoming Canada's first, and one of North America's first, 3rd generation bike-sharing programs with 2,400 bikes and 300 stations by the spring of 2009 as CNW Telbec reports:

"Stationnement de Montréal created the innovative Public Bike System (PBS), which it will also manage. The system includes bikes, technical platforms, bike docks, pay stations and proprietary software that runs it all.

"The design of the physical components of the system was entrusted to world-renowned industrial designer Michel Dallaire. The bikes feature clean lines and a sleek look that is carried over to other system components. The bikes are also notable for their sturdiness and safety.

" 'This is a unique concept that will allow any interested city to acquire a public bike system that can be rapidly set up on their territory with no technological development or infrastructure costs,' said Alain Ayotte, executive vice president of Stationnement de Montréal.

"Innovation is another hallmark of the PBS. It employs cutting-edge technologies to their best advantage: the entire system is solar-powered and uses wireless communication. All the components are modular and require no permanent installation. With no need for external energy sources, stations can be installed in virtually any location without incurring expensive infrastructure work. Stations can be set up in a matter of minutes, leaving no trace of their presence once they are removed. User-friendly, the system requires only an access card or credit card with no intermediaries.

" 'By developing the Public Bike System from a clean sheet, Stationnement de Montréal is in a position to deliver a high-quality, turnkey product that has been pre-tested to optimize efficiency, suitable for cities big and small,' added Mr. Ayotte."

If you have any ideas for naming their program, you can do so at www.findmyname.ca. The grand prize is a lifetime subscription to the program.

image credit: Public Bike System

Bon Giorno, Roma!

noreply@blogger.com (Paul DeMaio) — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 01:17:00 +0000

The world's newest bike-sharing program is in Rome, Italy. Called Roma'n'Bike, the program has 19 stations and 200 bikes spread throughout the historic center of the city and is run by Spanish advertising company Cemusa with Bicincitta'. (Sorry, Pope, no stations are in Vatican City.)

According to Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno (and translated by Google), "This initiative is an incentive to create opportunities and not a punitive system, with alternatives closer to citizens who can change the habits of the population. Cycling is a beautiful experience, even fun, which creates a more direct contact with urban reality."

Rome's VIPs on Roma'n'Bike

To use a bike, one must register with the program at one of the seven tourist information centers and pay a 30 EUR ($46) annual membership fee. Bikes are available between 7am - 11pm daily. The first 30 minutes are free, the second 30-minute period will run 1 EUR, the third 2 EUR, and every half hour onward will be billed at 4 EUR. (Remember, this is bike-sharing, not bike rental, and is intended for short trips. Customers needing a bike for a longer time period should consider renting a bike instead. This has been a Public Service Announcement by MetroBike...)

Buona fortuna, Roma'n'Bike!

Article from Fondazioni Italiani in Italian and English.

image credit: Roma'n'Bike

Bike-sharing and Helmets

noreply@blogger.com (Paul DeMaio) — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 22:48:00 +0000

An article in this week's TIME magazine titled "Bike-Sharing Gets Smart" discusses the imminent launch of D.C.'s bike-sharing program. I'm quoted having said, "It's not a good idea to share helmets because you have sanitary issues and sweat issues" and that folks should "B.Y.O.H." or bring your own helmet.

While I personally wear a helmet when riding my own bike, helmet use is not mandated on any bike-sharing program of which I'm aware, nor should it be. Bike-sharing has been so successful because it has allowed for the impromptu bike trip as well as not needing to carry a helmet if the rider chooses not to. If impromptu trips were removed from overall bike-sharing trips, I haven't seen any survey data on this yet, but I'd guess that this would negatively impact the overall number of bike-sharing trips. Mandating helmet use on bike-sharing, or bike transit, is the equivalent of mandating one bring a seat belt in order to board a bus. It's a good idea to wear a seat belt in a motor vehicle to limit injury in the case of a crash, but by not having one, it shouldn't prevent folks from riding the bus. Mandating helmet use with bike-sharing would be similar and certainly suppress the popular use of the bike fleets.

Bike-sharing programs providing helmets attached to the bikes or at kiosks could be a sticky issue, literally. After only a few trips on the head of a sweating individual on a steamy day of 100 degree Farhenheit (38 Celcius) heat, helmets would become dripping. Not to mention helmets being left outside in the elements to grow mold. Even with hairnets to make it sanitary as some jurisdictions which require helmet use by adults have discussed, nets would not generally be used as no one wants to wear a hairnet in public.

