Tag Archives: bike sharing

by | March 30, 2014 · 6:54 pm

In Boston: Get On A Bike, And Call Me In The Morning

Photo courtesy of The Hubway

Photo courtesy of The Hubway

Many people ride bicycles for health reasons. Now, in Boston, doctors have begun prescribing bike rides to improve the health of low-income residents.

According to the Boston Globe, the city-run program, called “Prescribe-a-Bike,” allows doctors at Boston Medical Center to prescribe low-income patients with a yearlong membership to Hubway bike sharing program, for only $5.

For the $5, patients can ride bikes as many times as they want for 30 minutes or less at a time. They also will get a free helmet, said an announcement from the city and the medical center.

There are nearly 900 Boston residents are already enrolled in an existing subsidized Hubway membership. City and hospital officials are hoping the new program enrolls another 1,000 residents, the Globe said. Continue reading →

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by | February 26, 2014 · 9:00 am

How To Ride A Bike In The City

By Micheline Maynard
I’ve been getting to know the streets of Phoenix, figuring out where it’s safe to ride and the streets to avoid. It got me thinking that since I’ve never had a class in how to ride in a city, I ought to look for some help online.

Here’s a video from GristTV that’s informative and entertaining. It’s a great one to watch if you haven’t been on a bike in a while, or you aren’t used to urban cycling. (Bike sharing participants, that could mean you.)

Let us know if you have some urban riding tips to go with these.

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by | February 25, 2014 · 11:50 pm

In Chicago, A Look At Divvy’s First Year — And A Contest

Divvy Bikes in Chicago.

Divvy Bikes in Chicago.

By Micheline Maynard

Although New York’s Citi Bikes grabbed most of the bike share spotlight in 2013, Chicago’s Divvy bike share system racked up some pretty significant numbers during its first year.

The city released a flood of data earlier in February, and cyclists in Chicago are pouring over it to see what kind of patterns are emerging. Chicago Streetsblog is doing a great job dissecting the statistics.

One of them is pretty significant. Women hold 31 percent of annual Divvy memberships, but only took 21 percent of trips last year. Nationally, women make up about 43 percent of bike share users. What’s keeping Chicago women from getting on Divvy bikes?

Meanwhile, the numbers show that annual members make up 47 percent of Divvy trips, with non-members taking the majority of trips. Last year, During the 187 days of service in 2013, users made 759,788 trips.

But, Divvy members tend to ride bikes longer when they check them out. Continue reading →

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by | February 3, 2014 · 3:14 pm

Bike Share Review: San Antonio Adventures

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The sunny south River Walk and a happy B-cycle rider. (Photo: Maryellen Tighe)

By Maryellen Tighe

My girlfriend and I visited San Antonio for a weekend in October. Both of us are frequent bicyclists. Missing our usual morning rides, we decided to try the San Antonio B-Cycle program.

We were impressed on Friday night by the number of bicyclists we saw near where we were staying. There were bike lanes by all the bars we visited, and full bike racks.

Saturday morning, we picked up our bikes from a B-cycle station near the southern extension of the San Antonio River Walk, on East Cesar E. Chavez Blvd. It was $10 for as many 30 minute rides as you could take in one day.

The heavy bikes have three speeds and rear brakes. Word to the wise: don’t carry them up stairs unless you have to.  The basket was perfect for carrying snacks, cameras and water. I was unaccustomed to riding with weight in front, but it was a quick balancing act to solve. Continue reading →

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by | January 21, 2014 · 9:43 am

Bixi Goes Bankrupt; What Happens Next?

A row of Bixis stands waiting for lunchtime riders in Montreal.

A row of Bixis stood waiting for lunchtime riders in Montreal last fall. Will Bixi be back?

By Frederick Meier

The shock wave traveled across the bicycling community on social media Monday afternoon, when the word came out of Montreal: Bixi, the big name in bike sharing, had filed for bankruptcy protection. Andy Riga, the Montreal Gazette‘s ace transportation reporter, was all over the story (read his coverage here).

The city of Montreal essentially forced Bixi into Canada’s version of Chapter 11 protection, basically in order to give the troubled company a chance to restructure $50 million in debt.

The move has ramifications across North America, because Bixi is the operator of multiple bike sharing programs including Citi Bikes in New York, Divvy Bikes in Chicago, and of course, the eponymous Bixi system in Montreal. (Read our story about bike sharing in Toronto Montreal here.)

Bixi, in fact, is owed $5.6 million by New York and Chicago, which have refused to make payments because of recurrent problems with Bixi-operated software.

We’ve put together a list of the best Bixi stories from yesterday and today, so you can get up to speed on what happened and what’s likely to happen next. Continue reading →

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by | January 13, 2014 · 2:31 pm

A Smaller City Tries A New Bike Sharing Approach

By Micheline Maynard

The United States has seen an explosion of interest in bike sharing. The nation’s bike sharing fleet doubled last year, will double again this year and is expected to be four times bigger in 2015 than it was in 2012, according to the Earth Policy Institute.

Lansing, Michigan is embracing bike sharing.

Lansing, Michigan is embracing bike sharing.

