Capital Bikeshare - D.C. Stations Announced

With Arlington's stations announced in July 7's post "Capital Bikeshare Readying to Ride", Washington's D.C.'s stations were announced today, thereby fleshing out the initial 114 stations of the Capital Bikeshare network. On the District of Columbia's Department of Transportation website, a map of D.C.'s 100 stations is provided covering all eight wards of the city. Downtown is densely covered with stations every couple of blocks with inner neighborhoods also well covered. More distant neighborhoods will have to wait until the service gets more funding, so that D.C.'s network isn't stretched too thin at the launch.

I'm also happy to report that there is a station two blocks from my home. This truly brings a tear to my eye. I lobbied for a station closer to my home, however, didn't want folks entering my living room at all hours of the day and night.

In other news, our temporary CapitalBikeshare.com website is now live. Visit us and leave your email address so we can tell you when registration opens - likely in early August.

Stay tuned... Lots more good stuff happening with Capital Bikeshare!

UPDATE (7/20, 3pm): DDOT will be making live a revised station map later today.

Vélib's 3rd Birthday rolls in with 80 million trips

Three years ago today, the bike-sharing world woke up to a revolution in Paris, France. Although, not the first service in the world, Vélib' was definitely the biggest. It made such a media splash, the entire world started thinking "bike-sharing."

In three years, 80 million trips have been made on these ubiquitous gray bicycles. The system has grown from around 10,000 bikes at 750 stations to 25,000 bikes at 1,800 stations which service all of Paris and its first ring of suburbs. There are 162,000 yearly subscribers to the system, down from a high of 200,000, but subscriber's usage is up over 11% according to Ville Rail & Transport.

There have been growing pains for the system with some maintenance and shrinkage problems. It is no longer the biggest system in the world, that honor goes to the one in Hangzhou, China which has 50,000 bikes. Yet the system is healthy and brings in money to the operator, JCDecaux, and the City of Paris.

The latest statistic show that it is used by everyone from all walks of life: 48% are women and 52% are men, 16% are under the age of 25 and 8% are over the age of 56, and 10% of all users are students. There are rumors of a 30% price increase for the daily and weekly subscriptions this fall, but the price of the yearly subscription is to remain a reasonable €29 ($36.85 US).

Let's celebrate bike-sharing by watching this video on how Vélib' began:

image: AFP/Archives/Philipp Guelland

Russell Meddin bikesharephiladelphia.org

The Bike-sharing Blog's New Look

We're updating the design of The Bike-sharing Blog to make it look better and be easier to use. Let us know what you think!

Feds Fund Bean Town Bike-share

Yesterday the United States Federal Transit Administration awarded a $3 million grant to the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA) to fund the Boston Bike-share Project: "An innovative and truly transformational project, the Regional Bike Share System is a multiple-city bike sharing system making thousands of bicycles available throughout the Boston metropolitan area with the swipe of a card."

According to the Boston Globe, Nicole Freedman, the head of the city's Boston Bikes program, said, "This takes us over one of the main hurdles with bike share, which is having enough funding to have a launch size that we’re confident will succeed. Too few bikes and rental stations could doom the program to irrelevancy." This money will allow Boston to proceed, after this year's postponement due to insufficient funding, to create the large bike-sharing program that we reported in The Bike-sharing Blog on August 12, 2009.

Much credit goes to Boston Bikes and the MBTA for creative thinking about Bike-sharing funding for systems in the United States. This grant to Boston reinforces what The Bike-sharing Blog has championed: Public Use Bicycles are an integral part of a city's public transit system. It extends, compliments and enhances all transportation options. That sound of a Boston Bike-share bell 'bing' should be a wake up call to the many city governments in United States, which are thinking about Bike-sharing. The Federal Government thinks it's a good idea.

image: Boston College

Russell Meddin bikesharephiladelphia.org

Capital Bikeshare Readying to Ride

With the launch of Washington, D.C. and Arlington, Virginia’s bike-sharing service just two months away in September, the buzz is spreading over the region as to the name and look of the bike. Through a public voting process, the name “Capital Bikeshare” won the most votes. The bikes soon will be found at over 114 locations in the region with a fleet of 1,110 bikes, making it the new largest service in the U.S. and one of the few regional services in the world. The Arlington portion of the service will be comprised of 110 bikes and 14 stations. This map shows the likely locations of Arlington’s first phase of stations.

