[PLANSIT]

Bike-sharing plan coming to Denver
By The Denver Post
Posted: 01/14/2009 12:00:42 PM MST
Updated: 01/14/2009 02:20:43 PM MST

Mayor John Hickenlooper announced the bike sharing program to encourage Denver commuters to use alternative transportation. (THE DENVER POST | JOHN PRIETO)

Denver is getting a bicycle-sharing program next summer.

Some 500 bikes will be available this summer at 30 to 40 stations around Denver, the city said in a news release today.

The program — dubbed Denver B-Cycle — got initial funding from a $1 million donation from the Denver 2008 Convention Host Committee.

"The positive feedback we received from the bike sharing program during the 2008 Democratic National Convention was remarkable," Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper said in a statement. "We are confident Denver B-Cycle will prove equally popular while improving our fitness levels and our environment. Our 358 miles of bike routes and trails combined with our 300 days of sunshine make Denver the perfect city in which
Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper took a bike ride to announce the city's new bike sharing program on January 14, 2009. Tracy Halasinski, co-chair of the Mayor's Bicycle Advisory Committee rode with him. (THE DENVER POST | JOHN PRIETO)
to launch this citywide bike sharing system."

Denver Bike Sharing is a nonprofit group that will manage the program.

Denver B-Cycle "will focus initially on the downtown Denver business district, University of Denver campus and adjacent neighborhoods," the release said. Stations will be in a 3- to 4-mile radius of downtown and integrated with current bus and light-rail routes.

[Cirrus]

Cool. Is this an expansion of the same system from the DNC, or is it a whole new system?

A little googling leads me to the B-cycle website (http://www.bcycle.com/), but there's not much info. Just a few pretty renderings.

http://www.bcycle.com/assets/images/cycle-stand_side.jpg

By the looks of it, the system will operate much the same way as SmartBike DC (https://www.smartbikedc.com/program_information.asp), which currently has 10 stations and is expanding to 30 this year. Here are some pics of the DC system:

http://beyonddc.com/galleries/2008SmartBike/images/100_5204.jpg

http://beyonddc.com/galleries/2008SmartBike/images/100_5210.jpg

http://beyonddc.com/galleries/2008SmartBike/images/100_5201.jpg

[Steely Dan]

what are the advantages of using a bike sharing program as opposed to just using your own bike? as a big-time cyclist, i like using my own bike that's optimized to my riding style & speed; i don't think i'd want to use some generic "one size fits all" bike. then again, most people probably don't ride 30 miles everyday like i do so they aren't as picky about the bike they're using.

[Cirrus]

You use these for trips you might otherwise take a cab for. It gives you the alternative of using a bike when you don't have yours with you, and/or when you are making a trip between two places neither of which is your home. These are also city bikes (good for hauling groceries) as opposed to the racing or dirt bikes which many Americans insist on owning.

It's almost like a low-tech PRT system. Most users probably own their own bikes, but this adds a level of efficient/cheap mobility that doesn't require everyone to have the right kind of bike with them at all times.

[Steely Dan]

i guess that could be helpful for some people, but i'll probably just keep using my own bike. i have a folding bike, so i can take it inside with me at work, stores, restaurants, friend's homes, etc.

is a helmut provided, or do you have to bring one along?

[initiald]

I'd definitely use it if I were visiting a city. If I had one close to my hotel, that would be sweet.

[Cirrus]

You bring your own helmet. Or you just don't wear one.

Again, we're talking about city cycling here, not recreational. You're not generally going that fast, and if you do get hit it's going to be too serious for a helmet to do you any good. Helmets are far more useful for trail or suburb riding than city riding.

[Steely Dan]

^ well, it doesn't matter if I'm going 15mph down a city street or over 20mph on a trail (i always ride fast because i don't know how to ride a bike slowly), I simply won't get on a bike without a helmut. When I was a teenager I witnessed a friend take a high-speed, over-the-bars, flying header into a tree. He would have surely been dead or at least severely paralized were it not for his helmut. Since then, I can't get on a bike without one.

[PHX31]

helmut? Anyway, Phoenix had a bike sharing program years ago. They were painted purple and it was on some kind of honor system. Unfortunately quite quickly the bikes were used and long gone, never to be seen again. How does a program like this avoid theft?

[Cirrus]

Honor-based bike-sharing was popular a few years ago, but quickly ended for exactly the reason you cite.

This system avoids theft the same way ZipCar avoids theft. The system knows when you rent a bike, so if you don't return it they know who had it when it disappeared. Also, as you can see from the DC bikes, they tend to use very distinctive frames that are easy to recognize.

[PHX31]

That's good that they know you rented it, but doesn't really prevent theft, and seeing someone on that distinct bike doesn't mean they stole it. Is there a deposit you have to put down in addition to the rental fee? Like if it's gone 1 day or 2 days after you rented it they take your deposit?

[Cirrus]

There is a membership fee, and the longer you have it the more you're charged. It's not a free system. It's hourly rental.

And NOTHING prevents theft of anything, ever. Your private car can be stolen too, even when it's locked and in your driveway. The measures in place for modern bike-sharing and car-sharing are enough to limit theft so that it isn't a problem. And, y'know, these things are insured. Unlike the free-for-all sharing networks of old, theft is rare enough with these systems that insurance is affordable.

[1Post2]

According to the site which Cirrus dug up, which seems to be specially tailored for Denver, you use a credit card or a membership card to unlock the bike (thus you are on the hook for returning it to another station), and the first half hour is free.

Congrats to Denver. I know that people at the City have been hard at work on this program for a while now, even before the DNC.