THE REVOLUTION IS ROLLING!

Denver Colorado, just a few days ago, became the first US city to have a city wide bike share scheme up and running.

Here’s the roll out for their B Bikes on a rainy Denver day. They’ve beaten Minneapolis, by the Way which looked to be the first in the US , it’s Nice Ride scheme, now slated for June.

Bike share is revolutionary because it turbo charges bike usage wherever it lands, and that in turn calms traffic, cleans the air, and makes for a friendlier city life.

It does something else equally important. It shifts the bike culture balance towards the sit-up bike, the comfortable friendly way to ride, and away from the bent over Lycra look, still so prevalent here.

These sturdy sit-up bikes have some novel features.
Firstly, the eye is drawn to the super-sized basket, proclaiming loud and clear that this type of cycling is about practical transport, and has nothing to do with sports cycling.

Note too, that this capacious carrier has something quite novel inside, and it’s not a helmet.

That black coil is a cable lock, linked to the bike. This is a good idea because one of the great inconveniences of other share bike systems, is that the only way to lock the bike if you need to shop for example, is to find a docking station, unless carry a lock with you. I guess.

Here’s a short film showing the super comfortable B Bikes in action.

I note that all the riders are wearing helmets. They must have bought them with them because there’s no evidence of a helmet coming with the bike. Are helmets optional in Denver, anyone know?

According to the film, there’ll be 500 B bikes dispensed from 50 docking stations, making the scheme medium small.

Geek on a bike supplies some further interesting info. The bikes are made by Trek, a mainstream bike manufacturer which may have noticed how Montreal’s Bixis are on-selling briskly to cities around the world.

“Each bike is equipped with a GPS transponder(reports Geek) which talks back to the B-cycle base. While it doesn’t provide navigation during use – there’s no display on the bike itself – it does talk back to B-cycle’s servers, and allows the company to track exactly where its bikes have gone – hopefully preventing theft and ensuring that an adequate supply of bikes is kept ready at each B-station.

The GPS also uploads your journey to your member page – tracked via the unique identifier on your B-card – where you can view you travels overlaid on a map.

This information is also used to track things like personal fitness levels, average speed, calories burned, and the contribution you have made to reducing the city’s carbon footprint by ditching four wheels in favor of two.

The company’s president Bob Burns explained that the B-cycle scheme “was created for the commuter whose transit stop is two miles from the office, the urbanite running errands, and the tourist out sightseeing” rather than those planning on traveling long distances.

He describes the specialized Trek-designed cycle as “a cruiser-style bike that is comfortable for people of all sizes and biking abilities.”

Mayor of Denver John Hickenlooper said of the project that “Denver can set an example for the whole country and show that bike-sharing is a viable transportation option to help improve the overall health of Americans and reduce our carbon footprint.“

In May 2008, the Age reported that Brisbane looked set to be the fist Australian city with bike share. The city govt was promising 2000 bikes dispensed from 150 stations. So far two years later, not a bike to be seen, stymied by the helmet law, is the suspicion. (see his comment)

My friend Dr Paul Martin, Brisbane sit-up bike commuter and deep digger on this question, has been able to get nothing much out of the authorities one way or another

Meanwhile Melbourne will be first in Australia for sure. The city is set to have a much more modest bike share scheme, 100 Bixis, on it’s streets, come May 31st this year.

Can it work from a size POV? Those who run who run Velbis in Paris say that there is a critical mass below which such a scheme can’t work.

They remain a toy, a curiosity unless the stations are everywhere and the bikes as plentiful as fallen leaves in Autumn.

Melbourne is not deterred. The RACV, the massive motorist club behind this bike share scheme, is not throwing its money away one presumes

Here’s a movie of what they’ll look like, our Melb. Bixis, and how they’ll ride.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bT4yV2glmuQ

Rumors have it that Bixis also have tracking devices built in, at least in the Quebec model. So, if you’re cheating on someone don’t do it on a Bixi. Your privacy is not assured!

Then, there’s the other catch 22, Our helmet law.

It’s going to be so interesting to see what happens when folks ride those Bixis without helmets, as they surely will, protesting to the cops who stop them…..

“If this bike share scheme offers me a bike without a helmet, that’s how I’ll ride it. If I picked up a rental car, I wouldn’t have to supply my on seat belt, would I?”

For some BG on this, see Bike Share and helmets don’t Mix?

Apropos of that, my last bit of revolutionary news is from Mexico City where they now have ecocbicis in that vaste city

The share bike’s name comes from the city which inspired them, Barcelona and its Bicis, share bikes, which have transformed that city too.

Violeta Brana-Lafourcade, who filmed so well for me in Denmark and Holland, (the Waltz Of The Bikes) will be be reporting on the Bicis revolution for this blog from Barcelona very soon.

Here are the Ecobicis in action in Mexico City

Note that very few Mexican bike share riders are wearing helmets.

According to Mikael Colville-Andersen, author of the very accurate blog, Copenhagenize.com. Mexico city has rescinded it’s helmet law.

Was it because bike share was deemed more valuable than the doubtful benefits of compulsory helmets, which, to be fair, people did not wear anyway?

Tel Aviv, Mikael reminds us, is flirting with the same horrible revisionistic possibility.

Mikael’s parting advice; “Got a helmet law? Don’t bother with bike share programs until you repeal it.”

OH, gloom, Australia, we may be on the slippery slope of the de-nannyization of cycling, turning back the clock to the terrible 80′s when cycling was strangely safe even without lids, when adults had choice. Horrors! Stay tuned!

And practice sitting up straight when your ride. It’s the new black.

Newsfash! Bixi, the famous Montreal share bike, has just released some interesting figures. The company, which makes and runs them, part of Montreal’s parking system, sold 9000 bikes overseas this last year, 6500 of them to London. They project a profit!

And here are local use stats. for 5000 Bixis in Montreal itself last summer.

BIXI IN NUMBERS

1.14 million: rides taken in 2009.

32,098: Bixis taken or returned at the busiest station (at Mont Royal

métro station).

10,775: People who bought subscriptions in 2009.

179,683: Average number of Bixi rides taken on Fridays, the system’s busiest day.

5 to 6 p.m.: most popular time to ride a Bixi.

48: percentage of users taking Bixis to reach work or school.

59: percentage of Bixi subscribers who also own their own bike.

25 to 44: the age range of most Bixi subscribers.

85: Percentage of subscribers with university degrees.

34: Percentage of subscribers who live in Plateau Mont Royal, the biggest source of Bixi users.

Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/business/Bixi+projects+profit+even+with+contract/2996635/story.html#ixzz0nToR7api

Mike Rubbo