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Will Smart Bikes Succeed as Public Transportation in the United States?
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Will Smart Bikes Succeed asPublic Transportation in theUnited States?
Paul DeMaio, City of Alexandria, VirginiaPresident of MetroBike Jonathan Gifford, George Mason University Arlington Campus
 Abstract  Abstract  Abstract  Abstract  Abstract 
Bicycle-sharing programs have received increasing attention in recent years withinitiatives to increase bike usage, better meet the demand of a more mobile public,and lessen the environmental impacts of our transportation activities. In 1996, thesmart bike, or automated bike rental system, was first implemented in the UnitedKingdom, leading to a growing number of programs throughout Europe and Asia.However, there are presently no such programs in the United States. This articleexamines the potential success of smart bike programs in the United States.
Introduction
The purpose of this article is to describe briefly the history and development of bicycle-sharing, review experiences of selected smart bike, or automated bike rentalprograms, and develop guidelines for a successful smart bike program in the UnitedStates. In researching the article, the authors surveyed selected programs aroundthe world, interviewed key figures in those programs, and reviewed the literature.
 
 Journal of Public Transportation, Vol. 7, No. 2, 2004
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The first section provides a brief history of bike-sharing programs and models. Alisting of past and present smart bike programs follows it. The article concludeswith a discussion of the most important characteristics that will determine thelikely success of a smart bike program in the United States.
Background
Bicycles have several advantages over other modes of public transportation forshort-distance urban trips because they:
reach underserved destinations,
require less infrastructure,
are relatively inexpensive to purchase and maintain,
generally do not add to vehicular congestion,
do not create pollution in their operation, and
provide the user with the added benefit of exercise.In addition, bikes may increase trips on other modes of public transportation, asthey expand the reach of trains and buses.However, in comparison to other modes of transportation, bikes have their draw-backs, including:
They can be uncomfortable in inclement weather (i.e., temperature ex-tremes, high winds, precipitation).
They can be used in ways unsafe to riders and pedestrians.
They may be inaccessible to people with certain disabilities.
They may be difficult to use in some topography.
They require the user to have riding skills.
They are most appropriate for shorter distances.Two models of bike-sharing exist—one designed for community use and theother for residential use (Matsuura 2003). In the community bike-sharing model,an individual checks out a bike from one of many locations and returns it toanother location. The residential bike-sharing model requires bikes to be returnedat the same location from where they were checked out (usually apartment build-ings). The residential model, which is used in Japan, is designed for denser citieswhere living and bike parking spaces are at a premium. Products such as the
 
Will Smart Bikes Succeed as Public Transportation in the United States?
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Honda Cycle Partner and Fujitec 2-Ring Park are representative of the residentialbike-sharing model (Fujitec 2003; Honda 2003). However, the focus of this articleis on
community
bike-sharing.There have been three generations of bike-sharing systems over the past 35 years(DeMaio 2003). The first generation of bike-sharing programs began in 1968 inAmsterdam, The Netherlands. Ordinary bikes, painted white, were provided forpublic use. However, the bikes were stolen and the program collapsed within days(Associated Press 1998). In 1995, in Copenhagen, Denmark, a second generationof bike-sharing programs was launched with improvements. These bikes werespecially manufactured and could be picked up and returned at specific locationsthroughout the central city with a coin deposit. However, theft of bikes in second-generation programs continued to be a problem, which gave rise to the smartbike or third generation bike-sharing programs.Smartening earlier bike-sharing systems with electronically locking racks or bikelocks, telecommunication systems, and smartcards or magnetic stripe cards, hasallowed better tracking, as the customer’s identity is known. Customers not re-turning a bike within the allotted time for its use, are required to pay for thereplacement cost of the bike. These technological features offer great improve-ments over earlier systems, which had no high-tech features for checkout or re-turn, and relied solely on customer honesty.There are two prevalently used locking technologies in smart bike systems. In thefirst, bikes are checked out from an automated bike rack with the use of a smartcardor magnetic stripe card. This technology is in use by companies such as ClearChannel Adshel, JC Decaux, and Gewista. The second technology provides anautomated lock on the bike itself and relies on the user to communicate via mo-bile or pay phone for the entry code. Deutsche Bahn uses this technology.Smart bike fleets range in size from 50 bikes in Porsgrunn, Norway, to 1,700 bikesin Berlin, Germany. The longest running program, Vélo à la Carte, is in Rennes,France, which started in 1998.
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johnnychandler

I think bikes will be the thing of the future considering oil is going super high in price. I may get a hybrid soon to help battle the oil fields. Maybe even a bike!

reply06 / 24 / 2008
faith4lov

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reply11 / 03 / 2007
yoshitoma

That is fantastic. San Francisco is considering implementing such a bike-sharing program; your positive experiences are very encouraging to hear. I hope that bike-sharing will be as successful here as it is in Spain.

reply08 / 08 / 2007
serpina

Barcelona started last March with Smart Bikes, the fee is 24 euros a year but they offered the subscription for 6 euros just to test. Now they have 80.000 users (I'm one of them) and it had such a success that now they haven't enought bikes for everyone. They planned 100 bike points and 1500 bikes but now they will double to reach 200 point and 3000 bikes. And this service is mainly for residents!!. I have my own bike but I don't live in downtown, so I take the tube and then I can use a bike in the heart of Barcelone without taking mine. It's an idea every big city should do. Oh, and I do carsharing too! Visit the websites www.bicing.com (only Spanish and Catalan) and www.avancar.es

reply08 / 08 / 2007
socialista

The potential positive impact of instituting such bike-sharing programs in the United States could be huge. This is such a simple obvious inexpensive thing that could not only reduce pollution and traffic congestion, but help to fight the growing epidemic of obesity as well.

reply08 / 03 / 2007
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