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Page added on January 3, 2014
2013: The Year Bike Sharing Came of Age
Five million rides were taken on New York’s new bike share system in the first five months of service. (Photo courtesy of People for Bikes)
2013 is the year when the sharing economy—the recent rediscovery of the economic advantages of mutual cooperation—came to public attention.
It was also the year that bike sharing, one of the most tangible symbols of the sharing economy, came of age in America.
New bike sharing systems opened in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, Fort Worth, Columbus and Aspen, Colorado, this year while existing systems expanded in Minneapolis, Washington D.C. and other cities.
And 2014 is shaping up as the time when automated bike rental stations become commonplace on America’s streets, as bike sharing comes to Phoenix, Philadelphia, San Diego, Milwaukee, Tampa, Cincinnati, Seattle, Portland, Austin and Ann Arbor.
Skeptics predicted bike sharing would flop in New York City despite proven success in comparable places like Boston and Washington. They quickly quieted down after the Citi Bike system was launched in late May with 4300 bikes (now almost 6000) at more than 330 stations across Manhattan and Brooklyn.
Five million rides were logged in the first five months with no fatalities and only two dozen injuries, most of them minor. Ninety one percent of riders are so happy with the new system they want to use their federal tax dollars to expand it, according to a survey by Transportation Alternatives. (No public money has been invested in the system yet.) More than 90 percent of users also want to see Citi Bikes expand in their neighborhoods.
Another 4000 Citi Bikes will hit the streets of Manhattan and Brooklyn next year, which will make New York one of the largest bike sharing systems in the world after Paris and eight cities in China.
Chicago, however, also claims the title of America’s #1 bike sharing city based on the number of stations— 475 stations will be installed across the city by next year. The Windy City’s Divvy system opened last June with 750 bikes at 68 stations, and will expand to 4000 bikes next spring.
The Bay Area’s bike share system debuted in August with 700 bikes available in San Francisco, San Jose, Palo Alto and Mountain View. 2014 will see 1000 bikes at 100 stations.
Bike sharing experienced a few bumps in the road this year Los Angeles, set to open a downtown pilot program in 2013, abandoned plans due to a legal conflict about advertising on bike stations. The city is now looking to create a regional system. Meanwhile PBSC—the firm supplying bike sharing infrastructure for many systems including New York, Toronto and Washington—is on shaky financial ground, which might delay planned expansions in some cities and postpone bike sharing’s debut in Vancouver.
But even with these problems, Atlantic Cities blogger Sarah Goodyear writes, “In cities across the United States and Canada, bike-share has quickly proven its popularity.”
This is well-worth celebrating. Bike sharing offers people a healthier, more economical, greener way of travel that reduces traffic congestion for everyone, proven by a Washington DC survey showing that Capital Bike Share members drive 4.4 million fewer miles a year and save $800 in transportation costs on average.
And the bike sharing stations seen in more and more cities stand as a symbol that commons-based shared resources are the way of the future.
Adapted from a story from from People for Bikes
13 Comments on "2013: The Year Bike Sharing Came of Age"
TIKIMAN on Fri, 3rd Jan 2014 3:07 am
Yeah… The only people who live in the densely populated urban areas are people who want to move away from the scum of society but can’t afford to do so.
Get out of the city before you get robbed by a darkie.
Dave Thompson on Fri, 3rd Jan 2014 3:50 am
It looks good on paper. The one issue that makes bike sharing counter productive? That here in Chicago they have a fleet of trucks on the go moving the bikes from one place to another where they are needed. In the process one wonders how much fuel and congestion is then offset. Hey TIKIMAN,if you are trying to be funny you may want to rethink your approach?
Makati1 on Fri, 3rd Jan 2014 4:39 am
Hmmm… that means that out of 150 days, roughly half the population rode a bike once. As most of them were likely under 30 and over 18, that means that ‘bike sharing’ has a long way to go to offset the traffic.
BTW: in the first SIX MONTHS of 2012, 12 NYC cyclists were killed by motor vehicles and there were 1,651 injuries from motor vehicle/bike collisions.
“… Historically, nearly half of motorists who kill a New York City pedestrian or cyclist do not receive so much as a citation for careless driving. … Per NYPD policy, few if any of these crashes (when no fatalities are involved) were investigated by trained officers, even those resulting in serious, life-altering injuries. .”
