It’s perhaps not surprising that bike-sharing was born in one of the
world’s most prolific transport innovators. France brought us the
stylish automobiles of the 1960s, high-speed TGVs, Airbus jetliners –
and urban bike-sharing. 40 years ago, the French city of La Rochelle launched what is
considered the world’s first successful bike-sharing programme, VĂ©los
Jaunes (Yellow Bikes). Incredibly, the bikes were actually free to use
at first, and 30 years later ( in 2004) the fellow French city of Lyon
would launch the world’s first major bike-share scheme using
next-generation, computerized bike racks and memberships cards. Some 600 cities around the world now have a bike-share system,
most of them being wildly successful in terms of market penetration and
user-rates. In fact, we’re positively hooked on them. New York City’s own Citibike was launched earlier this year and in
only a few months the programme has already grown to nearly 100,000
members. User numbers aside, however, the vast majority of these systems
have floundered financially, much to the dismay of city governments.
But can (or should?) bike-sharing be financially self-sustaining? Read more here, also in Portuguese.
View The Bike-sharing World Map in a larger map
Scott Ambinder Has Docked At All 1,674 Citi Bike Stations
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Scott Ambinder's dedication to Citi Bike is impressive. For one, he has
docked at least once at all 1,674 locations throughout NYC (and New
Jersey's Hoboke...
2 weeks ago