[sustran] bike-sharing blog

eric britton eric.britton at ecoplan.org
Mon Jan 24 22:45:33 JST 2011

If you want to get a feel for the development of bike sharing around the
world, Paul DeMaio's blog at http://bike-sharing.blogspot.com/ is a great
place to go. Here is their . . .

2010 Year-end Wrap-up
<http://bike-sharing.blogspot.com/2010/12/2010-year-end-wrap-up.html>

This year has been another fantastic year for bike-sharing around the world.
In my most unscientific calculation I have counted there to be about 238
bike-sharing services around the world, up from about 160 last year, for a
49% increase. On top of this, there are another 53 services that are in
planning stages and may come online soon.

<http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-OPNDCJtErg/TRv1Bu_4HNI/AAAAAAAADXE/xOGLkeT8VxQ/s
1600/Global%2B3rd%2BGeneration%2BBike-sharing%2BServices%2B10-12.jpg>
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-OPNDCJtErg/TRv1Bu_4HNI/AAAAAAAADXE/xOGLkeT8VxQ/s4
00/Global%2B3rd%2BGeneration%2BBike-sharing%2BServices%2B10-12.jpg

Many notable things happened this year in the field that have pushed the
boundaries of bike-sharing and transit. And it’s great timing too as global
climate change doesn’t seem to want to let the world catch up. These
improvements include:

<http://www.vcub.fr/> Vcub(e) (Bordeaux, France) pushed the edges of 3rd
generation bike-sharing by integrating
<http://bike-sharing.blogspot.com/2010/02/bordeauxs-new-v-bike-sharing-flirt
s.html> with the region’s other transit systems such that the same RFID
card could be used on any transit system.

Mexico City repealed its bike helmet law
<http://bike-sharing.blogspot.com/2010/06/mexico-city-repeals-bike-helmet-la
w.html> before the launch of Ecobici, however, Melbourne did not, which has
limited the public’s uptake. Although, Melbourne Bike Share
<http://bike-sharing.blogspot.com/2010/06/melbourne-on-top-of-bike-sharing-d
own.html> is experimenting with helmet vending machines
<http://bike-sharing.blogspot.com/2010/10/melbourne-gets-on-top-of-its-slow.
html> and helmet sales at convenience stores for which we wish them good
luck.

India and Iran got into the bike-sharing game with Bike House
<http://bike-sharing.blogspot.com/2010/03/tehrans-bike-house-shines-green.ht
ml> and FreMo
<http://bike-sharing.blogspot.com/2010/03/indias-first-bike-sharing-service-
fremo.html> , respectively, operating modified 2nd generation services. Good
for them. This proves there’s no one right answer for each challenge.

Dublinbikes
<http://bike-sharing.blogspot.com/2010/12/dublin-city-council-approves-tenfo
ld.html> (Dublin, Ireland) is a little service that became so widely used
with a whopping 10 trips per bike per day and 100 members per bike. “By
comparison Paris has around 8 per bike and Washington, DC around 5
subscribers per bike.”

<http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-OPNDCJtErg/TRv7RyYUNaI/AAAAAAAADXQ/yUKAlOHArco/s
1600/dublinbikes.jpg>
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-OPNDCJtErg/TRv7RyYUNaI/AAAAAAAADXQ/yUKAlOHArco/s4
00/dublinbikes.jpgDublinbikes

Barclays Cycle Hire
<http://bike-sharing.blogspot.com/2010/07/barclays-cycle-hire-london-is-bank
ing.html> (London, England) launched earlier this year with great fanfare
as Barclays provided £25 million to sponsor the service, lending its name
and covering the city with 6,000 blue bikes. Their safety and usage videos
<http://bike-sharing.blogspot.com/2010/07/barclays-cycle-hire-videos.html>
are to date the best I’ve seen yet. Maybe their next video will have Prince
William and Kate narrating.

Velib’ (Paris, France) turned 3 years old this year and hit its 80,000,000
<http://bike-sharing.blogspot.com/2010/07/velibs-3rd-birthday-rolls-in-with-
80.html> th trip. I remember the good old days when it had hit its
1,000,000th trip. Ahhh, memories.

The first large-scale bike-sharing services in the U.S. with the launches of
Nice Ride Minnesota
<http://bike-sharing.blogspot.com/2010/06/minneapolis-makes-three.html>
(Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA), Denver B-cycle (Denver, Colorado, USA), and
Capital Bikeshare
<http://bike-sharing.blogspot.com/2010/09/capital-bikeshare-long-road-to-suc
cess.html> (Washington, D.C. and Arlington, Virginia, USA). Each trying to
out-do the other, the each launched a couple of months from each other with
more bikes and stations.

<http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-OPNDCJtErg/TRv7mSgu7QI/AAAAAAAADXY/btgtHRgx14A/s
1600/capital%2Bbikeshare.jpg>
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-OPNDCJtErg/TRv7mSgu7QI/AAAAAAAADXY/btgtHRgx14A/s4
00/capital%2Bbikeshare.jpg

Capital Bikeshare

As you can see, it’s been quite a busy year in the bike-sharing world. Here
at The Bike-sharing Blog we had about 80,000 visitors this year and The
Bike-sharing World Map
<http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&om=1&msa=0&msid=10422731830400
0014160.00043d80f9456b3416ced&ll=43.580391,-42.890625&spn=143.80149,154.6875
&z=1&source=embed> has had over 760,000 views since its inception over
three years ago. At nearly 300 listings of services which are either running
or on their way, the Bike-sharing World Map has gotten a little wieldy as
we’re pushing the edges of what a Google Map can do.

We at MetroBike, LLC <http://metrobike.net/> have had a good year ourselves
with the work we’ve accomplished and the many projects were working on. The
movement to get people riding is just beginning to roll. There’s still so
much to do to change the path the world has been heading down. Bike-sharing,
along with many other innovative, green ideas, will be the change the world
must see to improve ourselves.

The Bike-sharing Blog co-authors, Russell Meddin of Bike Share Philadelphia
<http://www.bikesharephiladelphia.org/> and I, wish you a happy and healthy
2011 with lots of bike-sharing. We look forward to the upcoming year and all
the exciting things we have yet to learn, experience, and share on The
Bike-sharing Blog. We’ll keep you posted, so you keep us posted too about
what’s going on in your part of the world.

Best wishes,

<http://www.metrobike.net/index.php?s=contact> Paul DeMaio

<http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-OPNDCJtErg/TRv774SoqVI/AAAAAAAADXg/U1hjmY9ME4k/s
1600/paul%2Bdemaio.jpg>
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-OPNDCJtErg/TRv774SoqVI/AAAAAAAADXg/U1hjmY9ME4k/s4
00/paul%2Bdemaio.jpgPaul DeMaio, MetroBike, LLC

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