Zipcars seem to be everywhere in increasing numbers these days, so why not expand the idea to bicycles? French firm JCDecaux has installed its Cyclocity public bike sharing system in Lyon, where according to Dwell 3,000 bikes account for 20,000 trips each day. By year’s end in Paris, 20,000 bikes will be available from - and returnable at - 750 secure kiosks that take credit cards and are positioned within 1,000 feet of one another. Pricing is extremely reasonable- in Brussels, where Cyclocity is also installed, membership costs 10 euros, with the first thirty minutes of biking at .50 euros and .65 euros for every thirty minutes thereafter.
The Cyclocity business model seems like it would be a great fit in Gotham, where apartments are small and it’s often not feasible to carry a bike up four flights of stairs in a walkup or permitted to store them in the hall. (Dwell also reports that San Francisco, Portland, and Chicago are all considering the system). In fact, the New York Bike Share Project, sponsored by the Forum for Urban Design, offered free thirty minute rentals back in July in order to “facilitate a public imagining of a future bike-share program in New York,” and was inspired by the Cyclocity system under installation in Paris. Photos and more details about the Project are available here via its blog.
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