The Bike-sharing World Mid-November 2012

NORTH AMERICA:
USA

San Diego, California:

Decobike at Petco Ball Park San Diego

San Diego is to be decorated with bike-sharing from Decobike.

Today the City of San Diego announced in a press release that it has picked Decobike, the master of ocean side bike-sharing, to provide the city with a new program. Covering the area stretching from La Jolla to Downtown San Diego along the coast, there will be 1,800 bikes in 180 stations to start. Projected schedule to launch the system is Fall 2013. It is to be a comprehensive system with about 4 stations on average per 2.5 km² (one square mile) and a bicycle to resident ratio of about 1 to 155 in the areas served.. This will position San Diego to become one of North America's most utilized bike sharing programs. With Decobike picked for San Diego, Southern California is no longer being considered a reservation of Bike Nation.

Fullerton, California:

Speaking of Bike Nation, more of the Los Angeles basin will be covered by Bike Nation. This week Fullerton, California picked Bike Nation to develop it's bike-sharing pilot program of 165 bikes in 15 stations. It hopes to expand this program to 515 bikes in 50 stations in two phases. No start date was stated in the announcement. Bike Nation now has programs planned for Anaheim, Fullerton, Los Angeles, Venice and Westwood California.

Long Beach, New York:

Green Decobike Station on shattered boardwalk

Speaking of DecoBike, when Hurricane Sandy hit Long Beach, NY, it tore up the ocean side boardwalk, but left this green Decobike Station standing. Before the hard hurricane winds, Decobike removed the bikes and put them into safe storage. All the stations have survived, but it will be a little time before the boardwalk is replaced and the Decobikes will begin rolling again.

New York City, New York:

Citi Bike Storage Building 293

Speaking of Hurricane Sandy, reports in the New York Times and New York Post indicate that the first floor storage area of the Brooklyn Navy Yard building where the hundreds of bikes and stations for New York's Citi Bike program are housed, took in between 1.5 and 2 meters (4 to 6 feet) of water with the Hurricane's ocean surge. A NYCDOT spokesperson indicated that there was damage to the equipment, but it was too early to determine the extent of the problem.
We all hope that there will be no further delay in deployment of Citi Bikes.

Update: According to the Montreal Gazette, a spokesperson for the equipment supplier to the Citi Bike program said that hundreds of bikes and many stations suffered damage from the hurricane. The article also indicated that before the hurricane, ongoing test of the program's software, which had delayed the start of Citi Bike in July, were not going well.

Boston, Massachusetts:

Boston's regional bike-share, The Hubway, held a contest to determine the best visualization of the trip data for 500,000 of its rides. The Hubway Data Visualization Challenge has announce the winners. The First Place award goes to Ta Chiraphadhanakul. All the other winners can been seen on the Data Visualization web page. There were 67 entries all of which are very good. We're sorry our friend Ollie didn't make the top 10!


images: NBC 7, Decobike, Brooklyn Navy Yard, Hubway, Bike Nation

Russell Meddin       bikesharephiladelphia.org

Copenhagen is getting ready to GOBIKE

GOBIKE - Copenhagen's Bycyklen Replacement

Just after terminating its 17-year old coin-operated Bycyklen bike-share system, Copenhagen City Hall has changed its mind and will fund a new system for 2013 according to The Copenhagen Post. The new Bycyklen is GOBIKE! 

GOBIKE is the newest version of the Urbikes system, from a company based in Barcelona, Spain. There are a few innovations scheduled for the Copenhagen system. The most intriguing is the utilization of some of the research from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology SENSEable City Laboratory programs: CopenCycle and The Copenhagen Wheel. GOBIKE riders will have real time information at their figure tips with a touch screen computer between the handle bars as they negotiate the one of the world's leading cycle-friendly cities.

The on-board computer will plan your route with a map display. It can give real-time transport schedule information with ticketing integration. It can furnish information on activities in areas through which you are cycling. Real-time bike and docking station availability is displayed as well.

