Growing up in the Portland area, I used to love seeing the rack full of yellow bike-share bikes outside of Powells Books, just waiting for someone to take them on the next urban adventure. Portland’s Yellow Bike Project, one of the first in the United States, put a fleet of bright yellow bicycles onto Portland streets for community use and enjoyment. Sadly, this program fell to misuse and vandalism, but the concept of bike-sharing lives on in several enclaves around the world.
Bike-sharing is a simple concept: a fleet of bicycles are made available at multiple pick-up and drop-off locations within a city, allowing residents and visitors alike easy access to a easy alternative form of eco-friendly transportation. This removes the hassle for us travelers of trying to ship our bikes and port them around with us while we travel, and of course makes it that much easier to reduce our carbon footprint along the way.
Bike-sharing programs, which in many cases now involve a small rental fee to help keep the fleet functional and on the streets, are popping up in many fantastic international destinations. What better way to enjoy a place such as Amsterdam (known for its bike-sharing history going back into the 60’s) then to peddle alongside locals on their way to the market or the movie theater?
Here in North America, bike-sharing programs are finally starting to catch on, now that a few successful models have demonstrated how effectively a bike-sharing program can enhance a city’s livability while providing a great resource for visitors. Montreal’s Bixi (a combo of “bike” and “taxi”), a bike-sharing service users subscribe to, has met great success, prompting other cities to give bike-sharing a test drive. Matter of fact, August has been deemed “Bike Sharing Demo Month” in the USA by The Bike-sharing blog.
Check out this impressive list of current bike share programs around the world, courtesy of Wikipedia :
- Bycyklen, Copenhagen inaugurated in late 1995
- Call a Bike, Munich inaugurated in March 2000
- Cityräder, Helsinki inaugurated in June 2000
- Call a Bike, Berlin inaugurated in March 2003
- Citybike, Vienna inaugurated in June 2003
- Bicicletas públicas, Chile inaugurated in December 2008
- Peking, inaugurated in 2005
- Vélo’v, Lyon (France) inaugurated in May 2005
- Bicing, Barcelona (Spain) inaugurated in March 2007
- Stockholm City Bikes, Stockholm (Sweden) inaugurated in April 2006
- Sevici, Sevilla (Spain) inaugurated in April 2007
- Vélomagg’, Montpellier (France) inaugurated in June 2007
- Vélib’, Paris (France) inaugurated in July 2007
- HZ Bike, Hangzhou, China inaugurated in October 2008
- Vel’oh, Luxembourg (Luxembourg) inaugurated in March 2008
- Bizi, Zaragoza (Spain) inaugurated in May 2008
- BikeMi, Milan (Italy) inaugurated in December 2008
- Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective
- SmartBike DC, Washington, D.C., launched August 2008
- SAMBA, Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). Operated by the Brazilian urban mobility company: Mobilicidade, using cellphones to activate. Inaugurated in January 2009.
- Bixi, Montreal (Canada) inaugurated May 2009
- Villo!, Brussels (Belgium), inaugurated in May 2009
- OYBike, London, UK
- Rome’s Roma’n’Bike
- Melbourne, Australia, bicycle hire scheme is planned
- Boston, Massachusetts, USA bike sharing program is planned
- Blue Urban Bikes, Chapel Hill/Carrboro, North Carolina,
- FC Bike Library, Ft. Collins, Colorado
- Bike Emory, Atlanta, Georgia
- The Field Museum shared bikes. Inaugurated for employees in April, 2008
- Hourbike Bristol and Blackpool, UK
- Vélopop, Avignon (France) inaugurated in July 2009
Photo by faster panda kill kill