You read that right – bike-sharing is finally off the ground in America!  Washington D.C. launched the program, called SmartBike D.C., on Aug. 13, 2008 with 120 bikes at 10 different sites in the downtown area.  It’s a conservative beginning for sure, compared to Paris’ Velib program, which began with 10,000 bikes at 750 locations – but then, even though we’re on the right path to absorbing more of Europe’s attitude toward public and alternative transportation, the bicycle is not yet enjoying the popularity here that it does across the pond.  But with this program and more like it, in combination with gas prices, that’s sure to change.

Here’s how the program works: people buy a $40 yearly membership, which then allows them to pick up a bike from any of the stations for up to three hours.  To use it longer, you have to pedal yourself back to a station to check it out again (kind of like a library…).  One nice thing about this in comparison with Paris is that it’s a cheaper system – in Paris, the first half-hour of riding is free, but it’s 1 euro for the next half-hour, 2 euros for the next, and 4 euros for the next.  However, while Parisians and tourists still need a membership, much like DC, the Velib program offers 1-day and 1-week passes in addition to annual ones.  DC’s not there yet, but it will probably come soon enough.  And in a way, it’s better that the target audience is locals instead of tourists; locals walk or drive the streets every day, and if they go by on bikes rather than automobiles, tourists will quickly follow suit.

According to Streetsblog, Clear Channel Outdoor (the company sponsoring the bike program) says they’ve been getting inquiries all around the country about how to make this work in other cities.  Let’s hope this is the beginning of something huge in American transportation!

Filed under: I'On Group, Urban Sustainability on August 28th, 2008