To make it easy to find and take a bike, a smart phone app will locate the nearest bike and allow you to reserve it. Whether or not the app will reserve an empty slot to return the bike is yet to be seen! This system will really be the beginning of 4th generation bike-sharing.

The city will install 2,000 GOBIKES at bike-share stations near public transport hubs to achieve seamless transfers from train, tram, and bus. The bikes have a shaft drive instead of a chain system and puncture-proof solid tires to reduce maintenance needs. The system is scheduled to stay open all year round.

Keep reading The Bike-sharing Blog for GOBIKE's inauguration as it happens. 

The Bike-sharing World Map is the #1 global resource for bike-sharing systems. Keep up-to-date with the changing bike-sharing world by visiting us.

images: GOBIKE

Russell Meddin    bikesharephiladelphia.org

Capital Bikeshare Cost Recovery in Arlington, VA

How did Arlington’s portion of Capital Bikeshare do in its second year of service? Are Arlingtonians and visitors using the service? How many trips are made and how much was spent? These questions and a lot more are discussed in Arlington County’s “FY12 Summary Report on Capital Bikeshare”. The report’s highlights include the service’s continued cost recovery growth, annual key indicator data, member survey analysis, and accomplishments.

Not to spoil the conclusion for you, but yes, the service had a good year. The County expanded Capital Bikeshare throughout the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor during this time period, more than doubling its number of stations from 18 to 41 and bikes from 123 to 286. With the additional stations and bikes came an increased cost recovery ratio – the percentage of revenues divided by expenses. Fiscal Year 2011 had a 53% cost recovery ratio and FY12 saw an increase to 64%. 

Arlington’s portion of the service had $411,000 in revenues from memberships, user fees, and sponsorships and $473,000 in operations expenses, plus $170,000 in management and marketing – totaling $643,000 in expenses. The number of trips starting and ending in Arlington increased by about 280% to 88,613 (trips starting) and 86,438 (trips ending). The number of miles ridden in Arlington increased 343% to about 95,000 miles, which helped remove nearly 64,000 pounds of CO2 from the air. The service also got us more active and we burned over 4.1 million calories to be fit.

The Report also discusses our accomplishments, such as our partnership with Bank on DC, Transit Development Plan, map panels design updated, marketing campaign, and call center improvements. The report can be found online at BikeArlington.com. 

(cross-posted on BikeArlington.com)

Bycyklen is Dead. Long Live Bycyklen!

The City of Cyclists won't be modernizing its bike-sharing service any time soon due to a decision by the Copenhagen City Council. They recently voted not to fund a modernization of one of the earliest bike-sharing services, Bycyklen, which was born in 1995 and is still in operation. Rather than smart cards and solar stations, this service uses a coin deposit lock and the honor system which had worked reasonably well in its early years, but hasn't been maintained properly by its present operator -- AFA JCDecaux. 

According to The Copenhagen Post, Ayfer Baykal, Copenhagen's deputy mayor for technical and environmental affairs, "defended the city’s decision not to invest in the cycle sharing scheme this year.

“They’re junk, I agree with [the Danish Cyclist Federation] on that issue. The city bike scheme, as it exists today, needs to be updated. It is old and outdated. But right now we need to prioritize.”

Deputy Mayor Baykal continues, “The city bike scheme is primarily for people coming from outside the city because Copenhageners have their own bicycles. I have chosen to prioritize better cycling conditions in Copenhagen through improved bicycle lanes and bicycle parking instead of the bicycle sharing system.”

What better way to help tourists experience the city than the way Copenhageners do - by bike? If a Bycyklen or other bike-share bike isn't available to a tourist, he or she could just as easily use a taxi or rent a car. To the environment, it doesn't matter whether the pollution comes from a resident or a tourist, but rather that the pollution is created. Also, tourists are the most profitable user segment as they contribute more financially than residents do through day membership or per minute fees.