There's also the liability concern about providing to the public a helmet that has lost its protective ability by having been dropped or involved in a previous crash. A helmet like this would cease to be useful in case it were needed, thereby allowing damage to the wearer and causing certain lawsuits.

No 3rd generation (high tech) bike-sharing programs that I'm aware of require the wearing of a helmet. Now that bike-sharing is set to take over the U.S., many American cities with helmet laws for adults will need to grapple with the feasibility of these laws and how they apply to bike-sharing.

What should be done is to create safer and more bicycle facilities, such as bike lanes, cycle tracks, and trails as safety of bicyclists is proven in numbers. In addition, safer bicyclists and motorists are minted with improved education of both groups. Safe bicyclists are created through bike education classes for all ages, such as the Washington Area Bicyclist Association's Safe Routes to School program, bicycle rodeos, and Confident City Cycling classes - to provide some regional models. Safe Routes to School educates children on how to safely walk or bike to school. Bicycle rodeos teach children how to ride a bike and practice their skills with a series of obstacle courses. Confident City Cycling classes teach adults who either never learned how to ride or need a refresher on proper riding techniques. As bicycle safety education is lacking from most schools' educational offerings, these classes are absolutely necessary.

Motorists also need to be better educated about watching for all street users as this Transport for London video deftly points out, driver's manuals and tests in the U.S. should have bicycle components, and motorists need greater enforcement and higher penalties should they put the lives of other street users (especially those who are most vulnerable) at risk.

image credit: Helmets R Us

Race to Be First University Program in U.S.

noreply@blogger.com (Paul DeMaio) — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 01:51:00 +0000

With the race to be the first American city with a 3rd generation bike-sharing program pretty much settled on Washington, D.C., the race to be the first American university is still open to takers. Readers of The Bike-sharing Blog will know that The University of Washington in Seattle is planning to launch a program this fall, however, Saint Xavier University in Chicago is hoping to beat them to it.

According to their press release:

"Chicago (May 9, 2008) Saint Xavier University students, faculty and staff will have the option of a self-service bike sharing program beginning next semester.

"Over the summer, the University will install the SXU Green Bike Program, providing 65 European pedal bikes that can be automatically checked out 24 hours a day, seven days a week with a Cougar card and returned to any of several computerized docking stations around campus. The first 15 minutes between docking stations will be free, and patrons can use cell phone technology to more easily arrange for a bike.

"Many universities across the country offer some form of sharing program, but Saint Xavier will be the first to use the shaft-driven bikes from the French company Veloway, Europe’s premier bike share distributor. More information will follow this summer.

" 'The SXU Green Bike Program will be a remarkable addition to this campus,' said Assistant Vice President for Physical Facilities Paul Matthews. 'This latest in a long line of green activities at Saint Xavier will allow students, faculty and staff to forego their fuel-burning vehicles and travel campus in a clean and sustainable way.' "

Bike-sharing at universities makes as much sense as breathing fresh air. The transportation budgets of universities for the most part focuses too greatly on the provision of parking spaces. At around $20,000 to build a parking space according to a study by George Mason University, it seems that not constructing as few as 15 parking spaces and reallocating these funds to a bike-sharing program would better serve a university community by improving mobility.

image credit: Saint Xavier University

Happy Birthday Bike-sharing Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Paul DeMaio) — Sat, 31 May 2008 15:29:00 +0000

One year ago this month I started up The Bike-sharing Blog to assist the global community in the spread of knowledge about bike-sharing and hasten the growth of this eco-friendly concept. During this first year of the Blog, the one-time fringe idea has caught on like wildfire and rapidly expanded throughout Europe and followed in Asia (China) and the Australian continent (New Zealand) and is to follow in most other continents.

There's no reason why bike-sharing shouldn't grow even quicker than subway systems did with their invention in the 19th century. There's an even greater need for inexpensive and green mobility now than ever before. Bike-sharing is the least expensive mode of transit too. Compared to other transit, you just can't beat a bike. No gasoline is required and the driver is the customer. That's all on top of bicycling being the most efficient form of transport. Not bad.

During The Bike-sharing Blog's second year, we will have an even busier year. Programs are to be underway hopefully next month in the U.S. starting with my hometown of Washington, D.C. with many more major cities across the country and Canada to follow. South America has at least one program underway in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The Middle East has a future program in Tel Aviv. Europe has future programs spreading east and south towards Poland and Greece. Australia will be popping out a program as will South Korea.