The bike design is coming together as well. While other bike-sharing services throughout the world have bikes colored gray to fit in with the historic architecture of some cities, and others are neon colors to make them eye-catching, Capital Bikeshare bikes will be dark red to match D.C.’s Circulator bus (and upcoming streetcar) branding. The color is unobtrusive, yet energized.

With organizations like Barclays, Rio Tinto Alcan, and Blue Cross/Blue Shield sponsoring bike-sharing services elsewhere, the Arlington service is now open for sponsorship too. Sponsorship opportunities are competitively priced and provide organizations a way to support a clean, green, and healthy transport mode for the 21^st century. Contact MetroBike for more information about Arlington’s service or station sponsorship opportunities.

Barclays Cycle Hire Videos

With Barclays Cycle Hire to launch at the end of this month, they produced a fantastic illustrated video on use of the service. The 3 1/2 minute video instructs on every aspect of the service. Check it out:



And of course, Londoners and visitors need to know how to ride safely. So Barclays Cycle Hire also produced an illustrated safety video too.



By far, these are the best bike-sharing instruction and safety videos I've yet to see. I'm sure these videos cost a pretty penny to create. It's nice to be sponsored by a bank.

Fast Deployment in the Bike-sharing World this Week!

This week saw extremely quick deployment and launch of bike-sharing services on two continents:

Asia:

In the burgeoning world of Chinese public bicycles, Guangzhou (Canton) which only last month was just talking to consultants, ITDP & Alta Bicycle Share, about starting bike-sharing, began its service today. Eighteen of 50 stations along Guangzhou's Bus Rapid Transit Line opened this morning. The service starting with 4,800 bikes will have 10,000 bikes by the end October. There is no charge for the initial hour and one yuan (15¢ US) for the next hour, as reported by Guangzhou News.

Europe:
This week stations of Valenbisi began to open up, The Bike-sharing Blog reported on April 15, 2010 that JCDecaux had just signed an agreement with Valencia, Spain for 275 stations and 2,750 bikes. In two months, the system was up and running. The yearly subscription is a reasonable €18 ($22 US) and the first 1/2 hour of usage is at no charge.

These two cities demonstrate how quickly, once a government embraces bike-sharing, services can be put into place.

Elsewhere in the bike-sharing world, Savona, Italy opens its branch of Bicincittà on Saturday.
It is a small system of 7 stations and 70 bikes for this city near Genoa. Here, the first hour of usage is at no charge.

North America:
B-cycle has gotten the approval from the San Antonio, Texas City Council to operate a system with its "Texas maintenance partner" -- Bike World. This will be done through the nonprofit Bike Share San Antonio; a bike-share, rental, and tour service with 14 stations and 140 bikes. The stations and bike will be similar to Denver B-cycle. According to the San Antonio Business Journal, watch for an opening at the beginning of next year.

Even more B-cycle news: Chicago will have a B-cycle demonstration system with six stations and 100 bikes this summer and into the fall, according to Chicago Now. For $35 for a month, $45 for two months, and $55 for three months residents, commuters and visitors in Chicagoland can taste real bike-sharing.

By far the most sexy bike-sharing is coming to Miami Beach this summer with DecoBike. You don't have to take our word for it, just watch the video below:

images: Guangzhou, Valenbisi, Savona

Russell Meddin bikesharephiladelphia.org

Mexico City Repeals Bike Helmet Law

According to Copenhagenize.com, Mexico City repealed its bike helmet law in February 2010 to make way for Ecobici. Copenhagenize reports, "The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy [ITDP] were instrumental in getting the law repealed but there was also support from within the city government."