While Copenhageners are bike-friendly, do they always bring their bike with them? I too live in a city with a growing bike mode share and frequently go by bike, but sometimes I just don't have my bike with me. The local bike-share service, Capital Bikeshare, frequently helps me get from point A to point B. I could otherwise take the train or drive.

The 150 million Danish kroner (26 million USD) will instead be used to make cycling improvements in the city, which is not a bad second place project, however, a piece of reality in how local governments are stretched thin for funding for many deserving projects. Additionally, the end of Bycyklen is near as the contract with AFA JCDecaux for the service expires October 31. Not sure what will happen after that with bike-sharing.

On a personal note, Bycyklen got me interested and excited about bike-sharing back in 1995 as I read about the new Bycyklen on-line and went to Copenhagen for a semester abroad to learn about bike-sharing and this quaint modern bike-friendly city which I, in turn, fell in love with. I was back last year in a professional capacity to work with the Cities of Copenhagen and Frederiksberg and DSB in developing the public tender for a new operator and vendor. Hopefully the Council will see the value of modernizing the bike-sharing service not only to regain a worldwide leadership in bike-sharing that it once had.

The Bike-sharing World - Mid-September 2012

EUROPE

United Kingdom:
London:

Barclays Cycle Hire is planning to increase its size by 25% with an expansion into west London next year. Speaking to the press, Mayor Boris Johnson said, "Every Londoner should be able to take advantage of our hugely popular and iconic Barclays Cycle Hire scheme which has already brought untold benefits to London's commuters, businesses, and visitors alike." The plan will bring 2,400 more bikes in 200 new stations to boroughs of Wandsworth, Hammersmith and Fulham, Lambeth and Kensington, and Chelsea according to Transport for London.

France:
Strasbourg:

A colloquium, "Bike-sharing: Where are we now?" was held in Strasbourg this week. Representatives from all over France as well as parts of Germany and Switzerland participated. One of the interesting concepts that was discussed is the idea that bike-sharing is a new form of communication. The economist Frédéric Héran, who teaches at the University of Lille, posits that bike-sharing is a way our cities "communicate" about themselves showing that they are vibrant and "trendy." There were also discussions on the change bike-sharing has brought to adhering cities. Most of which were very positive. There were also lively discussions on the relative cost of programs to cities.

Paris:

A Paris police spokesman said that "a large number of investigators" were working to solve a reported form of "class warfare" vandalism to Paris' wildly successful bike-share system. After 50 Vélib' tires were slashed, according to the report, a group claimed that it planned to vandalize the bikes in all areas of the city that were not in working class districts. The police do not view these claims to be inflated and are working tirelessly to stop any more incidents. 


NORTH AMERICA:
Mexico:
Mexico City:

Seventy-two more Ecobici stations are up and running in Mexico City this week as the system opens the start of its Phase II expansion. By the end of the year there will 275 Ecobici stations with 4,000 bicicletas rolling around more areas of the City. On Wednesday, the Head of Government for the Federal District of Mexico City, Marcelo Ebrard, cut the ribbon to open this huge expansion of the Ecobici system according to a city press release. With that one snip of the scissors, Ecobici more than doubled its size. It is hopeful that the ridership will almost triple to 73,000 trips a day with this expansion. The system is open only to residents of Mexico City and had been limited no more than 30,000 subscribers. Phase II is expected to allow up to 100,000 subscribers according to Iván De la Lanza of the Ministry of Environment of Mexico City.

USA:
Madison, Wisconsin; Denver, Colorado and Boulder, Colorado:

The B-connected Reciprocity Initiative now includes three B-cycle Cities. Annual subscribers to the Madison, Wisconsin, Boulder, Colorado and Denver, Colorado can use their membership card to take bikes in each other cities. The overage time charges, if any, are at the renting location rates. According to the press release, B-cycle hopes to extend this B-connected Reciprocity Initiative to more of the B-cycle systems in the USA.