I hope The Bike-sharing Blog has assisted in the spread of knowledge to the global community about this great concept.

Sincerely,

Paul DeMaio
MetroBike LLC
Washington, D.C.
USA

image credit: Soritov

Vélib - le film

noreply@blogger.com (Paul DeMaio) — Tue, 20 May 2008 01:47:00 +0000

Bike-sharing, Parisian style!

Merci, Copenhagenize.

The Bicycle and the Drum

noreply@blogger.com (Paul DeMaio) — Tue, 20 May 2008 01:46:00 +0000

One purpose of The Bike-sharing Blog is to educate people about how bike-sharing works. With more folks who understand bike-sharing and its benefits, there become more advocates for it. Each advocate is another drum beating in unison. As the concept spreads throughout societies around the world, the number of advocates increases and the drums beat louder than before. Bike-sharing is an important piece of the puzzle which allows cities to correct the mistakes that have been made which focused intensely on creating environments that catered to the automobile and forgot the people living there.

Bike-sharing is also a movement. A movement rapidly developing and shaping our collective future. It's a movement away from four wheels towards that of two. It's about using Earth's limited resources more efficiently.

As the author of The Bike-sharing Blog and one of the concept's many proponents, I hope that this blog is helpful to you in learning about bike-sharing. Share the idea with people you know, so the drum will beat even louder.

Paul DeMaio
MetroBike LLC
Washington, D.C.
USA

Democrats and Republicans to Have Bike-sharing at Conventions

noreply@blogger.com (Paul DeMaio) — Thu, 15 May 2008 01:18:00 +0000

Bike-sharing will be "bike-partisan" at both of this year's Democratic and Republican National Conventions, showing that bicycling is "neither left, nor right, but ahead" to quote the Green Party's motto. Both Conventions will use the Freewheelin program developed by Humana with technology from QI Systems. Humana and Bikes Belong will bring 1,000 bikes to Denver during the Democratic National Convention in August and the Republican National Convention in St. Paul in September. The bikes can be used for free by anyone looking for an alternative to automobiles during the convention.

According to a press release from the Denver 2008 Convention Host Committee for the Democratic Party:

"Amid the buzz of national Bike to Work Week, the Denver 2008 Convention Host Committee, Humana Inc. and Bikes Belong took steps with - or better yet, pedaled - a new initiative today to encourage bike use as an alternative mode of transportation during the Democratic National Convention.

"Denver Host Committee President Elbra Wedgeworth and Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper unveiled plans for a bike-sharing program called Freewheelin, part of Denver's efforts to support healthy living and environmental sustainability during the Democratic National Convention."

According to Pioneer Press regarding the Republican National Convention:

"Just in time for $4-a-gallon gasoline, that's the latest welcoming perk lined up on the red carpet for the Republican National Convention scheduled to hit St. Paul from Sept. 1-4.

"St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman and Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak announced Friday that 1,000 bikes will be stationed in the Twin Cities for use by visitors and anyone else looking for a free alternative to cars to get around during the convention.

"The effort is sponsored by the Humana Inc. health insurance company in conjunction with the Bikes Belong cycling advocacy group, which also plans to take 1,000 free bikes to Denver for the Democratic National Convention from Aug. 25-28.

"After convention-goers go home, the program, called Freewheelin, will leave 70 bikes in the Twin Cities, along with about 10 special bike racks as a seed for a permanent bike-sharing program in the community."

Way to go Humana and Bikes Belong. This is an outstanding idea to spread the concept of bike-sharing to individuals from around the U.S. With more bike-sharing proponents around the U.S., the greater the idea will spread and quicker the environment and public health will benefit.

image credit: Churchill County

Updated Velib' Stats

noreply@blogger.com (Paul DeMaio) — Fri, 09 May 2008 02:12:00 +0000

The latest Velib' survey results are available and posted on the Velib' Website. Just in case you don't parlez Français, here's a summary:

Trips to date: 20 million
Average trips/day: 70,000
Average trip time: 18 minutes
190,000 annual pass holders
42% of users are female, 58% are male
1/3 of users come from outside the central city
17% of users are 46+ years old
94% of users like the service

These results are highly impressive. The stats that amazed me the most are the number of trips to date and the percentage of female users. As Velib' is not yet one year old, there are still about two months of trips still to be made which could equate to another 5 million trips, or a total of 25 million trips, before the anniversary of it's launch date of July 15.