With Melbourne's bike-sharing service being the only service in a jurisdiction that requires wearing of a helmet, will Melbourne and Australia follow Mexico City's lead?

image credit: Copenhagenize.com

Minneapolis Makes Three

America's first 3rd generation (high tech) bike-sharing service launched in August 2008 with SmartBike DC, in April 2010 Denver B-cycle launched, and today marks the launch of the U.S.'s third, and largest, bike-sharing service with Minneapolis's Nice Ride Minnesota. The service is beginning with 700 bikes and 65 stations with plans to expand to 1,000 bikes and 75 stations over the coming weeks in downtown and close-in neighborhoods of Minneapolis as well as the University of Minnesota. Due to Minneapolis's harsh winters, Nice Ride will be available for use between April and November. The annual subscription cost is $60, with a student rate of $50.

Nice Ride Minnesota, a non-profit, is the organization operating the service using Public Bicycle System Co.'s technology. According to Nice Ride's website, "Nice Ride Minnesota was formed through the Twin Cities Bike Share Project, an initiative started by Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak and the City of Lakes Nordic Ski Foundation in July 2008. After meeting with stakeholder groups and evaluating bike share systems, the Project prepared a non-profit business plan and sought public and private funding." The service was funded through a Federal Highway Administration grant and the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota Center for Prevention (funded through a tobacco litigation settlement).


With Minneapolis ranking 2nd in the nation for the number of people who commute to work by bicycle as well as being named America's most bike-friendly city by Bicycling Magazine, Minneapolis just got a lot more bike-friendly. Look out Amsterdam and Copenhagen, Minneapolis is pedaling fast to catch up.

image: Nice Ride Minnesota website and Flickr account

Turin Introduces Italy's 2nd Largest Service

The second largest bike-sharing program in Italy started today. [TO]Bike of Turin began opening the stations to its 1,200-bicycle and 116 station service. It will be completed and fully operational by the end of the summer. [TO]Bike will be second in size to Milan's very successful and expanding 1,400-bicycle BikeMi system. [TO]Bike is part of the Bicincittà, which has bike-sharing programs throughout Italy and Switzerland. In Turin, the annual subscription to the system is very reasonable at €20 ($24 USD). There is a weekly pass at €5 ($6 USD) and a daily at €2 ($2.40 USD). As with most bike-sharing systems, the first 1/2 hour of usage is at no charge and then each 1/2 hour thereafter escalates in price.

An interesting requirement to use the system is a prepay on your subscription of a minimum of €5 to cover possible overage charges, and a minimum of €3 ($3.55 USD) for the weekly and daily passes for the same. Turin is hoping to best Milan's first year usage statistics of more than 3 usages per bike per day and 35,000 annual, weekly, and daily subscribers (Cymichipnews.)

images: [TO]Bike

Russell Meddin bikesharephiladelphia.org

Melbourne On Top of Bike-sharing Down Under

Yesterday, Melbourne became the first city on the Australian continent to begin large scale bike-sharing. Starting with 10 stations and 100 bikes, Melbourne Bike Share will have 50 station and 600 bikes later this year. The service is an initiative of the State Government of Victoria, sponsored by the City of Melbourne and is a jointly operated by the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria and Alta Bicycle Share of Philadelphia. It uses the Montréal, Canada based Public Bike System equipment.

The Melbourne program will be extremely important to watch. It is the first large deployment of a bike-sharing system in a country with a mandatory bicycle helmet law. Will this law curtail the spontaneous usage of non-subscribers? Will the need of a helmet discourage usage? Will there ultimately be a work around for bike-shares not to be fined for not having a helmet?

The system has a daily rate of $2.50 AU ($2.10 US), a weekly rate of $8.00 AU ($6.75 US), and a yearly subscription of $50.00 AU ($42.00 US) with the first ½ hour usage at no charge and escalating ½ hour charges thereafter. All in all, the system has very reasonable pricing. According to ABC news, the system cost $5.5 million AU ($4.6 million US). Early reports on the first full day of operation state that Melbourne Bike Share is a real hit with tourists. Maps of nearby shops which rent or sell discounted helmets will be available at each station.