But as bike sharing expands, communities are trying some different approaches. In some places, local governments are taking the lead. In others, universities are involved. And a few private corporations are funding bike sharing meant just for their employees.

I recently took a look at the growing interest in bike sharing in Michigan for Bridge Magazine. Now, bikes are probably not what you think of first when you think of a state so tied to the auto industry. But as with the rest of the country, bike sharing is increasingly a topic of conversation.

One of the most intriguing ideas I discovered is in Lansing, Mich., the state capitol. It’s definitely a grass roots movement, with some help from Ingham County officials.

In October, the area launched what is officially the state’s first municipally sponsored bike sharing system, Capital Community Bike Share. Continue reading →

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by | November 16, 2013 · 9:00 am

Downtown, Campus Town: Bike Sharing Shapes Up For Ann Arbor

By Micheline Maynard

Heather SeyfarthBike sharing is exploding across the United States, with new programs popping up all over the United States. The nation’s bike sharing fleet has already doubled in 2013, and it’s expected to double again in 2014.

One of those new programs will be in my home town, Ann Arbor, MI. It seems an ideal spot for bike sharing, because of an active bike community, tens of thousands of students from all over the world, and a lot of bike lanes already in place over its 27.7 square miles.

This past week, I got some details about what’s planned for Ann Arbor from Heather Seyfarth, program manager for the Clean Energy Coalition, which is spearheading the local program. She and I spoke to the annual meeting of the Washtenaw Bicycling and Walking Coalition (my talk focused on the Curbing Cars project).

Ann Arbor’s program, which is about to be named, will be similar to other bike sharing programs across North America, but it has one main difference: it isn’t associated with Bixi, which oversees the programs in Montreal, Toronto and New York, among other places, and which is on shaky financial ground. Continue reading →

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by | October 30, 2013 · 3:00 pm

Why Would — or Wouldn’t You — Wear A Bike Helmet?

As bike sharing gets more popular, public health officials are concerned people are on bikes without helmets.

As bike sharing gets more popular, public health officials are concerned people are on bikes without helmets.

By Micheline Maynard

When I bought my bike this summer, everyone I told about the purchase was adamant: you have to get a helmet. They were so insistent that I stayed off it until I had gone to REI and brought home a helmet ($32, on sale).

Many public health officials are concerned that as bike sharing spreads across the country, head injuries also will go up, as I wrote this week for Al Jazeera America. There are some pretty compelling statistics to that effect.

Greg Kagay, one of the backers of Curbing Cars, is a dedicated cyclist who’s been wearing a helmet since he had a bike accident in high school. He is eager to try out bike sharing, but he’ll only do so when wearing a helmet.

However, there are also some people who think the concern about cyclists wearing helmets is way over blown. One of them is Jana Kinsman, who is among the best known cyclists in Chicago, thanks to her project, Bike A Bee.

I talked with Kinsman at length for my AJAM story, and she presents a strong argument that helmets are not the point. The bigger issue, she says, is that bikes, cars and pedestrians all need to coexist.

Continue reading →

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by | October 28, 2013 · 9:00 am

How Placemaking Can Boost City Transportation

A summer day in NYC's Bryant Park, a stand out example of placemaking.

A summer day in NYC’s Bryant Park, a stand out example of placemaking.

By Micheline Maynard

All around the world, urban planners are coming up with new ways to encourage people to get more out of their cities. One of the biggest trends is “place making” (or placemaking, as people in the field call it).

That’s taking a public space, and adding new elements so that people want to come there. There are dozens of successful placemaking projects across the United States. Think of Bryant Park in New York City, Eastern Market in Detroit, and Guerrero Park in San Francisco.

All of these places have been around for years, but they’ve all seen a revival in the past decade or so, thanks to what takes place in them. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have written a major new white paper on placemaking, which you can read here.

One of the biggest benefits of placemaking may wind up being what it does to the way people get around. Fred Kent, founder of the Project for Public Spaces, says placemaking can boost public transportation, and encourage people to get out of their cars.

“If there’s one thing, you’re going to drive to it,” he told me for a story in Forbes. “If there are 10 of them, all of a sudden, you’re connecting them, and it’s a whole point of not needing your car.” Continue reading →

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by | October 14, 2013 · 9:00 am

Bicyclists: How Strongly Do You Feel About Wearing A Helmet?

These Bixi riders and cyclists at lunch in Montreal. Only one of them is wearing a helmet.

These Bixi riders and cyclists at lunch in Montreal. Notice that only  one of them is wearing a helmet.

By Micheline Maynard

A few weeks ago, Curbing Cars supporter Michael Leland wrote about his experience using Capital Bike Share in Washington, D.C. Michael is an avid cyclist who always wears a helmet at home in Madison, Wisconsin, but he didn’t have one with him during his trip. That caused him a little discomfort in using the system.

We’re wondering how strongly you feel about wearing a helmet when you cycle. Is it a must for you? Or, do you skip one on occasions when you’re taking a short trip, or using bike sharing?

Please take our poll. If you feel particularly strongly about this, we’d love to hear your helmet thoughts. Add them in comments, or email us at CurbingCars@gmail.com if you’d like to say more.

Click here to take survey

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