Roads have already been painted blue with special bike lanes to give the bikers some more room and safety. These special lanes are going to hopefully spark some new bikers the confidence to share the road with drivers. A special safety and instruction video has been posted virally through the Internet and can be watched below:

London Cycle Hire has been making headway promoting their program and will certainly grow to a successful program. Anyone over 14 can rent these bicycles, so from middle school kids to grown adults will be involved in the new bicycle-sharing era. You can enlist as a member via phone (with the free app http://cyclehireapp.com ), website, or at the kiosk. So, go to the nearest kiosk on July 30th and ride around with the London Cycle Hire bicycles!!!

Check out the London Cycle Hire website: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/roadusers/cycling/14808.aspx

San Antonio, TX is the next US city to approve a bike sharing deployment. The City Council has approved the Bike sharing program after seeing an increasing amount of bicycle usage in downtown. The initial program will consist of 140 bikes at 14 locations.

“San Antonio is the perfect city to launch a bike share system with our great weather, relatively flat terrain, and many fun and interesting destinations that are easy to get to on a bike,” said City Manager Sheryl Sculley.

The bike share program in San Antonio will be structured as a non- profit, an increasing trend among cities in the US. B-cycle, who launched recently in Denver, will be supplying the kiosks and the bikes to run the system. Residents will have an option of purchasing an annual membership pass or a pas as you go plan similar to other bike sharing deployments. All bikes will be equipped with RFID chips to track the mileage, carbon offsets (non-verified) and also calories burned. Riders can track all this information through the online website.

The Boston Globe reported last Friday that the federal government has awarded $3 million to Boston’s forthcoming bike share program, which is expected to cover the capital costs of the apx. 500-bike, Bixi deployment next Spring. So… “next spring” huh? We have heard that before as CityRyde previously reported in our last blog post on the subject. With this $3 million in hand as well as another $2 million from previously awarded sponsorships and grants, however, count on a program around next Spring after all. Stakeholders anticipate the system to be an integral component to the multi-modal transportation network the City will surely soon boast as the deployment connects to the MBTA subway and bus routes.

While the programs annual membership fees are on the high side ($85) in comparison to others around the world, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Bicycle Coalition, David Watson remains adamant the system will see success and a large user base, “It opens up the possibility of biking for a lot of people who either don’t have bikes or don’t think of themselves as everyday bicyclists.’’ Watson’s assurance is shared by Nicole Freedman, who runs the City’s Boston Bikes program.

While we didn’t see the system this past Spring as we hoped program pushers are well on track to show us a program by next. In the meantime the City is expected to continue their efforts in improving the City’s bike infrastructure to make it much more conducive for the bike share.

Won’t be long until we are riding the shared bikes along Bean Town’s Freedom Trail now…

Melbourne is the first city in Australia to make transportation even more convenient for its residents. Melbourne has decided to create a bike sharing system called the Melbourne Bike Share. This will contribute to a safer, greener and faster transport system for the public. The plan is to construct 50 stations throughout the city. Using the proven Bixi system, there will be 50 stations spread throughout Melbourne with 600 bicycles to service the citizens of Melbourne.

When it comes to pricing, an annual Melbourne Bike Share Subscription cost only $50 a year and it can be used anytime, day or night. A weekly subscription cost $8.00 per week and a daily subscription cost $2.50 per day. As with most bike sharing deployments, the first 30 minutes are free.

What is interesting about this deployment is that Melbourne has a law that requires riders to wear helmets at all the time while riding a bike.  Melbourne has helped to lower the burden on the subscribers as they are given a significant discount on a helmet when purchasing an annual membership. Melbourne is very excited to release this scheme and see how it affects the cities car congestion, rider’s health, and the reduction of greenhouse gasses.

Today bicyclists take to the streets to test the new bike sharing program Minneapolis has to offer. The program, Nice Ride, offers users green bicycles at 60 specially marked stations all around the city. To rent a bicycle all you have to do is sign up on the website. You can register as a yearly subscriber (for 60 dollars), a 30-day subscriber (for 30 dollars), or a 24-hr subscriber (for 5 dollars). Both the month and yearly subscribers get a special key to easily access the bikes from the station. These bikes are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, between the months of April and November.