Image: The Age

Russell Meddin bikesharephiladelphia.org

Banking on Bike-sharing: Barclays pays £25 million to name London's System

Giving keen interest in bike-sharing, the world financial giant Barclays Bank buys the naming rights to London's pending "Cycle Hire." According to the London Evening Standard, for £25 million ($36.4 million USD) every one of the 6,000 bikes will carry six Barclay Bank logos. The Bank is so keen on bike-sharing that it wants to add more stations to the planned 400 as to service its banking headquarters in East London. The selling of the naming rights gives a big return on London's investment in bike-sharing even before the system begins operating. Barclays Cycle Hire starts on July 30, 2010. This is a very good development for funding large systems throughout the world.

Other Bike-sharing news form the UK:

Along the banks of the Avon River, the small Hourbike bike-sharing system, see The Bike-sharing Blog September 2009, did not gain much interest in Bristol. The 18-month old system ceased operation this month.

images: London Evening Standard

Russell Meddin bikesharephiladelphia.org

DC and Arlington's New Bike-sharing Service

As MetroBike, LLC is the consultant on the project, I'm very happy -- make that elated -- to report on The Bike-sharing Blog that Washington, DC and Arlington, VA have announced a joint service with over 1,110 bikes at 114 stations and is set for a Fall 2010 launch. The service will use the Bixi system and be operated by Alta Bicycle Share, Inc.

What's news-worthy about this service is that this service will be the largest in the U.S. (Denver had pulled away with this title last month with its launch.) Also, this will be a regional service as DC and Arlington are not just separate jurisdictions, but are in separate states. Ooooooh, aaaaaaah. Yes, it can be done. The contract with the vendor was written with a regional rider to allow other jurisdictions in the region to climb on-board as well to use the same pricing as developed in Arlington through its public tender process. Rather than being through an outdoor advertising contract, as is the SmartBike service presently being offered in DC, the new service was initiated through the public tender process. This gives more flexibility to the jurisdictions to create the type of service they want, but also allows jurisdictions who don't allow outdoor advertising to have bike-sharing. There are not many regional bike-sharing contracts globally (Paris comes to mind), so this is an exciting example of one.

MetroBike, LLC assisted in developing the RFP, locating stations, and is managing Arlington's contract. MetroBike will work towards making the yet-to-be-named bike-sharing service one of the best in the world. Starting in the fall, come visit Arlington and DC and let me know what you think about the service. Both places are very bike-friendly and there is simply no better way to get around than by bike-sharing bike.

Update: Here's the contract on Arlington County's website.


Here's the press release:

For Immediate Release
May 21,2010
Media Contact: Mafara Hobson, EOM 202-727-2807
Karyn Le Blanc, DDOT 202-671-3490
Chris Eatough, BikeArlington 703-247-6981
Alison Cohen, Alta Bicycle Share 215-248-1984
Bérengère Thériault, Public Bike System Company 514-497-9380


District of Columbia and Arlington Launch Regional Bike Sharing Program
· Expansion of popular transit system brings new transportation system to the region
· Will be the largest bike sharing system in the U.S.
· Public invited to participate in naming the bike sharing program

(Washington, D.C.) – Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, Arlington County Board Chairman Jay Fisette and District Department of Transportation Director (DDOT) Gabe Klein today announced a joint effort to expand bike sharing tenfold in the Washington area. Both Arlington and the District have each signed contracts for what will become a regional bike sharing system later this year.

“We are extremely excited to lead the nation once again in bike sharing,” said Mayor Fenty. “The response to the bike sharing program has been unprecedented and we are pleased to be able to join with Arlington in our expansion efforts.”

This expanded, regional system follows the success of SmartBikeDC, launched in 2008. The new system will launch later this year with roughly 1100 bikes at 114 stations and will be largest of its kind in the U.S.