Having nearly the same percentage of female and male customers shows how mainstream bike-sharing has become in Paris. In cities where lesser bike cultures exist, such as those in North America, males tend to dominate bike usage by 3 to 1. Women are less likely to ride a bike when concerned about their safety compared to men. Men also tend to be generally more risk-taking and will ride in less safe street conditions. While not 50/50, this male/female customer demographic shows that women are using Velib' confidently, so Paris has done a good job in creating safe bike facilities before the launch of the program.

Fantastique!

image credit: Velib'

Busy Day in Philly

noreply@blogger.com (Paul DeMaio) — Fri, 02 May 2008 02:17:00 +0000

Yesterday the Philadelphia City Council held a public hearing to discuss the feasibility of a bike-sharing program. Philly.com reports:

"There was consensus in a City Council hearing yesterday that a shared-bicycle program in Philadelphia would help clear traffic congestion, reduce air pollution and improve the health of the people doing the pedaling.

"The question now: How to put such a program in place?

"One approach is to create a nonprofit agency to buy and service the bicycles and install racks across the city where they will be stored.

"That model has been used by PhillyCarShare, a nonprofit that allows members to use cars parked in designated spots.

"Another approach is to strike a deal with a company that services 'public furniture' - bus shelters, subway stations, public toilets and newsstands - to manage the bicycles program."

Surely more to come...

There's a great 1-minute video from JCDecaux on the development, construction, and implementation of Velib' here.

A brief update on D.C.'s program: 7 of the 10 stations are constructed. The goal is to launch later this month as soon as the remainder of the stations are up and on-line. Can't wait. (I spoke recently with New Hampshire Public Radio about D.C.'s upcoming program.)

Image credit: Pound for Pound

San Francisco's Civic Cycle

noreply@blogger.com (Paul DeMaio) — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 02:31:00 +0000

For San Franciso, California-area readers:

Bike-sharing (bikes as public transit!) is sweeping the world and getting scads of new people riding bikes. What could a bike share program in San Francisco look like? Come out and participate in this half-day public dialog and design charrette and help shape the future of bike sharing your city.

Saturday, May 3, 1-5pm
Southern Exposure Gallery, 417 14th Street (at Valencia), San Francisco
http://www.futurefarmers.com/vapor

+ See, feel, touch, roll Clear Channel's bikes (the system used in Barcelona) up close and personal!
++ Hear the current thoughts on implementing bike sharing from folks at SFMTA and BART.
+++ Put your heads together and dream up the perfect bike, the ideal station locations, and other future-perfect visions of bike sharing in SF.

Space is limited! If you would like to participate, please reserve your spot: soex@soex.org

Happy Birthday, Bicing

noreply@blogger.com (Paul DeMaio) — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 01:51:00 +0000

Barcelona's Bicing turned 1. Happy birthday! Or should I say, "¡Felice cumpleaños!"

According to "Spain: The Blog":

- Bicing has 130,000+ users from 16 - 83 years old with a majority between 26 - 35.
- The system is up to 4, 300 bikes which are used an average of 30,000 times/day.
- Each bike is used an average of 8 times/day.
- The average trip lasts 17 minutes and covers 3 kilometers.
- There are currently 286 stations that cover every district within the city limits.
- About 120 workers travel around the city in special Bicing vans to make repairs, switch out damaged bicycles and provide station maintenance.
- Every day about 300 new people join the system by paying the 24 euro annual membership fee.

May the next year bring Bicing even greater success.

photo credit: Spain: The Blog

The Bike-sharing Blog's New Google Gadget

noreply@blogger.com (Paul DeMaio) — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 13:57:00 +0000

New for Earth Day, The Bike-sharing Blog now has a Google Gadget so you can keep up-to-date on what's happening with bike-sharing around the world on your Google desktop. Download the Gadget for use on your iGoogle page today.

Why Wasn't Amsterdam First?

noreply@blogger.com (Paul DeMaio) — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 22:03:00 +0000

With all of the happenings of bike-sharing around the world, Amsterdam has been noticeably quiet. How could this be? Amsterdam, afterall, is one of the most bikeable cities on Earth with nearly 40% of its population using bikes daily. Wouldn't a bike-sharing program be well used there?

Well, not necessarily because the residents of Amsterdam already bike.

