Tehran's "Bike House" Shines Green

Reducing traffic on congested streets, clearing pollution from smog-laden overcast skies, and completing that last kilometer to your destination from transit points are the accepted benefits of bike-sharing no matter the political situation or location in the world. Bike-sharing has become an integral part of many cities' green economy. It comes as no surprise that even in the Islamic Republic of Iran, bike-sharing is thriving.

Tehran’s “Bike House” bikes are rolling across the city. The system, less than a year old, is funded by Tehran’s municipal government. It is currently only in one of Tehran’s 22 administrative districts. Although a 2nd generation system, there are 12 “Houses” in this district, each with around 40 bikes. The yearly subscription cost is the equivalent of $2 US, and allows the use of a bike for up to four hours at a time. In less than a year, there have been 6,000 subscriptions sold. There are larger 3rd generation systems in the world, which do not have a subscription to bike ratio as big as that.

For many, “Bike House” has made travel through the congested streets of Tehran fast and convenient. Unfortunately, because of Islamic and cultural considerations, women can only be green with envy because they not allowed to participate in this bike-sharing!

Image and source credit: Ramin Mostaghim / Los Angeles Times

Russell Meddin - bikesharephiladelphia.org/

Copenhagen Open Design Competition for a new Bike-sharing system

What does the one of the world’s most bike-friendly cities do when it wants to upgrade its 2nd generation bike-sharing system to a modern 21st Century system? Well, all you bike-sharing geeks, consultants, vendors, manufacturers, and wannabe experts, here is your chance to pedal into the breakaway. Copenhagen is having a world-class International Design Competition to create a world-class bike-sharing system!

The mayor of Copenhagen, Klaus Bondam, has put out the Invitation announcing, "In 1995, Copenhagen was the first city to introduce a modern bike share system – Bycyklen - or The City Bike. Much has happened since this Bike Share v. 1.0 was launched and, over the past ten years, many large cities now enjoy exciting, new bike share systems. From Barcelona to Beijing, a new generation of bike share systems have blossomed. To the delight of locals, tourists and commuters alike.

Copenhagen is a unique, world-class cycling city and this fact should be reflected in the city’s bike share system. Our city is the best example of how the bicycle can become the preferred form of transport in a modern city. An attractive and modern bike share system can contribute to strengthening Copenhagen’s bicycle culture. Therefore The City of Copenhagen is pleased to launch an open design competition in order to determine how a bike share system v. 3.0 would look and work in the city in the future."

Here are the rules and deadlines. You only have until mid-November to take this challenge! When other cities put out Request for Information or Request for Proposals for bike-sharing, Copenhagen keeps in forefront of world cycling with this International Design Competition.

Russell Meddin bikesharephiladelphia.org

Before Copenhagen - Early 2nd Generation Programs

Even before Copenhagen launched its Bycyklen (i.e., "City Bikes") in 1995, Denmark had been experimenting with 2nd generation bike-sharing systems for a few years. The cities of Farso and Grena had 2nd generation programs as early as 1991 with Nakskov launching in August 1993 with a fleet of 26 bicycles and parking at four stations.

The image above taken from "The Bicycle in Denmark" published by the Danish Ministry of Transport in 1993 shows what appears to have a coin-deposit lock which when a coin was inserted, would push out the key, thereby unlocking the bike from the station. This publication mentions the Eurobike company which worked with Nakskov on its bike-sharing program. My guess is Copenhagen's bikes were based on these bikes, but with improvements to make them more utilitarian. Copenhagen's bikes were developed by a different designer - Cycle Importers of Scandanavia (CIOS).

In other Copenhagen news, as the 2nd generation coin-deposit lock is prone to theft, Copenhagen is considering 3rd generation models to implement in the future.


image credit: Danish Ministry of Transport