“It will be terrific for residents and visitors to be able to pick up a bike in DC and drop it off in Arlington, and vice versa,” commented Chairman Fisette. “This new system will connect with our existing transit network, and provide even more options for people to get around. This is a wonderful example of regional cooperation.”

“The District continues to move forward with our initiatives to provide a more balanced approach to transportation,” said DDOT Director Klein. “Biking provides a healthy and efficient way to get around town and with the installation of this new system almost anyone who can ride a bike will enjoy the benefits.”

The new system will be similar to the one the Public Bike System Company (PBSC), based in Montreal, produced, commonly known as BIXI. The BIXI system has been running in Montreal since 2009 and will be arriving soon in Minneapolis, London, and Melbourne, Australia. BIXI bike sharing stations are solar powered and use wireless technology to allow for easy installation and adjustments. It may look different, but the BIXI bicycle has many of the same features as the Smartbike: 3-speed, internal hub gears, fenders, chain guard, lights, and a front rack. Annual, monthly, and daily memberships will be available for area residents and visitors.

Alta Bicycle Share will operate the system. Alta Bicycle Share is a US-based company focused on management and operation of bicycle share systems globally. Its sister company, Alta Planning + Design, is the largest bicycle and pedestrian consulting company in the United States. Alta Bicycle Share is implementing or consulting on similar programs in Australia, Europe, China, and other locations in the United States.

Name that bike

The District and Arlington County are also asking the public to get involved by participating in a survey to help pick the name of the new bike sharing system. Go to www.goDCgo.com to vote for your favorite name or to suggest a new one. Everyone gets only one vote but you should vote quickly. The voting will only be open for a limited time and all votes must be submitted by 5 p.m. on June 4, 2010.

Visit the following websites for more information on the partners and their bike programs or products mentioned in this release:

DDOT www.ddot.dc.gov
BikeArlington www.bikearlington.com
Public Bike Share Company – BIXI System www.bixisystem.com
Alta Bicycle Share Company www.altabicycleshare.com


image credit: fotosearch.com

Happy 3rd Birthday!

The Bike-sharing Blog turns 3 today. Happy Birthday to us!

It was just the other day when The Bike-sharing Blog was born, crying and hungry. Its first words were not "mama" and "dada", but rather, "bikebike" and "Copenhagen". Now The Bike-sharing Blog is in toddlerhood and running rampant around the house, getting into everything, and not always picking up after itself. At first there were just a few words in its vocabulary, like Bicing and Velib', but now there are nearly 200 systems all over the globe.

Thanks for reading and your support of The Bike-sharing Blog, making it the #1 website internationally for bike-sharing info -- yes, even more popular and much more accurate than Wikipedia! As the Blog is moving into its 4th year, Russell and I will continue posting news from around the world on what's going on, helping you advocate for bike-sharing in your city through info exchange. Continue to share what is going on in your part of the world, so we could post about it on The Bike-sharing Blog to share with others. As we all learn from the best practices of bike-sharing, so can we make our cities better, healthier, cleaner, and more liveable.

The first three years have been great and the next three should be even more fun.

Happy Birthday!

Sincerely,
Paul DeMaio
MetroBike, LLC
Washington, DC, USA

Russell Meddin
Bike Share Philadelphia
Philadelphia, PA, USA

image credit: pinkcakebox.com

Bike-sharing Cost-Benefit Analysis

Every now and then, we at The Bike-sharing Blog will get a question from a researcher on cost-benefit analysis of bike-sharing. Now we have one to share! The Washington, D.C. region competed for a Federal funding opportunity (more) for its upcoming regional bike-sharing service, unfortunately to no avail. But that doesn't mean the data ain't good!

The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (the D.C. area's regional metropolitan planning organization) has posted the bike-sharing service's cost-benefit analysis. The analysis looks positive as the potential revenues generated by this service would far outweigh the costs. A sustainable bike-sharing service for the D.C. region, and other regions in the U.S. and abroad, looks probable.

Bike-sharing geeks, enjoy!

image credit: HSE