Bike-sharing in the USA: supplementary transportation for a car crazy country

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It is said that one should always use the right tool for the right job. This concept should also be applied to personal mobility needs. If one needs to travel a number of kilometers to pick up a new dining room table at IKEA, a lower gas consuming or an electric automobile would be considered an appropriate vehicle or tool for that job.  To travel one or two kilometers to pick up a few bottles of beer in that same automobile is not cost effective or real sustainable mobility.

It is not the right vehicle or the right tool. In this case using a bicycle in general or a shared bike in particular is the right tool. For personal mobility in shorter distances, picking bike sharing as the right tool is happening, even in the car crazy United States.

Third Generation Bike Sharing with automated electronic docking station began in the United States in August 2008 with the Clear Channel SmartBikeDC program in Washington DC. While having only 160 bicycles and 10 automated stations, it was destined for difficulty. A year into the success of the third generation bike sharing programs of Vélib’ in Paris and Bicing in Barcelona, it was evident that bike sharing worked well with high concentrations of stations placed no more than 300 meters apart from each other. Each bicycle in these programs was used between 6 and 10 times a day. This was not the case with SmartBikesDC.  With the stations much further apart, each bike was used sometimes only once a day. With a goal to help get people get out of their cars and to use more sustainable mobility, Washington, DC and other US cities learned valuable lessons from the SmartBikeDC program.

On Earth Day, 22 April 2010, Denver, Colorado began bike sharing with Denver B-cycle. In fairly a tight cluster in the center of the “Mile High” city 50 bike stations for 500 bicycles started to appear. Within days Denver Bike Sharing, the non-profit organization which operates the program for the city, was realizing bicycle usage of up to 3 times a day for each bike. In its first season, before taking a snowy recess in early December, Denver B-cycle saw a total of approximately 103,000 trips taken on their red bicycles. Over 34,000 people purchased short and long term memberships in the program. In a survey of its members, 43.16% of the Denver B-cycle trips replace car trips. On March 14, 2011, like the Colorado mountain bears, Denver B-cycle came out of winter hibernation for a new season. It expects to build on its success and remain open throughout the year.

Nice Ride graced the streets of Minneapolis, Minnesota the first week of June 2010. It too concentrates its planned 65 stations with 700 bicycles in the central part of the city and the nearby University of Minnesota. Because of Minneapolis’ harsh winters, Nice Ride Minnesota, the nonprofit operating company for the system, planned a first season of only five months. Still in that short period of time, over 100,000 trips were taken on these lime green bicycles and over 30,000 short and long term subscriptions were sold. In a survey of their long term subscribers, around 20% of the bike trips replaced car trips and around 20% replaced other public transit, bus and light rail, trips. The success of the first season was acknowledged by commitments from funders to continue expansion. A Phase 2 plans for more stations and bicycles in North Minneapolis and in the “sister city” St. Paul across the river. Nice Ride starts the expansion with the opening of its second season, the first week of April 2011.

Capital Bike Share (Cabi) bowed as a replacement for SmartBikesDC in Washington, DC on September 20, 2010. It started with ten times more bicycles than the original system at 1100 and ten times more stations at 114. For the first time in Washington, bike stations are at places where they are needed for users to start a journey and end a journey. In seven months 202,000 trips were taken on Cabi. Yearly subscriptions jumped from 1500 for SmartBikesDC to close to 6000 for Capital Bike Share. The daily per bike usage rate almost tripled. As opposed to the previous system which came through a street furniture advertising contract, Capital Bike Share is owned the Department of Transportation of Washington, DC and the Arlington, Virginia County Board. Operation of the system is overseen by a third party Alta Bicycle Share.  It is the first system in the United States that is regional by design serving more than one municipality. Already, other suburban communities of Washington are trying to get Cabi on their streets too. The program stays in operation all year long.

A newcomer to the US bike sharing scene is DecoBike which has blown into Miami Beach, Florida like a hurricane.  Because many users ride in fashionable bathing suits it’s dubbed the sexiest bike share in the world. Starting operation on March 15, 2011, within a few days the per bike daily usage was rivaling Dublin and Barcelona at 10 per bike. Very quickly, DecoBike will ramp up to around 1000 bicycles in 100 stations after starting with fewer than 400 bicycles in 50 stations. The system is privately owned by DecoBike, LLC and is provided as a concession in Miami Beach. With the residents and thousands of tourists keeping Miami Beach filled with activity, DecoBike feels the warm ocean breezes of success.

Bike sharing is catching on in the United States. It is most evident when viewing the clusters of programs operating or planned which are seen sprinkled on The Bike-sharing World Map. Cities large and small are investigating, planning and building bike sharing programs all over the country. Over the next year and a half it is expected that the cities of Boston, Baltimore, Boulder, Chattanooga, Chicago, Ft. Lauderdale, Honolulu, Manhattan Beach, Madison, Nashville, New York City, San Francisco and Seattle will join Washington, DC, Denver, Minneapolis, Miami Beach, Des Moines, and San Antonio with operating programs. City planners and transportation officials see that they cannot keep expanding with more travel lanes and streets.  Even in the US, there is just not enough room. Now they are focusing on getting more with less. They know that bike sharing is as sustainable form of individual mobility which will fit in their streets. People can travel through their cities quicker with less congestion and with less particulate emissions while having fun doing it and even getting some exercise at the same time.

Photo credits: The Bike-sharing Blog

Statistic credits: System websites and personal interviews with operators

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