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

Alta lands Chicagoland Bike Share

 

Alta Bicycle Share reaches new heights today with its selection as the vendor for the Chicago bike-sharing 3,000 bike - 300 station system planned for this summer. With Chicago, Alta will garner management operations for the largest bike-sharing systems in the US: New York City and Washington, DC. Both New York and Chicago seem to be working on the same deployment schedule. It will an interesting race to see which city is first to make bike-sharing sizzle this summer! According to The Chicago Tribune & The Mayor's Press Release, the expected cost for the Chicago program is $21 million. Most of the money is coming from the US government in the form of grants with only $3 million coming from the City. The Chicago bike-share plan calls for an expansion in 2014 to 5,000 bikes in 500 stations.
images: Alta, Chicago

Russell Meddin   bikesharephiladelphia.org

The Bike-sharing World: Last Week of September 2011

Europe:
Bike-sharing cleans up in the United Kingdom. This morning is the official launch of Bike in Bath. This 58-bike, 4-station system has been in trials in Bath, England for two weeks. Though small, it is of big interest because the system is equipped and operated by Bicincittà. This will be the first Bicincittà system in the UK and complements the 70 bike-sharing programs it operates in Italy. The system is funded by the European Union-backed Civitas Renaissance initiative, which helps cities across Europe achieve more sustainable, clean, and energy-efficient urban transport systems.

Mid-September brought a new bike-sharing program to France's 4th largest city, Lille. V'Lille merges both a self-service component and longer terms bike rentals into the same system. There are 1,100 bikes in 110 self-service stations. The system will expand in April  of next year to serve not only Lille, but the contiguous cities of Roubaix, Tourcoing, and Villeneuve-d'Ascq. 

Only around 50% of the stations have kiosks which take credit cards to sign up for the one-day or seven-day subscription on the spot. All subscription periods are available online. The costs are reasonable: a day pass is €1.40 ($1.85 US), a week is €7 ($9.40 US), and the year is €36 ($48.50 US). Go over the first free 30 minutes and it costs €1 ($1.35 US) for each additional 1/2 hour. 

Don't want a self-service bike, but one to keep and use like a personal bike without buying one? V'Lille has 3,000 bikes to rent for one month at €5 ($6.70 US), 9 months at €27 ($36.40 US), and one year at €36. The bikes can be rented with accessories like a child seat. The long-term rental bikes cannot be docked at the stations.  

North America:


Within days of the announcement of the NYC Bikeshare program, Chicago, Illinois issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) for a 3,000-bike system to be operational by June 2012. This RFP has a very aggressive time table to put Chicago's system on the ground close to the time of New York City's. Chicago wants to increase the size of its system to have 5,000 bikes in 500 stations within 24 months of operation. It will be entertaining to watch this bicycle race between these two cities.


November should bring two new bike-sharing programs to the United States. Broward B-cycle serving Broward County, Florida, which includes Fort Lauderdale, is readying around 200 bikes to give south Florida its second bike-sharing system. Chattanooga, Tennessee is also readying  Bike Chattanooga to launch with 300 bikes throughout 30 stations. We hope that more southern cities in the United States will not be very far behind.


images: v'lille, BBC,


Russell Meddin     bikesharephiladelphia.org

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

JCDecaux Chicago

JCDecaux wants Chicago.

According to an article titled "New option for city bike rental program" in the February 26 Chicago Sun-Times, JCDecaux has offered to renegotiate its 7-year old bus shelter, newspaper box, and kiosk deal with the city to incorporate a bike-sharing component. "The Daley administration is entertaining the offer from JCDecaux after a 'request for proposals' last year attracted only two competitors. Neither JCDecaux nor London-based OYBike met the mayor's mandate to operate a bike rental program 'at low-cost or no-cost' to Chicago taxpayers," the newspaper reports.

"Rob Sadowsky, executive director of the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation, said he hopes the rental fee will be 'similar to Paris, where the first half-hour is free and it's $1.50 for every 30 minutes after that. It can't just be a bike rental for tourists. It has to be attractive financially -- and competitive with the CTA (Chicago Transit Authority) -- so people see it as a true transportation option.'

The renegotiation would provide more bus shelters, newspaper boxes, and kiosks in order to pay for a bike-sharing fleet of 1,000 bikes at 80 downtown stations with reasonable usage fees.

The Second City is blossoming into one of America's most bike-friendly large cities and bike-sharing would push them closer to the goal of being the most. Um, how are things looking over there in the First City - New York?

image credit: Stuck in Customs

European-style bike-sharing programs head to US

An article titled "European-style bike-sharing programs head to US" by AFP has information about three programs, those of Washington, D.C.; Chicago; and Arlington, Virginia, that are on their way. Washington, D.C.'s program is to launch in March or April of 2008 with 120 bikes at 10 stations. Small, but hey, it'll be the first in North America. D.C. contracted for the 120 bikes four years ago when it released its Request for Proposals for its bus shelter contract. Four years ago, a fleet of 120 was impressive. With larger and successful programs like Velib' (10,600 bikes now with 20,600 planned) and Bicing (3,000 bikes now with 6,000 planned), the relative size of a small program has shifted. D.C. officials are already considering how to expand the size of their program.

Also, Chicago is considering bids from JCDecaux and OYBike for its program. Both companies have yet to enter the U.S. market, however, JCDecaux's programs in Paris and Lyon are much more visible than OYBike's in the London suburb of Hammersmith & Fulham. Unless OYBike had a very appetizing offer for Chicago, JCDecaux's program is rather sexy.

Finally, Arlington, Virginia is considering another model for the provision of bike-sharing - the government provides the service.

image: Saul Loeb, AFP

Paris' Popular Bike Program may Inspire Others

A glowing report was on NPR's "Weekend Edition Saturday" showcasing Velib'. The report states, "Launched in July, the 'Velib' bikes were part of the Paris mayor's idea of making the city more ecologically friendly and reducing traffic. Just two months on, the self-service bicycles have clocked some 3.7 million rides and seem to be changing the way people get around the city."

Also, Chicago had a Request for Proposals out which ended a few months ago looking for a company to provide bike-sharing service of 500 or 1,500 bikes to the city. Chicago's mayor Richard Daley visited Paris this week to go for a spin. "Daley says he thinks the bikes could work in Chicago."

photo credit: NPR