After Gutenberg

jcwinnie

The article and subsequent discussion made comparisons between Intago and Vélib. Montreal is said to be setting up a system based on the Parisian model. Possibly, the Vélib model or something similar will arise in American cities.

jcwinnie

“In Berlin, Germany,” writes Charlie Sorrel for Wired Magazine, there are “these dorky-looking but hi-tech bikes.” The service is called Call-a-Bike, which pretty much sums it up.

You spot a bike and call the number on the side, then receive an unlock code via SMS. You enter this into the bike via keypad and you’re off.

When you re-lock, you have the option of pausing or returning the bike. A pause means your key-code is still active and the bike shows a red light to other users. To return it, press the “Yes” button when asked.

jcwinnie

lizveazey relays a report appearing in The Chronicle of Higher Education about Ripon College, a small liberal arts college in the middle of a central Wisconsin. The college “is giving a Trek 820 mountain bike (plus helmet and lock) to every student who pledges not to bring a car to campus for the 2008-2009 year.”

I have heard that this region is not typically very bike-friendly, so it will be interesting to see if initiatives like this do indeed change the culture.

 

I hope this catches on at other schools!!  Sounds a lot cheaper that building parking garages, which can cost $10,000-$20,000+ per parking space!

Jessica Johnston of North Branch, Minn., shows off the Trek 820 bicycle she won Monday in a raffle sponsored by the foundations of Anoka-Ramsey Community College (ARCC) to raise money for part-time student scholarships.

jcwinnie

Writing for the NY Times Bernie Becker reports that SmartBike DC will make 120 bicycles available at 10 spots in central locations throughout Washington, D.C.

For a $40 annual membership fee, SmartBike users can check out three-speed bicycles for three hours at a time. The program will not provide helmets but does encourage their use.

Similar programs have proved successful in Europe. The Vélib program in Paris and Bicing in Barcelona, Spain, both started around a year ago and already offer thousands of bicycles.

Photo: Ed Alcock for The New York Times

Mr. Sebastian, who started trying to bring bike-sharing to Washington even before its success in Paris and Barcelona, said he believed that the program could grow within a year and hoped that it would eventually offer 1,000 bicycles.

While automated bike-sharing programs are new to the United States, the idea of bike-sharing is hardly novel. Milan, Amsterdam and Portland have all had lower-tech free bike-sharing programs in the past, with Amsterdam’s dating to the 1960s.

But “studies showed that many bikes would get stolen in a day, or within a few weeks,” said Paul DeMaio, a Washington-area bike-sharing consultant. “In Amsterdam, they would often find them in the canals.”

Improved technology allows programs to better protect bicycles. In Washington, SmartBike subscribers who keep bicycles longer than the three-hour maximum will receive demerits and could eventually lose renting privileges. Bicycles gone for more than 48 hours will be deemed lost, with the last user charged a $200 replacement fee.

That technology comes with a price, which is one reason cities and advertisers started joining forces to offer bike-sharing. The European programs would cost cities about $4,500 per bike if sponsors did not step in, Mr. DeMaio said.

Cities realize “they literally have to spend no money on designing, marketing or maintaining” a bike-sharing program, said Martina Schmidt of Clear Channel Outdoor. Washington will keep the revenue generated by the program.

jcwinnie

The latest Velib’ survey results are available and posted on the Velib’ Website.

The Bike Sharing Blog provides a summary of survey results:

These results are highly impressive. The stats that amazed me the most are the number of trips to date and the percentage of female users. As Velib’ is not yet one year old, there are still about two months of trips still to be made which could equate to another 5 million trips, or a total of 25 million trips, before the anniversary of it’s launch date of July 15.

Having nearly the same percentage of female and male customers shows how mainstream bike-sharing has become in Paris. In cities where lesser bike cultures exist, such as those in North America, males tend to dominate bike usage by 3 to 1. Women are less likely to ride a bike when concerned about their safety compared to men. Men also tend to be generally more risk-taking and will ride in less safe street conditions. While not 50/50, this male/female customer demographic shows that women are using Velib’ confidently, so Paris has done a good job in creating safe bike facilities before the launch of the program.

jcwinnie

Ian Lamont writes, “Montreal is preparing to launch a Web- and RFID-enabled public bike system that allows residents and visitors to rent bicycles at special depots scattered throughout the city. Using a Web site, riders can check out a real-time inventory of available bicycles at the depot locations. At the depots, a solar-powered base station will process credit cards or member cards. The bike docks use RFID, and the system is supposedly easy to install and maintain. A pilot program will launch in September with four bike depots.”