Bicycle Sharing Concept

[Brent Jacobsen]

Here is a link to a new bicycle sharing concept that is already rolling out in Denver and should be coming to more communities soon. Similar to Zipcar’s car-sharing program, which is great, this could be a cool, simple intervention for urban alternative transportation.

http://www.bcycle.com/

Not sure I have a discussion point, but wanted to share it.

[Ben Yahr]

Very cool, this addresses a lot of the problems with bike sharing. I still have some questions, like has anyone actually used a B-Cycle?

Here are some more links:
http://www.denvergov.org/DenverGovHome/tabid/37891/newsid97029/1664…
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&source=embed&oe=UTF8…

[Chris Whitted]

Fort Collins has something similar, a Bike Library. You have to put a deposit down in case you don’t return the bike, but if you do it’s refunded and completely free. They don’t track any stats on your ride though. Never used it myself, since I own a bike, but it is nice to know it’s there for when I have out of town guests.

[nca]

Fort Collins, CO has been doing a bike sharing program for a while. They use a co-op system to get volunteers to bring in unwanted/non-functioning bicycles on weekends to an open garage and learn how to fix em up so others can use them. The co-op then paints them and slaps a serial number on them and borrows them out.

Its a good program that doesnt require the purchase and up keep of new bikes. Now the problem is the Larimer County chief of police who evidently hates cyclists. There have been MANY serious road user conflicts up there in the past few years, including several fatalities.

I have been run off the road, literally, riding solo in Boulder County by a maniac and full-on traffic ticketed like a car by a motorcycle cop in Fort Collins. There’s certainly a lot of conflict I see La’s and planners intervening in very soon.

Another issue that’s sprung up is the increasing number of bike thefts in Boulder, Denver and Larimer Counties. My bike was almost ripped off two years ago ( I caught the guy riding away…boom, biff..) and finally stolen for good back in June.

EDIT: Ughhh…Chris beat me to it with a link and everything.

[Jonathan Nelsen]

This is very interesting. I am working on creating a plan for the old gates rubber factory site and I-25/Broadway park and ride for class and think I am going to work in one of these b-cycle things near the station. Sounds like there may be some problems with the system but hopefully with time the kinks can get worked out.

[Trace One]

this has been in use in various cities, has varying results, for 15 to 20 years..charlottesville, Va. was on board with it in 2002, and it was old by then…It’s ok, it requires heavy investiment by cities as bike stock just depletes continuously, and bikes need to be repaired..So it needs constant funding, without bringing in revenue, but that is ok…

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