The Bike-sharing World -The last week of July 2012

NORTH AMERICA
USA
                        Chattanooga, Tennessee

After almost a 3-month delay from its April 25, 2012 start date, Chattanooga Bicycle Transit System began rolling on the evening of July 23rd. The green and blue bicycles are finally available at the docking stations for subscribers and occasional users after a frustrating period of software glitches. Subscribers who signed up for the original start date got access keys today. The special $60 annual subscription rate is once again available for sale. This discount is now extended through September 3. The regular subscriptions will be $75 for the year and $6 for a day pass. These are the only options. The first 60 minutes of each trip is at no extra charge and each additional 30 minutes is $5.


Bike Chattanooga with its 300 bikes now available in 28 stations becomes the first large scale bike-sharing system in the Southeast* edging out Charlotte, North Carolina which launched Charlotte B-cycle last week, but did not outfit the stations with bikes and will not until July 31st.


The difficulties which Chattanooga had with getting its system up and running, not only effected ridership in Chattanooga. It also affected the timing of the similar system for New York City. Last week, New York announced that there would be a delay in the expected July launch of Citi Bike. Now that the situations that caused the delays, both hardware and software, are under control, will New York be able to launch its multi-thousand bike system in time for its annual ciclovia, Summer Streets?


*Miami Beach with Decobike is not considered part of the Southeast.


                    Anaheim, California

Bike Nation launched its pilot program for Anaheim on Saturday July 23, 2012. This is the first city-wide system on the West Coast of the United States. It will have 10 stations with 100 bikes to be deployed in the coming weeks. The price structure to use the system is multi-tiered: the single day pass is $6, 3-day pass is $12, the week pass is $25, the month pass is $35 and a year subscription is $75. There is a steep escalating fee for each additional 30 minutes after the initial 30 minutes usage period which is free. The success of this pilot program could be the beginning of a 4,000-bicycle Bike Nation system for Los Angeles, California.


                   Boston, Massachusetts

This week brings the second anniversary of The Hubway. Boston celebrated the occasion with a party to which all Hubway users were invited.  It is also offering a special $15 discount on an annual membership. The 600-bike seasonal system plans to expand to 1,000 bikes by the end of this year with stations in Cambridge, Brookline, Charlestown, Dorchester, and Somerville, Massachusetts.


                           Fort Worth, Texas

Fort Worth throws its Ten Gallon Hat into the bike-share ring with a $1,000,000 US Federal Transit Administration grant to the Fort Worth Transit Authority to build 30 stations with 300 bikes for April 2013.

According to the NBC News affiliate in Fort Worth, since the "T" or Transit Authority is the recipient of the award, the bike stations are planned for inter-modality with the bus system so the bikes are an extension of the present bus system. With Austin, Texas planning a system and San Antonio and Houston B-cycle systems operating, this Forth Worth system could give Texas bragging rights to the State with the most bike-sharing systems in one state in the USA!



EUROPE
Poland
                     Warsaw

Operating station in Bemowo, Poland

The end of this month will see a city-wide bike-share system throughout Warsaw, Poland. VETURILO - Warszawski Rower Publiczny (Warsaw Public Bikes) will begin on August 1, 2012. The system, part of nextbike Poland, will have 1,000 bikes in 55 stations. Many of the stations are just about ready for use. It will be almost contiguous with the nextbike system already in operation in the capital's suburb of Bemowo. Expansion plans are to have 2,400 bikes in 2013. 

images: The Bike-sharing Blog, 4NBC, J Fox boston.com, Hat,  Bemowo Bike by Marek Utkin   


Russell Meddin       bikesharephiladelphia.org

The Bike-sharing World: First Week of April 2012

Europe:
   
     Slovakia

The City of Bratislava is looking for bids for bike-share. A tender offer is asking for submissions by April 27, 2012. The Bratislava Automated Bike System offer calls for at least an 11-station system as a start. What, you don't read Slovak? Here is an English synopsis and article about the tender. More and more cities in Eastern Europe are realizing the benefits of bike-sharing. A quick look at the Bike-sharing World Map sees the growth of new systems there.


    Poland


OsedomRad is one of the first bike-share systems that offers pick-up and drop-off stations in two counties! This 500-bike, 60-station system operated by neXtbike is based in and around the recreational areas of the Isle of Osedom in northeast Germany, close to the Poland border. A bike checked out from a station in Ahlbeck, Germany can be returned in Świnoujście, Poland and visa-versa! This is just another example of cooperation in the bike-share world that brings us a step closer to inter-operability.


Warsaw Public Bicycle which is scheduled to begin in June 2012 is operating in the Bemowo District of the city. Ten stations are reporting activity on a system map. According to a report in Eltis, it is the first District of many to have a program in the 
Polish capital.





This month NeXtbike Poland is to complement its 140-bike, 17-station Wroclaw City Bike program with a similar system in Pozan. It will open with 80 bikes in 7 stations on April 15th. We will watch as the Warsaw program expands this summer.


    The Netherlands


CallLock in Middelburg, near Belgium and the North Sea, began as a free pilot in November 2010. The system has 40 bikes in 6 stations. This year the system is to become a full fledged subscription payment operation.