Long Beach, California:

Bike Nation the dominate bike-sharing force in the Los Angels Basin has debuted its second generation bike-share bike even before its first generation has hit the streets. In a press release this week Bike Nation shows its new "Made in USA" bike. It expects to create more than 150 new jobs making these bikes to fulfills its plans for the 2,500 bikes in 250 stations for Long Beach, California and the 4,000 bikes in 400 stations for Downtown Los Angeles, Hollywood, Westwood and around Venice Beach, California.  Bike Nation's first deployment of a system which was to begin in Anaheim, California at the end of July, should actually begin operation this month but using the older Bike Nation bike. In Anaheim, there will be 100 bikes in 10 stations to begin, with a goal to increase the size of the system as demand warrants. 

Washington, DC:

For all of you who just can't get enough bike-sharing information, the Pedestrian and Bicycle  Information Center just released the report: Bike Sharing in The United States: State of the Practice and Guide to Implementation. This 68-page report is a good read. The report is available here in PDF form.

ASIA:
Israel:
Tel Aviv:

Reports out of Tel Aviv are that it will not be fun to use Tel-O-Fun on Wednesday, September 26th. Although there is now a compromise, according to The Jerusalem Post, the Israeli Minister of Transportation threatened to stop all funding to Tel-O-Fun if it did not close down for the religious holiday of Yom Kippur -- an important Jewish holiday, on that date. The Jewish religion forbids work on Yom Kippur. The compromise is that on Yom Kippur only annual subscribers will be allowed to use the system; casual members will not.


The World:

The Bike-sharing World Map is the #1 resource for bike-sharing systems. It shows new systems which come online which might not be covered in The Bike-sharing Blog. Keep up with the changing bike-sharing world by frequent visits to The Bike-sharing World Map.

images: TfL,Strasbourg, Mexico, B-cycle, BikeNation, Tel-O-Fun

Russell Meddin    bikesharephiladelphia.org

The Bike-sharing World - First Week of September 2012

NORTH AMERICA:
CANADA:

                                     Montreal

As summer comes to a close, the folks at bIXI Montréal have come up with a great new subscription membership plan for the occasional user. A bIXI key is issued with an online registration for $5 CDN ($5 US). Each day (24 hours) in which the key is used the subscriber is charged $5 and gets an initial ride time of 45 minutes with no extra charge for each use. This is a $2 savings over the regular day access rate which only gives a 30-minute initial ride time for each use during the 24 hours. The best part is that having the bIXI key eliminates using your credit card kiosk each time a bike is taken. 

Why has this taken so long to implement!!! When London first started, this was the only way a casual user could sign up for a day pass. This is a great plan for frequent visitors to the city who just can't utilize the value of monthly or yearly subscriptions. What about Toronto, Ottawa-Gatineau, London again, Minneapolis-St.Paul, Chattanooga, the Boston region, and the Washington, DC region? When do they get this plan?

USA:
                          Various Cities:   Crowd Sourcing Maps

Bike Nation - Downtown Los Angeles

Capital Bikeshare - Washington, DC region

Cincinnati Bike Share

Citi Bike - New York City

Bike Share Philly

Portland Bike Share

As new bike-sharing systems begin or older ones expand, the question of where to put bike-sharing stations needs to be answered. There are formulas that weigh proximity to transportation hubs, shopping areas, and residential density that are used for indicators. Following the in-place bicycling infrastructure as a guide is also used. Since the prospective users are the ones to be served, the best resource for bike-sharing station location is the users! The users know here they need stations at the start and the end of their journeys. Theses crowdsourcing maps are the answer to the question. They ask the users where stations should be placed. Developed originally for Capital Bikeshare in the Washington, D.C. region, their popularity for bike-sharing has grown quickly as shown above.