Nice Ride even provides users with discounted safety wear. Freewheel Bike offers 20% discounts for new Nice Ride subscribers. For safety, if you don’t feel comfortable riding the streets of Minneapolis there are classes you can take with certified instructors. These classes will provide you with key techniques for safe bicycle riding. You can sign up for these classes at: www.bikewalktwincities.org/ambassador.

As part of the grand opening, an inaugural bike ride from the Central Library down Nicollet Mall to Peavey Plaza took place today, where Mayor R.T. Rybak hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony in front of the Downtown YWCA bike share station. To continue the celebrations, on June 17, a forum titled “Cities, Bicycles, and the Future of Getting Around” will be taking place at the Uptown Theater at 7 pm. Talking Heads frontman David Byrne, an avid cyclist and the author of “Bicycle Diaries,” will join Mayor R.T. Rybak and others at the event.

This July, London will be introducing a new kind of highway to cyclists. The famous bank, Barclays Bank PLC, sponsors the new “Superhighway” for bicycles. Superhighways are new restricted lanes for cyclists in London. They are blue marked lanes, which clearly identify the route to motorists and cyclists. These lanes are 1.5 meters wide allowing comfortable bicycling room for safety. The lanes also provide extra safety with lanes that go through junctions, have stop boxes, and signals. The highway will be an excellent way of improving cyclists’ safety while encouraging new cyclists to ride the streets. These lanes are a sanctuary for bicyclists who previously had to swerve in between cars and people.

Transport for London hopes that other cities take on a similar strategy to provide safety for bicyclists. The first two routes are to be opened on July 19th, 2010 in the Southwark region. All routes will connect outer London with central London.

This project is projected to decrease congestion, cut overcrowding in public transportation, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The project is going to have a total of 12 routes by the end of 2015. To learn more about this project and all of it’s routes, release dates their website is:  http://www.tfl.gov.uk/roadusers/cycling/11901.aspx?lid=switcher

On top of constructing the bicycle highways, Barclay has also just recently purchased London’s bike sharing company from Boris Johnson for £25?million. The release date is on July 30 in central London. All 6,000 bikes will carry the Barclays logo and there will be approximately 400 stations. The bike sharing system is based off Montreal’s bike sharing program “Bixi”. Barclay will charge a £1 daily access fee, and is payable by credit card. There is also an annual option of £13 a day. Barclay and the Transport of London hope to generate around 40,000 trips a day in central London with these two programs.

Both of these programs provide London with an amazing chance to reduce their congestion, reduce greenhouse gas, and provide cyclists with a safe journey around the city. Barclay is truly making a big addition to the city and giving it a chance to be a little greener.

Last week DDOT announced that they will be “expanding” the system to a regional service (including for the first time Arlington, VA) and replacing all of the Smartbike DC hardware and bicycles with BIXI’s system. The new system will be operated by Alta Bike Sharing and is expected to launch this fall with 1100 bikes at 114 stations making it the largest bike sharing deployment in the United States surpasing NiceRide’s 1,000 bicycles.

At CityRyde we have always promoted “critical mass” when deploying bike sharing systems. SmartBike DC’s 120 bicycles was not nearly enough to adequately cover the metro area which is one of the reasons why the system was not as successful as other deployments in cities of similar size. Dublin, Ireland has a similar population to Washington DC, however last year Dublin launched DublinBikes which boasts 450 bicycles and labeled a success.

It will be interesting to see if other cities around the world will scrap their existing systems and choose new vendors. As bike sharing technology advances and more vendors enter the bike sharing marketplace we predict a shift in the way bike sharing systems are financed and deployed.

