Cities take a spin with bike sharing
Cities like Boston, Minneapolis, and Denver are introducing a new way to get around: bike share. But these programs aren't just a ride in the park. Andrea Bernstein reports.
B-cycle bike stand (bcycle.com)
More on Travel
Links
- Which U.S. city is the friendliest for bicyclists?
Head on over to the Marketplace Daily Nugget and test your knowledge.
Reporter Andrea Bernstein interviews musician David Byrne in New York as New York City Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan looks on. (Courtesy of NYC Department of Transportation).
TEXT OF STORY
Kai Ryssdal: Depending on where you live, you may be familiar with some of those car-share programs. You sign up for something like Zipcar. You pay a membership fee, and then you can rent a car by the hour. You pick it up in a neighborhood nearby. It seems to work pretty well. This summer, though, look for bike share in a city close by.
From WNYC in New York City, Andrea Bernstein explains.
ANDREA BERNSTEIN: If you have a car share near you, it probably works like this:
NICOLE Freedman: With Zipcar, you have to go online ahead of time, you have to reserve your car for a certain time, you have to write in when you're going to return the car, and you have to return it to the exact same spot.
That's Nicole Freedman, who runs the bike share program in Boston, set to be up and running with 1,000 bikes this summer.
Freedman: With bike share you swipe your card, you take any bike, you don't have to reserve ahead of time, and you can return it to any other station.
That's the way bike share works in Paris, one of dozens of European cities that have it. There have been problems with theft, but some 100,000 riders a day use bike share in the City of Light. You pay a yearly membership, and a small fee per use. Tourists get special deals.
Freedman: And people ask me all the time, is it like Zipcar on bikes? I always say no, it's Zipcar on steroids.
OK, but bike share is different from car share in one way: It's not as profitable, and it needs more infrastructure -- kiosks, bike lanes, and specially designed bikes that are rugged and theft resistant. It'll cost Boston more than $3 million a year to run its program. That has to come from government money, private sponsors and bike rental fees.
Bill Dossett runs the Minneapolis bike share.
Bill Dossett: Times have changed really quickly. When we started this process a year-and-a-half ago, we didn't even know if there was a manufacturer out there that wanted to sell us this equipment.
Now, companies are vying for the business, and quickly developing anti-theft technology.
Lee Jones is sales manager for the Bike-Share company, B-Cycle, which will be running Denver's system. They've installed electronic identification chips and GPS devices in the bikes.
LEE Jones: And what this gives us the ability to do is not only know who has the bike, but more importantly, to know where the bike has been.
Jones acknowledges there's a risk: No one knows how a large-scale bike share will work in a major U.S. city.
Jones: But this year, 2010 is really kind of the first time we will have actual installations open to the public.
There have been some demonstrations. To find out how bike share might be received, I took a ride with musician David Byrne in New York City's Union Square.
DAVID BYRNE: I think it'll make it easier for a lot of my friends. That we can just go out and get around together, and people who don't have room in their apartment, people who come from out of town, stuff like that, we just say, OK, grab a bike, and we'll go to a movie or we'll get something to eat or whatever.
Meantime, some cities are already signing up corporate sponsors, like Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Minnesota.
Patrick Geraghty is the CEO. For $1 million his company's name will be emblazoned on kiosks and bicycles moving all over Minneapolis.
PATRICK Geraghty: We thought it was a great deal, and we think it really reinforces our message about physical activity.
Bike czars like Boston's Freedman and Minneapolis's Dossett are working on developing incentives for cyclists. Minneapolis is selling memberships for $60 a year. But it's throwing in a $200 coupon book for restaurants and downtown businesses.
Dossett: That's something really important for what we are trying to do. We're doing something totally new, people don't know about it. We need to create a market for it.
A market dozens of American cities will be watching.
In New York, I'm Andrea Bernstein for Marketplace.
