My employer was gracious enough to start an employee bike-sharing program several years ago as one way to improve employee heath and fitness, as well as lower insurance and transportation costs. Two bikes are parked for shared use near the main entrance to the building for 9-10 months of the year. The bikes were provided by MSU Bikes at Michigan State University, which is one of 36 American and four Canadian university-operated bike sharing/renting/selling/repair programs. Grand Valley State University, west of Grand Rapids is in the process of developing a program based on the MSU model. Below is a chart of campus bike-sharing programs in the United States and Canada.

UNIVERSITY LOCATION YEAR BEGUN UC – Davis Davis, CA 1971 UC – San Diego San Diego, CA 1973 UC – Santa Cruz Santa Cruz, CA 1986 Oberlin College Oberlin, OH 1986 Hampshire College Amherst, MA 1991 Wisconsin Madison, WI 1996 British Columbia Vancouver, BC 1998 Fresno State Fresno, CA 2001 McMaster Hamilton, ON 2002 Colorado Boulder, CO 2003 Harvard Cambridge, MA 2003 McGill Montreal, QB 2003 Michigan State East Lansing, MI 2003 Portland State Portland, OR 2004 Colgate Norwich, NY 2005 Toronto Toronto, ON 2005 Utah State Logan, UT 2005 Bowdoin College Brunswick, ME 2006 UW – Milwaukee Milwaukee, WI 2006 Maryland College Park, MD 2007 Sonoma State Rohnert Park, CA 2007 Ripon College Ripon, WI 2008 UC – Irvine Irvine, CA 2009 Washington State Pullman, WA 2009 Arizona Tucson, AZ ? Berea College Berea, KY ? UC – Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, CA ? Cornell Ithaca, NY ? Illinois- Chicago Chicago, IL ? Indiana Bloomington, IN ? Kentucky Lexington, KY ? Minnesota Minneapolis, MN ? Missouri – KC Kansas City, MO ? Naropa Boulder, CO ? Northland College Ashland, WI ? Oregon Health & Science Portland, OR ? Smith College Northampton, MA ? St. Cloud State St. Cloud, MN ? Stanford Palo Alto, CA ? Tulane New Orleans, LA ? Washington Seattle, WA ? Grand Valley State Allendale, MI planned

SOURCES: campus sources

In 1994, Portland, Oregon became the first city in the United States to provide a free community-based bike-sharing service through its Yellow Bike Project. Similar programs were established in a few other American and Canadian cities, but a number of these early pioneers closed after a short period.

More recently, pay-as-you-ride bike sharing programs have been developed successfully across both countries. Many of sponsored and operated by individual communities, health organizations, or philanthropic entities. The largest bike sharing operation in the United States is B-cycle located in ten cities, while Bixi operates in the eastern Canadian cities of Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto, plus six other locations in the United States, England, and Australia. Alta Bicycle Share currently operates two systems in the USA.

The largest and most successful bike sharing program is in beautiful Montreal, Quebec, where Bixi provides more than 5,000 bicycles at 400+ locations across the metro area. Another large- scale effort is underway in Washington, DC, where the plan The chart below lists the community-based bike-sharing programs in the United States and Canada.

CITY PROGRAM HUBS BIKES START/END Portland, OR Yellow Bike Project 200 1994 – 1997 Tucson, AZ Orange Bike Project 80 1996 – 1996 Austin, TX Yellow Bike Project 4 1997 – present Toronto, ON BikeShare 16 150 2001 – 2006 Edmonton, AB People’s Pedal 2005 – 2008 Washington, DC Smart Bike 2008 – 2010 Montreal, QB Bixi 405 5,050 2009 – present Washington, DC Capital Bikeshare 116 1,100 2010 – present Miami Beach, FL Deco Bike 73 740 2011 – present Toronto, ON Bixi 80 1,000 2010 – present Denver, CO B-cycle 51 510 2010 – present Des Moines, IA B-cycle 4 2010 – present Madison, WI B-cycle 24 2010 – present Minneapolis, MN Nice Ride/Bixi 95 700 2010 – present San Antonio, TX B-cycle 19 140 2011 – present Ottawa, ON Bixi 10 100 2011 – present Honolulu, HA B-cycle 2 2011 – present Chicago, IL B-cycle 6 2011- present Boulder, CO B-cycle 13 2011 – present Omaha, NE B-cycle 3 2011 – present Boston, MA Hubway/Bixi 61 610 2011 – present Broward County, FL B-cycle 27 proposed East Lansing, MI 5 20-30 2012 Lansing, MI proposed New York City, NY NYC Bikeshare/Bixi 600 10,000 2012 Chattanooga, TN Bike Chattanooga 30 300 2012 Baltimore, MD B-cycle 30 250 2012

SOURCES: sources

Based on the chart above, most surprising are the cities where bike sharing programs have yet to be developed. Personally, I would have guessed that San Francisco, Seattle, and Vancouver were trend setters in this area. I am not sure why bike sharing programs have not been established in them, though it could be partially due to the number of bike riders/commuters with their own bikes.

These are exciting times for cycling advocates and recreational bicyclists alike. No longer do you feel like you have to lug your bike with you whenever you travel. Hopefully, the current model is sustainable over the long haul unlike earlier versions. Given the expansion of multi-city operations, it appears the pay-as-you-go option has legs much like Zipcars and similar urban transportation opportunities.

Bike sharing programs are just one of the exciting mobility options that are revolutionizing urban travel and urban planning. Zipcars, Segways, water taxis, motor scooters, entertainment-oriented transit, and, electric bikes, velomobiles, modern streetcars are others. Each is dramatically reshaping the urban landscape in its own way by:

• Bringing renewed pedestrian and bicycle life to once auto-dominated streets that knits cities together in ways unimaginable just a decade or two ago.

• Invoking political support and advocacy for complete street programs and safe routes to school.

• Lessening the need for car ownership and thereby lessening our carbon footprint.

• Increasing public acceptance of new transportation options.

• Reinvigorating once derelict shopping and entertainment districts.

• Adding more focus on non-motorized transportation in planning and design.

• Enhancing artistic expression through design competitions and similar events.

• Enlivening city street life into the wee hours of the morning.

• Reducing the need for new street and highway construction.

• Creating new entrepreneurial opportunities related to non-motorized transportation.