North America's Newest and Largest Year-round Service Opens in México City

February 16th at 8:00 AM, Mayor Marcelo Ebrard of Mexico City will launch "The System of Individual Transportation," Ecobici, the largest year-round bike-sharing system in North America, with over 1,100 bikes and 82 stations. The Federal District of Mexico City will hold the coveted title of the largest system in the western hemisphere until Montréal wakes up from its winter hibernation in May.

Still 1,100 bikes is nothing to snooze at! The Bike-sharing Blog first reported the announcement of this program on August 6, 2009: Viva Cuidad de México. In six months this Clear Channel-operated system was planned and installed. The system is starting in four districts of the capital with plans to expand to the rest of the city with a total of 6,000 bikes. According to Cuidadanosenred, Jorge Borobia, director of Clear Channel Mexico, said that depending on the operation of this first stage, it will be analyzed, before extending the service to other areas of the city. As with other Clear Channel SmartBike systems, yearly subscription registration for a system RFID card, shown below, must be bought online or at the Ecobici office.

The yearly cost is $300 MXN (about $23 USD). The first 30 minutes of a rental has no charge, the next 30 minutes costs $10 MXN (80¢ US), and after that it costs $35 MXN ($2.70 US) an hour, as reported in merca20. With this pricing, Ecobici hopes to quickly garner 24,000 subscribers. The bikes will be distributed at the “cicloestacionamientos” by small environmentally friendly trucks with trailers.

Watch this introductory video (in Spanish).

Images: skyscrapercity.com

Russell Meddin - www.bikesharephiladelphia.org

Viva Ciudad de México! Bike-sharing coming to Mexico City

On Monday of this week, Marcelo Ebrard a government official of Mexico City announced the December 2009 start of a “sistema de bicicletas públicas” from SmartBike of Clear Channel Outdoor México for the south western part of central Mexico City. The system will start with 1,114 bicycles in 84 stations. El Sol de México reports Ebrard stating, “the aim is to promote cycling in the city, for this mode of transport to move from 1.2 percent current use to 5 percent, especially for short distances. [It's] expected to have 24,000 members in the first year of operation [and] the bikes are an extension of public transport to be used by citizens to exit the Metro, Metrobus, or trolleybus to reach their destinations, without the use of motorized vehicles to travel a few kilometers.”

The annual suscription will cost 200 pesos (US$15) entitling the card holder, pictured here, to ½ hour of free usage. With Smartbike the Mexico City government is trying to reduce automobile congestion in the largest capital city in the world. When operational at the end of this year, it will be the second largest bike-sharing program in the Americas.

Update: August 14, 2009, Clear Channel Outdoor says the contract for the system in Mexico City allows for expansion up to 6,000 bikes in 400 stations.

Image: El Sol de México

Russell Meddin http://www.bikesharephiladelphia.org/

San Francisco to Circumvent Bike Injunction for Bike-sharing

Yesterday in Paris, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom announced that San Francisco will implement a pilot bike-sharing program this year through Clear Channel, the operator of SmartBikeDC. According to a press release from the Mayor's office, "The pilot program will include 50 bikes located at five stations on non-city property (as required by a Court injunction until environmental review of the City's Bicycle Plan is complete). The stations will be in the Financial District, Mission Bay, the Presidio, Civic Center and the City College campus."

Mayor Newsom touring Vélib' facilities in Paris referred to San Francisco saying, “Bike-sharing will help connect thousands of residents and commuters to their workplaces and shopping destinations by providing bikes that they can easily borrow. This bike-sharing pilot project will allow us to test and perfect the bikes and technology that will be used in our citywide network.”

The capital cost of the program is estimated to be between $400,000 - $500,000, while the annual operating costs will be around $450,000.

Using private property in San Francisco's case to expedite the launch of their program is brilliant. Forget Rice-A-Roni, bike-sharing will be the new San Francisco treat. - Editor

by Russell Meddin, Bike Share Philadelphia

Source: http://www.sfgov.org/site/mayor_index.asp?id=97480

Image credit: New Homes Section Blog

Washington, D.C. Launches North America’s First Bike-sharing

It’s official! North America’s first high-tech bike-sharing program has launched! SmartBike DC opened for business today with 60 of its 120 bikes and 10 stations becoming available to the public. According to The Washington Post, Jim Sebastian, DC’s Bicycle Program Manager has said that the service will only be available to registered customers. The launch should provide the D.C. government and the program’s operator, Clear Channel Outdoor, sufficient time to expand and adjust the program for a larger program next year.

Today marks the beginning of a new era for bicycling in the United States. Due to fuel prices and the resultant affects such as the beginning of a contraction of exurbs (or distant suburbs) and shifts away from single occupant vehicle travel to transit and biking, a colleague has said that the U.S. is beginning to renegotiate the social contract we have with public space.

For a video on the bikes, local TV station NBC4 has this.

Upcoming launches in North America should be as follows:

Aug:
Democratic National Convention (Denver) - Freewheelin' by Humana

Sept:
Republican National Convention (Minneapolis & St. Paul) - Freewheelin'
St. Xavier Univ. (Chicago) - Veolia
Montreal - Public Bike System by Stationnement de Montreal

It's going to be a busy fall, bike-share fans!

image credit: Getty Images