Comments
Comment | Refresh
From Montreal, QC, 02/25/2010
@Yvan Huneault
Montreal has been using its BIXI system for one year, and Boston is slated to begin using it this spring.
As for the expenses that are mentioned, bike sharing does NOT require bike lanes. Biking requires them, in much the same way as car-sharing services require there to be roads.
From Hampton, VA, 02/04/2010
This program sounds great - if you live in a major metropolis. Many of us live in more recently developed communities that are highly auto centered, are highway based (no traffic lights to provide safe riding opportunities) and don't even have sidewalks.
From Minneapolis, MN, 02/03/2010
Heard this story this morning on my way into work riding public transit, read that Minneapolis chose today to use BIXI for the bike share program (perfect choice) over lunch, and ran home from work this evening. Feels like a progressive day, eh?
From Washington, DC, 02/03/2010
We've been doing this in DC since 2009. Why no mention in your story??
From Kennesaw, GA, 02/03/2010
The Bike Share Program seems be a great investment depending on the city you decide to start the company in. Cities such as Miami, Los Angeles, Key West, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, New York, Jacksonville, FL, etc. The program would need to be promoted by the medical community, schools and fitness organizations and others. School age children should be allow to ride bikes to school for the exercise in the morning instead of riding the bus. Heavier and older people would probably need 3 wheel bikes for the balancing. Get out of the car and get on a bike.
From Fort Collins, CO, 02/03/2010
FYI: Our little city has operated a bike library for several years during Spring, Summer & Fall. There are 3 locations in the area where bikes may be checked out. Go to www.fcbikelibrary.org for info
From NC, 02/03/2010
"It'll cost Boston more than $3 million a year to run its program. That has to come from government money, private sponsors and bike rental fees."
Government money? Whos says?
02/02/2010
Like the idea. Will enjoy seeing how it plays out. I think a lot more people would ride bikes if the world was friendlier to them.
From Pleasant Valley, IA, 02/02/2010
You mentioned some cities that are renting bikes by just a swipe of a credit card. After you named several cities that are doing this,you then asked what is the most bike friendly city? To find out go to our website.
That line makes me crazy, and nearly all the stories end with go to our website. If you can't give the whole story, then don't broadcast any of it. How many people go right to their computer to find out more? Not me.
From QC, 02/02/2010
Montreal Canada (check Google Maps under "Canada") and Boston have been using the Bixi system for some time.
From Ithaca, NY, 02/02/2010
typo.>> wonderful form of TRANSPORTATION We could expect more friendly human interaction when people picking up, returning and even riding on their bicycles.
From Ithaca, NY, 02/02/2010
This is a wonderful story about people getting outside and using their bodies-with the assistance of a couple wheels-as a wonderful form of communication. There are a couple issues that would be great to look into:
With a bike share will there be a change in accidents? if there are more bike accidents what precautions, e.g. bike lanes, could these cities take?
What environmental impact is this expected to have? Better air quality?
Would a city expect to gain benefit by creating bike-share networks with a city-employee (or member) exchange?
Would cities with high bike usage see benefits long term in less traffic policing and/or road repair?
A huge issue though is possibility of riding a bike around with a GPS chip in it. Allowing another company (also mobile phones all have this capability) to be able to track where you have been, doesn't seem like such a great idea. Bike shares will need to have an appropriate privacy policy in place, e.g. to only track the bikes if there has been a crime-like theft of the bike.
I hope this hits in many cities! The auto-industry is sooo slow at increasing the efficiency of vehicles (just +10mpgs since the early 1970s!??). Human power is GREEN!
Post a Comment: Please be civil, brief and relevant.
Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments. All comments are moderated. Marketplace reserves the right to edit any comments on this site and to read them on the air if they are extra-interesting. Please read the Comment Guidelines before posting.
You must be 13 or over to submit information to American Public Media. The information entered into this form will not be used to send unsolicited email and will not be sold to a third party. For more information see Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.