A good analogy is dropping a large stone into a small pond makes a bigger splash than a small stone into a large pond. With the former, the large stone would produce a large splash. This is what happened in Paris. The large stone in this analogy is Velib' with its 20,600 bikes and the small pond was the bike mode share in Paris before Velib' at about 1%. The relative increase of bike mode share due to Velib' has been tremendous and it has totally changed Paris's bike culture. While not near Amsterdam's 40%, Paris will likely have a significant increase of up to 10% and Velib' hasn't even been around for one year.

Bike-sharing in this sense is the most significant thing a jurisdiction can do to rapidly increase bike mode share. But remember too that Paris has also spent a good sum of money creating the bike facilities that would be used by the bike-sharers, with bike lanes, cycle tracks, and bike parking. They didn't simply drop bike-sharing onto a foreign landscape only made for motor vehicles.

Amsterdam's future bike-sharing program would be following the latter portion of this analogy with the small stone into a large pond as their bike mode share is already so high there that the stone would need to be even larger to attempt to create the same ripple effect. This isn't to say, however, that bike-sharing is pointless in Amsterdam. While 40% is high, it's not 50%. For a city extending itself to reach that next goal of bicycle-friendliness, getting that next 10% for Amsterdam will be much more difficult than for Paris to go from 1 to 11%. Had Velib' been launched in Amsterdam instead of Paris, I'm sure that it wouldn't have garned as much attention because the bike culture already exists.

Amsterdam is in many ways beyond the need of bike-sharing for its residents because they "are unlikely to give up their own bicycle when a rental scheme is introduced," reports News from Amsterdam. However, Amsterdam is considering a high-tech 3rd generation program for other populations which include out-of-town commuters and tourists. Copenhagen realized this fact as well with its Bycyklen which has a large tourist component. Everyone should experience Amsterdam and Copenhagen as the locals do - by bike. Now the same can be true for Paris.

And, regarding the title of this post, "Why Wasn't Amsterdam First?" Amsterdam actually was the first to have bike-sharing back in 1968. Of course their White Bikes didn't have smart cards and wifi of today's bike-sharing technologies, so the bikes were stolen immediately. However, Amsterdam's 2nd attempt with bike-sharing will surely go much better.

Rebirth of Bicycling in the U.S.

noreply@blogger.com (Paul DeMaio) — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 00:42:00 +0000

D.C.'s Bicycle Program Manager, Jim Sebastian
at a new SmartBike DC station

Forty years ago at this very intersection of 14th and U Streets Northwest in Washington, D.C., riots broke out after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968. The commercial corridors of both streets burned for three days. This neighborhood finally has been rebuilding itself from the ashes of the riots to recapture the hope and dreams it once had. Today the U Street neighborhood is one of the hottest neighborhoods in D.C. with some of the best restaurants, bars, and entertainment the city has to offer.

At this very same intersection is America's first bike-sharing station and the rebirth of bicycling in the United States. With this I hope we can rebuild American society from the auto-dominated car culture we've developed since World War II into a progressive and eco-friendly society that is transit-dominated and pedal-powered, not fossil-fuel powered.

The 10 SmartBike DC racks are popping up throughout the city with a soft launch expected in April (maybe Earth Day?) and the full launch in May. The stations are not powered yet, nor are bikes available. This, and the future of bicycling in the U.S., should all change in the next few weeks.

image credit: Jim Sebastian

Paris Becomes New Bike Capital of Europe

noreply@blogger.com (Paul DeMaio) — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 04:01:00 +0000

With the July 2007 launch of Velib’, Paris’s bike-sharing program, Socialist Mayor Bertrand Delanoë has transformed his city and how Parisians and tourists move about. With 10,500 bikes at the end of 2007, expanding to 20,600 in 2008, Delanoë has promised an even 1,000,000 bikes for 2009, an election year, to ensure his victory with the overwhelming success and popularity of the program for which he is credited. With the larger fleet of public use bicycles will come a new name of the world-class program: Velib’ meet Millib’.

Already the world’s largest bike-sharing scheme, growing to a million bikes in one year will be a large task for the city and its bike-sharing vendor, JCDecaux, to complete. Finding new locations for stations will require the removal of nearly 400,000 parking spaces, or roughly three quarters of the city’s public parking, and in some cases historic buildings will need to be demolished. The dire plans for one such building has ruffled the feathers of many Parisians - this building is Notre Dame.

