The nation's biggest bike-sharing system yet — Capital Bikeshare — is scheduled for launch in late September with some 1,100 bicycles at 114 stations spread across Washington DC and Arlington.
It's the third major bike-sharing system roll-out in 2010. Denver's B-cycle system launched in April with 500 bikes and Nice Ride Minnesota launched in June with 700 bicycles at 65 kiosks around Minneapolis.
Other cities with bike-sharing in the pipeline include Boston and Philadelphia. Even Boulder, a platinum-level bicycle-friendly city, is considering a bike-sharing system.
1st in US
Modern bike-sharing got its start with the Paris Velib system, which launched in 2007 with 10,000 bicycles. The success of that program (it currently has about 20,000 bicycles at 1,600 locations) caught the attention of cities worldwide, including the US.
In 2008, Washington DC became the first city in the US to offer high-tech bike-sharing through the SmartBike DC. That system had about 100 bikes stationed around central DC.
Capital Bikeshare is much more extensive than that. It offers 100 stations in DC and 14 in Arlington, with plans to expand elsewhere into the Virginia and Maryland suburbs.
Capital Bikeshare works like the other high-tech systems. Users buy a membership of $75 for a year ($50 introductory price), $25 for a month or $5 for a day. That entitles members to unlimited free trips of 30 minutes or less, with longer trips incurring fees.
Short trips
Users can check maps online for locations of the nearest solar-powered kiosks and available bikes.
As in the other cities, the idea is to get people to use the bikes for short trips and errands around town. It's geared toward both urban dwellers and commuters who arrive downtown by bus or Metro and need to run errands during the day. Although tourists could use the system, it appears from the map that few bike stations are located in the vicinity of major attractions, such as the Mall.
The system is managed by US-based Alta Bicycle Share, a division of Alta Planning + Design, a bicycle and pedestrian consulting company. Denver's system is managed by B-cycle, and Nice Ride Minnesota is Bixi, which also manages Montreal's bike-sharing system.
Other cities
More bike-sharing systems are on the horizon:
Chicago: A bike-sharing system with 100 bikes at six kiosks (Chicago B-cycle) that launched in July is expected to be a prelude to a larger system.
Boston: In July the Federal Transit Administration funded $3 million to the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority to help fund the Boston Bike Share project, which the city plans to launch in Spring 2011.
Philadelphia: Finished a feasiblity study in February and brought in equipment for demonstrations in August.
Boulder: The city is negotiating with B-cycle about details of a potential bike-sharing program. One resident of the bike-friendly city wondered who would use it, however, since “everyone” already has a bicycle there.
Other bicycle sharing systems:
More bike-sharing news at Bike-sharing Blog
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