Quick updates:
Bike Nation will soon be fully operational in Anaheim. They recently won approval from the Long Beach, California, City Council to build a 2,500-bicycle/250-station service to go along with the installations planned in the Los Angeles basin areas of Downtown L.A., Venice, Hollywood, and Westwood.

Greenville, South Carolina has issued a bike-share RFP. The hot summer has made the Southeast USA a hot bed for bike-sharing.

ASIA:
CHINA:
                         Hangzhou

After an exhausting ride with just one minute to spare before those extra charges begin, it's great to know that you can dock your bike-share and get a refreshing drink or a quick snack. Well, the Hangzhou Public Bike Service thinks its users want that. They have commissioned 200 food and beverage kiosks to be installed next to some of the 2260 bike-share stations throughout Hangzhou according to a recent report.

Also out of Hangzhou there have been a few reports of bicycle failures due to rust. According to China Gxnews, a woman was thrown from a bike-share when the front fork collapsed. The report said the metal of the fork was so rusted that it was "paper thin". The oldest of the bikes have been in service for three years. Many are now being replaced.

THE WORLD

The Bike-sharing World Map is the #1 resource for bike-sharing systems. It shows new systems which come online which might not be covered in The Bike-sharing Blog. Keep up with the changing bike-sharing world by frequent visits to The Bike-sharing World Map.


images: bIXI, Food kiosk

Russell Meddin    bikesharephiladelphia.org

Bike-sharing Creates Job

With the U.S. political conventions next month and Presidential election in November, there is much talk about the nation's economy and job creation. During this time of budget cuts to important Federal and state programs, it is important to consider how the bike-sharing industry is contributing to the local economy of the cities and towns where these services exist and the jobs they provide. In addition to being employment, these jobs are green, improving the local environment and air quality. Right from their start-up, bike-sharing services can contribute 10 - 20 jobs to the local economy for smaller implementations and 30 - 50 jobs for larger ones.

A sample of bike-sharing services in the U.S. and Europe shows the following full-time and part-time jobs created for the various services. (Click on the chart below to enlarge.)

Not only has bike-sharing become a job creator, but it has also helped people get to their jobs. With annual memberships between $50 - $80, people are getting to work fast, adding daily activity to their lives to stay fit, and saving money. In fact, survey analysis by Capital Bikeshare in the Washington, D.C. region, suggests that members saved $819 per year on personal travel costs which is an annual savings of $15 million among the service's 18,000 at the time of the survey.

New York City Postpones Bike-share until March 2013

In a press release Friday morning, the New York City Department of Transportation has made it official that the city will not have Citi Bike until March 2013. After much speculation, (see The Bike-sharing Blog on August 5th and August 9th) the 2012 summer saga of bike-sharing in New York City is hibernating before it even wakes up!

Update: On a WOR radio program this week, New York Mayor Bloomberg said,"Unfortunately there are software issues......The software doesn’t work. Duh! Until it works, we’re not going to put it (the program) out until it does work."

Russell Meddin     bikesharephiladelphia.org

MetroBike is Hiring!

Want to work in a field that's rapidly changing and changing the world? Then come work for MetroBike! We're hiring for a Bicycle Planner in our Washington, D.C. office. Individuals with bike-sharing, cycle planning, and car-sharing experience are encouraged to apply. For more information, visit MetroBike.net.

The Bike-sharing World - Second Week of August 2012

NORTH AMERICA:
USA:

      Boston, Brookline, Cambridge, and Somerville, Massachusetts 

Installation of new station in Somerville

August 8, 2012 marks the first major expansion of The Hubway in the Boston metropolitan area. The Hubway is now a regional system rather than a city system. There are a total of 77  bike-share stations of which 64 are in Boston, two in Brookline, eight in Cambridge and three in Somerville. By the end of this season, the regional system will include 111 stations and 1,100 bikes. To celebrate, according to the Boston Globe, the system had an all day "Rolling Lauch Party" with events in each of the municipalities. With each new area having its own new stations and a new web presence, the system is now just called The Hubway instead of New Balance Hubway.