“It is a very old building and the flying buttresses are crumbling anyway,” said Agathe Rousseau, Paris’s bike-sharing program manager. “There is much wasted space on the Notre Dame grounds that is dedicated to tourist buses and taxis and we believe would be better used for bike-sharing stations. Besides, there are lots of other monuments for tourists and what better way to visit them than by Velib’,” she said. “It’s not like we’re taking down the Eiffel Tower.”

Even with the loss of a famous structure, some Parisians, like Paul-Henri Godot, a 30-something fan of bike-sharing, believes that Velib’ can do no wrong. “Last week my wife and I were coming home from the hospital and decided instead of calling our daughter Amélie, we shall call her Amélib’,” said Godot. Their daughter is 9 years old. This level of high praise is becoming more commonplace with the naming and renaming of children in hipster neighborhoods with the words “velo” and “liberte’ ” in their more common names.

The Automobile Club of France has threatened to sue the Paris government for this bold move of removing a large quantity of parking spaces and Mayor Delanoë’s plan to convert 50% of the city’s major north-south and east-west streets from motorized carriageways to bicycle boulevards, or streets designed with a priority for bicyclists. “[The Club] would sue,” exclaimed Automobile Club chief, Michel Garreau, “but I can smell the bread from the corner bakery for the first time since I was a boy without all of the car pollution, so maybe we will not. But don’t quote me. I’ll lose my job if you do.”

Before Velib’, about 1% of trips made in Paris were done so by bicycle. This has increased to 10% by the end of 2007 and analysts predict will reach 53% once all million bike-sharing bicycles are on the street making 27.3 million trips per day. This would surely make Paris the most bike-friendly city in Europe and the world. Parisians are elated by this possibility, however, the citizens of Copenhagen and Amsterdam which are traditionally Europe’s most bike-friendly large cities are revolting.

“Who does Paris think he is?,” questioned Henning Bek of Copenhagen. “We have fought hard for the title of Bike Capital of Europe since the 1970’s. Paris didn’t even know what a bike was a year ago, so how dare it steal the title from us!,” said Bek.

Regardless whether Paris wins this new title or not, it’s April Fools Day! Enjoy! And go for a bike ride.

Buenos Aires has Bike-sharing Plans in the Works

noreply@blogger.com (Paul DeMaio) — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 01:14:00 +0000

From the Institute for Transportation & Policy Development: Buenos Aires to Implement a Vélib-style Bicycle Transit System

by Oscar Edmundo Diaz

"The Buenos Aires City Council took a positive step towards becoming a more sustainable city by approving legislation to create a public bicycle transport system. Replicating the Vélib system in Paris, which was awarded with the 2008 Sustainable Transport Award, the law establishes a city-wide bicycle rental system that also provides strategically-located bike stations. This law requiring ruling by the City Mayor, received the mayor’s support in less than a month, on January 8, 2008, Mauricio Macri, the Mayor of the City of Buenos Aires, signed the decree to create the Public Bicycle Transport System (TPB). "An origin-destination study will be made to estimate the demand in order to determine the routes, station locations and total bikes needed. Current conceptual design includes user registration in order to obtain a special ID that allows the user to rent a bicycle. The stations will have information facilities, as well as provisions for emergency assistance. The law indicates that the minimum requirements for the bicycles include uniform design, license plates, dynamo-run lights, bell, brakes, lock, basket or similar, helmet, and a city map. The project also includes the construction of bicycle paths to ensure users safety as well as new high quality public spaces. Bike-oriented signalization should also be put in place.

"Even though the law encourages the city to give the operation of the system to a private concessionaire (at a minimum of five years), the government may obtain loans or ask the national government for resources to set up the system. ITDP will be providing technical assistance to the City of Buenos Aires to implement the 'Public Bicycle Transport System'.

"The spirit of the law is to promote a healthy, low-cost and environmentally friendly transportation alternative for people who want to avoid the increasing traffic congestion. The government also recognizes the need to integrate bicycles into the public transportation system. Specifically, bicycles should be used to bring people to the mass transit system, including the subway, metropolitan train and buses. Therefore, secure bike parking and/or TPB stations is needed near other mass transit stops."

With the City Council taking the step towards limiting congestion and improving air quality with bike-sharing in Buenos Aires, they are bringing "fair winds", the namesake of this city, back to the capital of Argentina. This also will likely be South America's first bike-sharing program.

image credit: Wikipedia