Thursday, October 20, 2016

The African Continent - The Third Week of October 2016

AFRICA
Morocco
Marrakesh
Medina Bike Marrakesh Morocco
The first public use bicycle program on the African Continent will begin on November 7, 2016.  Medina Bike will launch with 300 bikes in 12 stations for the opening of the Congress of Parties, COP22, of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, UNFCCC, in Morocco. According to InfoMédiare the program will have equipment from the French company Smoove.

ASIA
China
Shenzhen
Mobike Light
This week Mobike, the free floating Chinese public use bike program, has expanded into Shenzhen, China. Starting in April 2016 in Shanghai, the are now Mobikes in Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen according to LeiPhone.com. Also this week, Mobike introduced a new Mobike Light bicycle. According to the Shanghai Daily, this bike will first be deployed in the Baoshan District, just north of Shanghai. It will cost around 7¢US per 30 minutes to use this new bike. One half the price of using the original Mobike! Between these two bicycles, Mobike hopes to have 100,000 bicycles on the streets of greater Shanghai by the end of the year. That would overtake Hangzhou for the title of the city with the world's largest public use bicycle program.

EUROPE
Germany
Berlin
Nextbike Berlin, Germany
This week Nextbike started installing a pilot program running for the month of November in Lichtenberg, Germany. This is a test to make ready for its deployment of 5,000 bikes in 700 stations next year in the city of Berlin. The program is to replace the 1,500 bike Call-a-Bike system currently in Berlin. According to Berlin.de and Berliner Kurier, the City Senate has told Call-a-Bike to remove its bikes and stations, but Deutche Bahn, Call-a Bike's parent company, says it will replace its system with a new one in Berlin. Stay tuned for reports on this teutonic shift!

NORTH AMERICA
USA
Wisconsin
B-cycle Dash
B-cycle Dash+
B-cycle introduced two new bicycles to add to their offering for the public use bicycle market. The Dash has an 'on the bike user interface' that could be used in a 'free floater' dockless set up. It will be available soon and is compatible with current B-cycle programs. Also debuted, in prototype form, is the Dash+, a pedelec, which will be available in 2018. Both bikes can be accessed by mobile phone applications and a have a handle bar electronic screen to display navigation and information.

Texas
Austin

The North American Bikeshare Association
           2016 Annual Conference is November 9-11                                             Austin, Texas USA
This is the conference to attend in 2016 for all information you will need to know about Public Use Bicycling whether in North America or not! 
For information and registration: www.nabsa.net

images: Smoove, Mobike: Liephone, Nextbike: rbb/24, Bcycle, Digital Journal

Russell Meddin

Keep in touch with The Bike-sharing World with The Bike-sharing World Map. It is the premiere resource for information on cities with Public Use Bicycle programs and the complement to The Bike-sharing Blog. The map can be viewed at www.bikesharingmap.com.

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