Bike Sharing
Basics
Does Texas DOT Have the Authority to Kill Bike-Share in El Paso?
Just a few weeks ago, El Paso was all ready to go with a new bike-share network, or so it seemed. The city had lined up $400,000 in local funds from the city of El Paso, the University of Texas at El Paso and a grant from Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. The regional planning agency had unanimously signed off on awarding the project $1.6 million in federal transportation funds earmarked for air pollution reduction. Suburban communities had even started expressing interest in being added to the system.
September 11, 2013
The American Bike-Share Fleet Has Doubled Since January
This has been an epic year for bike-share in America. According to a report from the Earth Policy Institute, the opening of Bay Area Bike Share yesterday brought the cumulative size of the bike-share fleets in U.S. cities to 18,000 bikes, more than twice what it was at the beginning of 2013.
August 30, 2013
Highway-Happy Texas DOT Says El Paso Bike-Share Isn’t Eco Enough
The same state department of transportation that is eagerly pursuing a $5.2 billion third outerbelt for Houston yanked $1.6 million from the city of El Paso this week out of concern that the city's bike-share plans were not "the most efficient ways to address air quality with limited funding."
August 16, 2013
Following NYC’s Historic Launch, Bike-Share Poised to Pop Up Everywhere
Yesterday was a momentous day for sustainable transportation: New York City launched its Citi Bike system, logging a record-breaking 6,050 trips and 13,768 miles on its first day. Already the biggest bike-share system in the country, it's on track to expand to nearly twice its current size.
May 28, 2013
Capital Bikeshare Members Reduced Their Driving 4.4 Million Miles Per Year
We’ve noted before that it can be challenging to figure out exactly how much driving is avoided when someone rides a bike. But here we have it straight from the horse’s mouth – nearly 7,000 horses, in fact. According to a November 2012 survey of Capital Bikeshare members, released today, the average subscriber drove 198 miles less per year after joining the system. Multiply that by 22,200 members and that's 3.7 million pounds of CO2 that won't get belched into the atmosphere. Nice work, CaBistas!
May 22, 2013
Expanding Car-Share Beyond America’s Biggest Cities
The growth of car-share has helped people forgo the expense of car ownership in major cities like Washington and Seattle, where it's been widely adopted. But not every city has the market to sustain car-share services from companies like Zipcar or Hertz. In his book Walkable City, Jeff Speck writes that your city might not be "ready" for car-share if, when you stick out your hand downtown, a cab doesn't stop.
April 29, 2013
Local B-cycle Memberships Will Be Good in 15 Cities
B-cycle memberships are about to get a lot more portable.
March 15, 2013
Midwestern Cities Race to Adopt, and Grow, Bike-Share
Pittsburgh was the newest city to announce its bike-share plans this week, when it confirmed the city would add a 500-bike system by the spring of next year.
March 13, 2013
Chattanooga Bike-Share: Lessons for Smaller Cities
Chattanooga, Tennessee, was, in a lot of ways, not an ideal city for bike-sharing. It's a somewhat sprawling city, without a strong culture of cycling and walking. In addition, only a small percentage of area residents use transit to get around, so not many are leaving the car in the garage.
February 11, 2013
Why Isn’t Bike-Share Reaching More Low-Income People?
Earlier this week, Denver's B-Cycle bike-share system came under fire for allegedly side-stepping low-income neighborhoods. The accuser was City Council Member Paul Lopez, and his complaint was not something that system operators necessarily deny: There aren't many stations in low-income neighborhoods.
October 3, 2012