 

Speaking of expansions, over this summer, both Nice Ride Minnesota and Capital Bikeshare have made extensive increases in the amount of bikes and stations in their respective systems. Nice Ride, now in both Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, has gone from 700 bikes in 65 stations at its start to around 1,350 bikes in about 145 stations today. Capital Bikshare in Arlington, Virginia and Washington, D.C. started with 1,100 bikes in 114 stations and now has close to 1,500 bikes in 179 stations.

                               Denver, Colorado

Make a reservation for a Denver B-cycle. Is this the start of something really big in the evolution of bike-sharing? For the upcoming Denver Ciclovia, Viva Streets 2012, on August 12, Denver B-cycle is taking advance reservations for annual members to put a bike on hold. Just fill out this form with the number from your B-cycle card. The Bike-sharing Blog would like to hear from people who use this special service about your experience.

                              Chattanooga, Tennessee

An article in The New York Daily News seems to imply that the Chattanooga Bicycle Transit System is where the future of bike-sharing for New York City and even the world will be found. It could be that Chattanooga will be the testing ground for new technologies for systems the same as Citi Bike. So let us sit back and relax and watch what unfolds in this story one transaction at a time.

                             Chicago, Illinois

                                                              photo Lloyd Alter

Bike-sharing will not be coming to Chicago before next year. "Rather than rush to get the bikes on the street … we are looking to launch in the spring so we can ensure that we do this right, and have the infrastructure and planning fully in place so the program is a success from Day One," read the message from Peter Scales, spokesperson for Chicago's Department of Transportation, sent to the Chicago Sun Times. The paper also reports that he denied that the delay was connected to the ongoing investigation by the Chicago Inspector General to the claim, by a losing bidder, that the contract awarded for the City's bike-share system was tainted by a conflict of interest. He also denied that although Chicago is planning to use the same system as New York City, the delay there did not affect the delay in Chicago.

CANADA:
                          Quebec



Although Citi Bikes are not rolling along the streets of New York City so far this summer as planned, they are rolling off the assembly line at a very fast pace. These smiling workers at Devinci Cycles put un peu d'amour (some love) in each of the bikes they are sending to New York City.

EUROPE:
IRELAND:
                        Dublin

Dublinbikes will start to triple its size from 550 bikes to 1,500 bikes by the end of this year. If all goes as planned, according to The Irish Times, 56 new stations will be installed before the end of 2012. This is to be the beginning of a five-year plan to increase the size of one of the most successful bike-sharing systems in the world to 5,000 bikes in 300 stations. This is not bad for city with a population of a little over 500,000 people. There are currently around 46,000 long-term subscribers to dublinbikes. Daily usage is still around 13 times per bike per day according to Cycling in Dublin. That's high by any standard.

images: Somerville, Nice Ride, The Bike sharing Blog, Denver, Summer Stock, Broadway, Performance Bikes, dublinbikes

Russell Meddin         bikesharephiladelphia.org

The Bike-sharing World - First Week of August 2012

EUROPE:
UK:
                                     Olympic Fever

            
                                      London

From our good friend Oliver O'Brien are instructions on how to use Barclays Cycle Hire to travel to the London Summer Olympics. It is not as easy as it should be, as there are no Barclays stations allowed at the Olympic Park because Barclays Bank is not the Official Financial Institution sponsor of the 2012 Summer Olympic Games. In his "How to 'Boris Bike' To Olympic Park" he also tells which entry gates have the least wait time to get into the Park. Oliver O'Brien is the creator of the Bike Share Maps which are great companions to The World Bike-sharing Map.

So if you are in London this week for the Olympics, and you want to bike-share to the games, rely on O'Brien' s tips and Map to get you to the Olympic sites.