3rd Generation bike sharing first started in the US  in Washington D.C. In 2010 Denver’s B-cycles launched bike sharing of more than 500 bikes and 50 stations. Minneapolis is the next city to host bike sharing, followed by Boston and others. In the West Coast of the US, Seattle has also taken initiative of starting bike sharing. The University of Washington Bike Share Studio has produced a feasibility study on bike sharing after being contracted by the Seattle Department of Transportation(CityRyde contributed to this feasibility study.). They have evaluated case studies and methods that have been used in Europe and North American cities to learn what makes a successful bike sharing program, to figure out where is Seattle would it be more suitable and what is the anticipated demand level would be. They used 12 indicators like population density, job density, non-institutional group quarter population density, retail job density, tourist attractions, parks/recreation areas, streets with bicycles lanes, local transit stops etc to identify bike-sharing market areas.

Below is some information about the students that have conducted the study:

Jennifer Gregerson is a Mukilteo City Councilmember, and candidate for Masters in Urban Planning, 2010, at the University of Washington, with interests in sustainability and alternative modes of transportation.

Max Hepp-Buchanan has been studying alternative and non-motorized transportation planning – including bike-sharing – for the last two years. He recently completed an internship with the Service Planning Division of Sound Transit and is the Secretary and a very active member of the Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board. Max is on track to graduate from the University of Washington with a Master of Urban Planning and a Master of Public Administration degree in June, 2010.

Daniel Rowe is a transportation planner with a focus on finding environmentally-sustainable solutions to urban mobility. He has a Master of Urban Planning degree from the University of Washington and a Bachelors degree in Environmental Science from the University of Pittsburgh. For the past two years, Daniel has been working with King County Metro Transit supporting a large multi-agency effort to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct in downtown Seattle and engaging the downtown market in transportation demand management strategies.

John Vander Sluis will be completing graduate programs in the UW Evans School of Public Administration and the UW Urban Planning Program in June, 2010. His academic focus is on transportation and equitable economic development. Prior to working on the Seattle Bike-Share Feasibility Study, he held positions at King County Metro, the City of Seattle Mayor’s Office, the Cascade Land Conservancy, and private sector marketing companies. 

Erica Wygonik is a graduate student in Civil Engineering and Urban Planning. She models the relationship between land use, transportation, and the environment to identify optimal policies and system designs. Before matriculating at the University of Washington, Erica worked for Resource Systems Group, a transportation and environmental engineering consulting firm based in Vermont. A Senior Associate at RSG, she led the Microsimulation and Traffic Operations practice areas. Erica is a licensed professional engineer.

Michael Xenakis is pursuing Master’s degrees in Public Administration and Urban Planning following a decade-plus career in software consulting. His goal is to build upon his extensive experience in systems analysis and design to strengthen and streamline urban governance.

Professor Edward McCormack is a Research Assistant Professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering and an Adjunct Research Assistant Professor in Urban Design and Planning, both at the University of Washington. His research and teaching focus on transportation planning and engineering.

Today, Denver will be celebrating their Earth Day with the release of a new bike sharing system powered by B-cycle. This is the nation’s first large-scale citywide bike sharing system (we aren’t “counting” the SmartBike DC program). The program will include approximately 500 bikes and 50 stations all around the city.

Denver Bike Sharing is a Colorado non-profit corporation that has been organized and will be operated to promote health, quality of life and preservation of the environment in Denver. The bike sharing system should help in successfully reducing obesity, lowering carbon emissions, and providing affordable transportation. With all these benefits to bike sharing you’d think more cities would catch on to the trend and begin their own bike sharing system.

Anyone can use these bikes by following few simple steps. Sign up for a membership online or purchase a 24 hour membership at any B-station with is just $5. Choose any locked bikes and touch the b-card to the station. Grab the Cycle, ride it and return it to any B-cycle station. After you see three blinks of green light and hear three quick beeps, it means the bike is locked and returned. After paying the membership fee you can ride the bike free for the first 30 minutes. Usage fees are applied for rides if exceeded 30 minutes. The annual pass cost is $65, where as a 7 day membership fee cost $20 and a 30 day membership fee cost $3. There are discounted rates available for students and senior members.

The bike is intended to be outside; it is strong, sturdy, fits people of all sizes and also has a basket in the front with front and rear lights. B-cycle keeps a track of all bikes and the users with the help of RFID technologies and GPS. The GPS allows B-cycle to track distance covered, calories burned, and carbon offset (an estimation), which will then uploaded on one’s personal page at Denver.Bcycle.com