Photo by Richard Stirba
Last week's announcement that Denver would create a citywide bike-sharing program is the latest in a global transportation trend that's just catching on in the U.S.
More than 30 bike-share programs were launched globally last year, according to the Bike-Sharing blog. That's a 50% increase in one year to bring the worldwide total to 92.
The first bike-share program in the US was launched last year. That distinction goes to Washington DC, left, with its SmartBike DC program — 120 bikes at 10 stations — operated by Clear Channel advertising.
Denver
Denver is following up with a plan to make available 500 bicycles at 30 to 40 bike stations beginning in the summer. The program is being launched with a $1 million grant from Denver 2008 Convention Host Committee.
The bikes, which can be rented for a nominal fee, will be stationed around the business and university districts. The program will be called Denver B-cycle Citywide Bike Sharing Program.
Meanwhile, Denver also announced it was launching a bike loaned program for city employees. It will use 30 bicycles and other equipment donated by Humana; the insurer made some 1,000 bicycles available during the Democratic convention in Denver last summer.
Miami Beach
Miami Beach is expected to launch an equally expansive bike-sharing program in the summer of 2009 also, according to Bike-Sharing blog. A final decision is expected at the end of January.
Both Miami Beach and Denver will use a bike station rental system developed by B-cycle.
Advertising
B-cycle is a collaboration of Humana, Trek, SRAM and Crispin, Porter + Bogusky, an ad agency. I suppose you could say it's a competitor of Clear Channel outdoor advertising's SmartBike system, whose newest big customer is Milan, Italy.
B-cycle is primarily a self-service system that tracks your usage of the bicycle unlocked at a kiosk and charges your membership or credit card. Rates have not been established, according to the B-cycle website.
Another player in the bike-sharing market is represented by Bixi, which launches in Montreal this spring with 2,400 bicycles available at 300 stations. Bixi isn't advertising driven, however. It's operated by Stationnement de Montreal, the company that manages on-street parking in Montreal.
Other cities
Bixi has a demonstration project in Philadelphia, which is looking for a system to employ. Minneapolis-St. Paul, home of the Republican convention in 2008 and site of another Humana-inspired bike-sharing program, is developing its Nice Ride Minnesota bike-sharing program.
In addition, Chicago, Portland and San Francisco are said to be in talks with bike-sharing providers. And that's just in the U.S. Bike-sharing blog's Paul DeMaio estimates that 40 cities internationally will launch bicycle-sharing systems in 2009, in spite of the economic downtown.
[San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom announced that his city would launch a bike-sharing program with 50 bikes at 5 bike stations. The Clear Channel bike program is about half the size of the one in DC, and will cost about $500,000 to set up and cost about $450,000 a year to operate.
Interesting that he made the announcement from Paris where he inspected the Velib system. Paris launched its bike-sharing program with 10,000 bikes, added 10,000 more soon thereafter, and is planning on adding 3,300 more bikes in the near future. Start-up and operating costs are paid by JCDecaux, in return for free advertising on billboards. ]
One of the first internationally will be Taipei, with 500 bicycles.
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