Still want to ride a bike in NYC?
http://www.streetsblog.org/2012/08/03/nypd-7371-pedestrians-and-cyclists-injured-79-killed-through-june-2012/
Norm on Fri, 3rd Jan 2014 6:31 am
The rich far-left-liberals are way too into communistic sharing (for you, but not for themselves). What if the chain needs oiling. Who will do it? Ya right. There is no reason why a person cannot own their own bicycle. Of course, the more of a poor communistic person you are, the happier the rich far-left liberals are, to make you share even the tin cup, cause you aren’t allowed to have one of your own.
Keith on Fri, 3rd Jan 2014 6:46 am
I live where it all began, it’s called the bixi bike, the same bikes as NY, Chicago, manufactured here and sent to these cities. Watch for these Cities having to bail-out these programs over and over. Financial, they are unsustainable. Every year, the bixi bike runs a deficit, even with lucrative contracts from NY, Chicago, etc. Bike sharing is a public relations program for municipal governments. The trucks move the bikes around here as well. The cost to join these bike sharing programs is outrageous. By a cheap comfortable bike with a 150 dollar lock or two to dissuade the thieves. Bike sharing is a gimmick that gets a few people rich.
Arthur on Fri, 3rd Jan 2014 9:58 am
In the ninetees I was ten days in Manhattan and got around perfectly with public transport, cab and by foot. NYC is the last place where you want to ride a bicycle. Bicycles will be big again at the end of the car age, not now.
Beery on Fri, 3rd Jan 2014 10:16 am
“…in the first SIX MONTHS of 2012, 12 NYC cyclists were killed by motor vehicles and there were 1,651 injuries from motor vehicle/bike collisions.”
You should check to see how many motorists were killed in the same period. No one is suggesting that cycling is perfectly safe – no mode of transport is, but cycling is safer than driving. The idea that cyclists are vulnerable road users is a fallacy.
J-Gav on Fri, 3rd Jan 2014 10:29 am
Makati – In answer to your question: No, I don’t want to ride one in Paris either, which has a broad sharing network. Though there are ‘only’ between 1 and 6 bicycle fatalities here every year, there are a lot more injuries. I cringe when I see Daddy and junior flying down the boulevard without helmets, vying for space with cars, buses, trucks …
Makati1 on Fri, 3rd Jan 2014 11:55 am
Another article claims:
“… Though overall crashes fell slightly for the second straight year, 176 cyclists or pedestrians were killed in crashes, up from 158 the previous year. The other 115 deaths were motorists or their passengers, a sharp rise from the 78 drivers and passengers killed the year before. …”
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/27/nyregion/in-reversal-new-york-city-traffic-fatalities-rise.html?_r=0
Seems that cars are safer by this statistic.
Kenz300 on Fri, 3rd Jan 2014 4:30 pm
Buy a bicycle or use mass transit.
Cities need to become more people centered and less auto centered.
Apartments and businesses need to provide safe places to lock and store bicycles.
Riding a bicycle is good exercise and good for your health. It is also good for the environment.
GregT on Fri, 3rd Jan 2014 8:38 pm
We set up a bike share program in Vancouver, back in 2000. After 1 year, only 3 bicycles were accounted for out of the original 100. The rest were destroyed, stolen, or simply just disappeared.
As Keith mentioned above, most people can afford a bicycle and a good lock. Those that cannot, are not usually the sort that will take good care of things, especially things that don’t belong to them.
It would seem to me, that we are barking up the wrong tree here. Cities need to become less populated with people, and they will, it is only a matter of time.
kervennic on Sat, 4th Jan 2014 1:19 am
Bike sharing has financial problem in Paris now. Lots of vandalism. This is also too expensive for people like me.
The best option is to buy a good bike and learn the hard way to fix and maintain it. After some time it is like a pal.
For a third of the price of this ugly velib i have the equivalent of a tuned ferrari that i can fit to all my needs.
I can teach other or give a hand and some advice, if i can.
But you should never ever share your good bike.
Kenz300 on Sat, 4th Jan 2014 5:12 pm
The cost to own a vehicle in major cities will drive people to look for alternatives.
Walking, biking and mass transit all need to be available options.
Cities need to support alternatives to the automobile.