POLAND

                                 Warsaw

As mentioned in the last week's post, Warsaw, Poland began Veturilo -- Warsaw Public Bicyles on August 1, 2012. Veturilo means vehicle or transportation in Esperanto. The name was picked through an internet contest.

Initial reports indicate that over 7,000 subscribers have registered in just a few days. It costs 10zł ($3 US) to register with no expiration date. The first 20 minutes of usage is at no additional charge. Between 20 minutes and one hour, the cost is 1zł (30¢ US). The next hour is 3zł (90¢ US), the third hour is 5zł ($1.50 US), and each additional hour costs 7zł ($2.10 US). Veturilo is part of the nextbike system.

NORTH AMERICA:

USA

                      Nashville, Tennessee

This week the City of Nashville, Tennessee announced it will begin a new automated 3rd generation - 200 bike, 20 station - bike-share program with B-cycle this fall. What makes this interesting is that Nashville has a successful 'no fee' 1st generation system, Nashville GreenBikes, which is to remain in place. This could be a great opportunity for Nashville to emulate some European bike-share cities which have both subscription short term bike-sharing (VLS - vélo libre service) and long term municipal bike borrowing (VLD - vélo location longue durée). With VLD, residents of a city have the opportunity to borrow a bicycle at little or no charge for a term of one week to one year. There is generally a refundable damage/theft deposit and in some cases the terms are renewable. The borrower is totally responsible for the bicycle and maintenance during the term. These bikes are not part of the short term system and cannot use the docking stations. The idea behind these bicycle loans, as in 3rd generation bike-sharing, is to facilitate bicycle-use for transportation. VLD is also viewed as an entry into bicycle ownership for those who initially cannot afford it. A February 2012 article in  The Bike-sharing Blog wrote about the Bordeaux, France VLD program, Bicycle City of Bordeaux.

                         New York, New York

                               

This was to be the first week of the New York City bike-share program, Citi Bike. New York's ciclovia, Summer Streets, would have showcased the new system. The stated launch date for Citi Bike was July 31, 2012. The anticipation in North America was great. As the first really large program, New York was to have 10,000 bikes in 600 stations in its first year. However, in mid-July, the The New York Times reported Citi Bike would not start as scheduled.

In a radio interview also according to The New York Times, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg attributed the delay to, “software, plain and simple.” He said, “The company that’s managing it changed vendors to have new software,” referring to Alta Bicycle Share, the system's operating company. He continued, “and it just doesn’t work yet.”

In Chattanooga, Tennessee, the Chattanooga Bicycle Transit System, using the exact same equipment and software as the New York system, also operated by Alta Bicycle Share, is up and running and has been for almost two weeks. The software seems to work there.

The hardware and software supplier is Public Bike Systems Company (PBSC). When asked about the problem, according to The Montreal Gazette, the PBSC spokesperson Michel Philibert said he could not comment on the delay in New York. Asked if New York’s delay is related to the software problem, Philibert said, “What I can tell you is we are in line with our delivery schedule – we are delivering the bikes and stations,” he said. “We are respecting our contract with Alta Bike Share.”

To add to the confusion, The New York Post alluded to "inside information": one insider said the program might be shelved until next spring if the delay reaches late October. “No one wants to do this in November,” the insider said. “You’d be looking at Spring [2013].” The Post quotes a source saying that Alta Bicycle Share has asked the lead sponsor to accelerate payments of $3.5 million in case the program is delayed until next spring and runs out of cash.

For all of us expecting New York bike-sharing, this is all very curious. But take heart, if you are in New York City for Summer Streets, a vacation, for business or resident, you can satisfy your bike-share desire by using Decobike in Long Beach, New York, which is just east of Brooklyn. It is a quick train ride there and it's on the ocean. You can enjoy the bikes and beach!

images Limcorp, Suprageogarphy,  Veturilo, Nashville B-cycle, Nashville Green Bikes, citibikenyc

Russell Meddin     bikesharephiladelphia.org