Having just returned from a comprehensive tour of many bike-sharing programs in Europe, I learned each of the three cities I visited which introduced bike-sharing experienced a dramatic increase in bicycling and bike mode share, or the percentage of overall traffic which is by bike.
Lyon, France, for example which had a low bike mode share before bike-sharing come along in 2005, has seen a marked increase bike trips according to the Velo'v program chief. Velo'v (photo on left) has 3,000 bikes which are free to use for the first 30 minutes and then for a incremental fee afterwards. Barcelona launched Bicing in March of this year and already has 30,000 members and a doubling of bike trips in the city since then. Yes, since March. This system has 1,500 bikes with the goal of 3,000 by the end of the year. Paris is set to launch Velib' (photo on right) on July 15 and expand to 20,600 bikes. This will be the largest bike-sharing program in the world and no doubt have a tremendous impact on improving cycling and bike mode share in this city, not to mention improving air quality, reducing traffic congestion, and improving Parisiens' health.
Each of these cities was not known to be a bike town before bike-sharing, however, with the introduction of this transit service in addition to the improvement of bike facilities, these places are becoming so.
That said, Arlington is working toward implementing a bike-sharing program. Already with a 5% bike mode share, what impact will bike-sharing have on this jurisdiction? Is it possible to see a doubling or even tripling of the number of bike trips due to the introduction of public-use bikes here? We'll have to wait and see. However, there's no doubt that the time for bike-sharing in the United States has come.
very informative! i got more ideas and it helped me a lot..thanks and more power!
Posted by: aira | July 27, 2008 at 07:14 AM