Spicycles Final Report on Bike Sharing

Bike sharing systems in urban areas usually differ from traditional bicycle rental services since they are rather offers for daily mobility than leisure oriented systems. In contrast to those conventional renting schemes, bike sharing systems can be used one-way for either monomodal or intermodal trips. As a flexible mobility option they can be considered as an additional part of public transport systems. A long list of possible benefits makes bike sharing attractive for municipal
organisations as well as for businesses. First of all, the increasing price of natural resources especially for oil necessitates thinking about sustainability, efficient use of resources and development of new innovative solutions. Furthermore, the increasing urbanisation brings the necessity to think about alternative transport concepts. Growing density of the population in cities intensifies the problem of insufficient infrastructures. Those infrastructures can only be enlarged to a certain level. Thus, new ways and concepts for an efficient use of the existing infrastructures have to be found. Bike sharing also offers an economic effect for cities and individuals. bike sharing can be seen as an environmentally friendly service to support the modernity and individuality of a city. A further long term effect is the overall increase of awareness for cycling and sustainable transport modes. More of this in the Final Report that you can read here.