Bike culture goes big as bike sharing takes hold. An affordable, clean and simple way to get around town, bike sharing promotes cleaner air, land, and water, while encouraging people to meet their transportation needs through an active lifestyle and community participation.
Already found in progressive international cities such as Stockholm, Montreal, London, and Barcelona, companies and local governments within the US are teaming up for the first time to put real money and resources behind the development of urban bike sharing programs.
Two years ago Paris redefined the bicycle’s critical role in transportation by implementing Velib. 20,000 shared bikes in the streets of the most spirited city in the world. It literally changed the face of Paris – overnight
While issues surrounding high operations costs and vandalism have curbed the success of such homegrown initiatives in the past, the evidence that this can be done successfully is overwhelming. Last spring, ad agency Clear Channel Outdoor launched, in collaboration with the Department of Transportation, one of the country’s first official bike sharing programs in Washington, DC; called SmartBike the system brings in revenue through annual membership fees and additional sliding scale costs and advertising.
More recently, a similar system, called B-Cycle, launched in Denver. The solar-powered B-Cycle program will have strategically placed stations around the city where, with the swipe of a credit or membership card, people can pick up and drop off bikes. Similar programs are expected to launch in Miami and on the Hawaiian island of O’ahu, and DC plans to expand its current program, as well.
This month has seen the launch of two bike-sharing programs in Taiwan – the first in the southern port town of Kaohsiung City, called C-bike, and the second in Taipei, called YouBike.
Fast Facts:
- A four-mile bicycle trip keeps about 15 pounds of pollutants out of the air we breathe.
- Each U.S. rush-hour auto commuter spends an average of 50 hours a year stuck in traffic.
- The average person loses 13 pounds their first year of commuting by bike.
- Just 3 hours of bicycling per week can reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke by 50%.
- In 1964, 50% of kids rode to school, and the obesity rate was 12% – In 2004, 3% rode to school, and the obesity rate was 45%