The Bike-sharing World - the Last Week of May 2012

South America:
Brazil
                       São Paulo

Bike Sampa starts city-wide bike-sharing in Brazil's largest city -- São Paulo. As its sister program, Bike Rio's Samba, Sampa is a joint venture of Sertel, Mobilicidade, and sponsored by Banco Itaú. Although beginning with 100 bikes in six stations this week, the service plans to have 1,000 bikes in 100 stations by the end of the year and for 3,000 bikes by 2014. Initial sign up is online at bikesampa.com with a R$10.00 ($5.00 US) fee for a pass that is valid until March 2013. Each time a bike is taken out there is no charge for the first 30 minutes of use, then R$5.00 ($2.50 US) for each additional 30 minutes. There is a 15-minute wait time between each time a bike is returned before another can be taken again to avoid additional charges.

North America:

USA Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

The second bike-sharing system in Oklahoma debuted last week in Oklahoma City, called Spokies. The first, Tulsa Townies, was also the first 3rd generation system, albeit with a recreational focus, in North America (see the Bike-sharing Blog July 2007 and the Bike-sharing Blog August 2011). There are 95 Spokies in 6 stations. The system uses Sandvault stations and Worksman Bicycles. It is necessary to sign up online and the cost is $75 for a one-year membership, $20 for a one-month membership, and $5 for a day pass. There are unlimited 30-minute rides with no wait period after returning a bike before taking another. Each additional half hour of continual use is $2. Generally, North American bike-share systems are theft free, but within the first week, two men at a Spokie station swiped bikes instead of swiping their credit card. According to News 9, the two men were arrested and the bikes recovered.  

                      Chattanooga, Tennessee

Although scheduled to have launched (see the Bike-sharing Blog April 2012), technical difficulties have prevented deployment and use of the Chattanooga Bicycle Transit System. Membership sales have been suspended according to their website. News on the system can be followed on the Bike Chattanooga twitter account.

Asia:

Japan

                       Kanazawa

The west coast of Japan gets another bike-sharing system this month with introduction of Machi-Nori. Not far from Toyoma, this city with a population of 500,000 gets 155 bikes in 18 stations. Sign up is at any of the stations or a office where cash is accepted. A year membership cost is ¥9,000 ($114 US), a month membership is ¥1,000 ($12 US), and the day cost is ¥200 ($2.50US), with the first 30 minutes of use at no extra charge and each additional 30 minutes at ¥200. There is a very good set of English directions and Map for the system.

Europe:

Italy

                       Milan 

                      

BIkeMi is once again increasing its size. With 128 stations it is the largest city system in Italy. According to BikeMi, there have been in one day over 6,600 usages of the close to 1,500 bikes in the system.

images: Sampa - Renata Falzoni ESPN, Video NewsOK, Machi-Nori, Milan by Luca Volpi

Russell Meddin bikesharephiladelphia.org

The Bike Sharing World - First Week of January 2012

Europe:
     UK:

London's Barclays Cycle Hire shares some pretty impressive statistics as it starts 2012. There are now almost 146,000 subscribing members to the 6,000 bike system. That compares to Barcelona with 120,000 current subscribers for 6,000 bikes and Paris with 209,000 subscribers for 20,000 bikes. Although it does not top Dublin, which has the highest ratio of subscribers to bikes with 38,000 subscribers to 550 bikes, London is very respectable!
Also, a most interesting statistic is that in the one year that 'Boris Bikes' have been open to "casual users" or walk-ups, there have been 2,030,000 of them. That averages to around 5,400 a day! These statistics were posted on the Barclays Cycle Hire web site at Key Facts this week.


Oy!
Bike-sharing is terminated in Cardiff, Wales. OYBike suspended its bike-sharing service there the last week of December. It was not able to find replacement funding for the Cardiff Council's subsidy which covered the £70,000 ($110,000 US) yearly operating cost. The service which started in November 2009, had 2,000 subscribers when it closed.


