Bike-share as Art

The prototype bicycle for Veloway’s new bike-sharing system has its art début today in the exhibit Bicycle: people + ideas in motion Philadelphia at The Galleries at Moore College of Art and Design.

The new bike-sharing system has its street début as Vélo Bleu next month in Nice, France. This system is the progressive evolution of Veloway’s OYBike in the United Kingdom and GreenBike at a university in Illinois. The system has solar powered stations with a multi use cable lock system for station docking or securing the bike while in use. The bikes are accessed by either a subscriber RFID card or by mobile telephone. If over the summer you are in Philadelphia come see the bike at Moore, or if you are so lucky to be on the Côte d’Azur take a spin on a Vélo Bleu.

Vélo Bleu starts on July 17. Sign-up after June 22 at VeloBleu.org.

Image: Veloway

Russell Meddin bikesharephiladelphia.org

Bike-sharing is Nice in Nice with Vélos Blues

Just in time for this summer’s rush of tourists to the Promenade des Anglais, Nice, France, on the Côte d’Azur, will have 900 bikes ready in July with a new bike-sharing program from Veloway, tentatively called Vélos Blues, reports Le Journal Développement Durable. By April 2010, a complete system of 1,750 bicycles with 175 stations will be in place with many stations no more than 300m away from each other. To keep beachgoers happy, nearly 100km of new bicycle trails will be constructed to help reduce the crush of automobiles in the annual pilgrimage to the Mediterranean Sea.

Christian Estrosi, the Deputy Mayor of Nice, announced the new service on the last day of January, so Europeans will know they will not have to miss bike-sharing while on vacation this summer!

by Russell Meddin, Bike Share Philadelphia

Image credit: France Guide

Update: Velo Bleu begins operating July 17, 2009. Sign-up after June 22 at velobleu.org.