     Spain:


Barcelona's Bicing increases it annual membership cost from €35 ($45 US) to €44 ($56 US). It is estimated that the 120,000 annual memberships are only paying about 21% of the yearly operating cost, according to El País Catalona. The system is contemplating selling advertising on the bicycles or on the stations as a way to cover more of the operating expenses of the system.  

Update: €4 of the new Bicing membership is a mandatory insurance policy to cover third-party claims, first-party injury or damage and legal assistance for the user.


Asia:
     China:


Wuhan's 70,000 bikes tops Hangzhou's 60,600 bikes!

The City of Wuhan on the Yangtze River is claiming the title of the largest bike-sharing system in the world with 70,000 bikes! The Municipal Government for 2012 is consolidating the non affiliated bike-sharing companies into one system for the city.  New automated stations are starting to be installed in the city. According to Chinanews, the city wants to integrate all public transportation into a unified system. 


North America:
     USA:
Cities in the US have embraced bike-sharing during 2011. Many new systems were launched and many older systems were expanded.  These will be considered minor occurrences compared to the expectations for 2012. Just between New York City and Chicago, 13,000 new bikes will hit the American streets. Add to that, Chattanooga, Baltimore, the City of San Francisco with the Bay Peninsula, the City of Miami, Houston, probably Nashville, Charlotte and Portland will all put bike-share bikes on the street. Let us not forget that the suburban communities of both Boston and Washington, DC will rolling out more stations and bikes too. 2012 will give North America a high ranking in the Bike-sharing World.


South America:
     Brazil:

In Rio de Janeiro Samba now dances with a new name, BikeRio. It is an expansion of the old bike-sharing system which now covers much more of the city, and not just the beaches. There are now 600 bikes spread out over 35 stations with another 25 on the way for the start of 2012. It cost 5R$ ($2.70 US) for the one day or 10R$ ($5.45 US) for a monthly pass. Registration for the system is online for more than the one day pass. While the one day can be acquired by mobile telephone. BikeRio has increased popularity because the original system had cost 10R$ for just one day. There is no extra charge for the first sixty minutes of use, but it cost 5R$ for each additional hour. The new system gained sponsorship by itaú, the Brazilian Bank, at the end of October and has prospered since. BikeRio itaú is operated by Mobilidade same company that ran Samba.


Don't forget to check out bike-sharing in your part of the world on The Bike-sharing World Map.


images: The Bike-sharing Blog, El País Catalona, Chinanews, XinFeida, BrasilAtual


Russell Meddin    bikesharephiladelphia.org

First South American Programs Underway

South America has launched not one, but two bike-sharing programs this month - in Rio de Janiero, Brazil and Santiago, Chile. Both programs were rushing to be the first on the continent, with respective launches on December 4th and 9th.

Rio’s system, Samba, launched with 30 bikes and three stations in Copacabana. By the end of December, the program will expand to have 80 bikes and eight stations, also in Copacabana. Each month the system will grow to a nearby neighborhood until at 15 months the program will be represented in eight neighborhoods with 500 bikes and 50 stations.

Presently, Samba is in testing with a limited group. In January 2009, the program will be opened to the general public. The first 30 minutes of use will be free for customers.


Providencia, a borough of Chile’s capital city, Santiago, launched b’easy with 100 bikes and 10 stations. The bikes are available from 7:30am to 8:30pm for up to one hour per use with a monthly subscription of $1.50 USD or a yearly subscription of $12.50 USD. Subscribers sign up either at a station or online. The system was created by Centrolniciativa, a business incubator, of the Economics Faculty of Diego Portales University. It uses locally fabricated bikes, stations, and subscription card readers. Mayor Cristián Labbé of Providencia hopes b’easy is adopted throughout the boroughs of the city.

Special thanks to Russell Meddin of Bike Share Philadelphia.