A bicycle-sharing system, bike share program, public bicycle scheme, or public bike share (PBS) scheme, is a shared transport service in which bicycles are made available for shared use to individuals on a short term basis for a price or free. Many bike share systems allow people to borrow a bike from a "dock" and return it at another dock belonging to the same system. Docks are special bike racks that lock the bike, and only release it by computer control. The user enters payment information, and the computer unlocks a bike. The user returns the bike by placing it in the dock, which locks it in place. Other systems are dockless.
Since the advent of the bicycle in the 1860s, Chicago has been distinguished as one of the premier cycling locations in the United States, with such public cycling destinations as Grant Park, Burnham Park and the Chicago Park District's Lakefront Trail.
Bikes Not Bombs is a Boston, Massachusetts based nonprofit that uses the bicycle as a vehicle for social change by recycling donated bicycles, training young people to fix their own bikes and become employable mechanics and sending thousands of bicycles to international partner communities in countries such as Uganda, Ghana, St. Kitts & Nevis, El Salvador, Sierra Leone, Guatemala, Kenya, and Rwanda. The organization was founded in 1984 by Carl Kurz, a bicycle mechanic and Michael Replogle, a Maryland-based transportation planner. Bikes Not Bombs provided bicycles and bicycle parts to Nicaragua in opposition to the Reagan administration's support for the Contra War, and in solidarity with the Nicaraguan people and in resistance to the U.S. trade embargo against Nicaragua in effect at the time. Mira Brown became involved with BNB's work while in Nicaragua and later became the organization's first Executive Director.
Cycling in New York City is associated with mixed cycling conditions that include dense urban proximities, relatively flat terrain, congested roadways with "stop-and-go" traffic, and streets with heavy pedestrian activity. The city's large cycling population includes utility cyclists, such as delivery and messenger services; cycling clubs for recreational cyclists; and increasingly commuters. Cycling is increasingly popular in New York City; in 2018 there were approximately 510,000 daily bike trips, compared with 170,000 daily bike trips in 2005.
Toronto, like many North American cities, has slowly been improving its cycling infrastructure. The number of cyclists has been increasing progressively, particularly in the city's downtown core. As cycling conditions improve, a cycling culture has grown and alternatives such as automobiles are seen as less attractive. The politics of providing resources for cyclists, particularly dedicated bike lanes, has been contentious, particularly since the 2010s.
Shared transport or shared mobility is a transportation system where travelers share a vehicle either simultaneously as a group or over time as personal rental, and in the process share the cost of the journey, thus creating a hybrid between private vehicle use and mass or public transport. It is a transportation strategy that allows users to access transportation services on an as-needed basis. Shared mobility is an umbrella term that encompasses a variety of transportation modes including carsharing, Bicycle-sharing systems, ridesharing companies, carpools, and microtransit.
Detroit is a popular city for cycling. It is flat with an extensive road network with a number of recreational and competitive opportunities and is, according to cycling advocate David Byrne, one of the top eight biking cities in the world. The city has invested in greenways and bike lanes and other bicycle-friendly infrastructure. Bike rental is available from the riverfront and tours of the city's architecture can be booked.
A bicycle cooperative can take the many forms of the cooperative model. These often include co-ops composed of businesses to achieve economies of scale, co-ops managed by those who work at the business, and bicycle co-ops owned and managed by the cyclists that use their services. To date, many bicycle co-ops have taken the form of community bike shops and cooperatives organized to give the Local bike shop national scale and buying power.
Bicycling has been a popular activity in Minnesota since the late 19th century. Since at least 2001, the state has claimed to have more miles of bike trails than any other in the U.S. For 2017, Minnesota was ranked as the 2nd most bicycle-friendly state by the League of American Bicyclists, moving up from its 5th-ranked position in 2008 and 2009. It was only exceeded by Washington. Much of the state's bicycle culture is centered in Minneapolis, the state's largest city, but the extensive network of trails has helped make cycling common throughout the state.
Capital Bikeshare is a bicycle-sharing system which serves Washington, D.C.; Arlington County, Virginia; the cities of Alexandria, Virginia and Falls Church, Virginia; Montgomery County, Maryland and Fairfax County, Virginia. As of May 2021, it had 627 stations and 5,400+ bicycles, all owned by these local governments and operated by contractor Motivate International. Opened in September 2010, the system was the largest bike sharing service in the United States until New York City's Citi Bike began operations in May 2013.
SmartBike DC was a bicycle sharing system implemented in August 2008 with 120 bicycles and 10 automated rental locations in the central business district of Washington, D.C. The network was the first of its kind in North America, but was replaced by the much larger, publicly funded Capital Bikeshare system in the fall of 2010. SmartBike DC officially ceased operations in January 2011.
Bluebikes, originally Hubway, is a bicycle sharing system in the Boston metropolitan area. As of July 2021, the system had deployed 393 stations with a fleet of over 3,800 bikes in the 10 municipalities it served. Bluebikes is operated by Motivate and uses technology provided by 8D Technologies andPBSC Urban Solutions for equipment. The bike share program officially launched in Boston as Hubway. From 2012 to 2021, neighboring municipalities of Brookline, Cambridge, Somerville, Everett, Newton, Arlington, Chelsea, Watertown, and Salem joined the system. By 2020, total annual members neared 23,000, and as of 2021, 14 million total rides have been taken.
Last mile is a term used in supply chain management and transportation planning to describe the last leg of a journey comprising the movement of people and goods from a transportation hub to a final destination. "Last mile" was adopted from the telecommunications industry which faced difficulty connecting individual homes to the main telecommunications network. Similarly, in supply chain management last-mile describes the difficult last part in the transportation of people and packages from hubs to final destinations. Last-mile delivery is an increasingly studied field as the number of business to consumer (b2c) deliveries grow especially from e-commerce companies in freight transportation, and ride-sharing companies in personal transportation. Some challenges of last-mile delivery include minimizing cost, ensuring transparency, increasing efficiency, and improving infrastructure.
Motivate LLC is a company based in New York City that services bicycle sharing systems and other urban services in the North America. The systems provide a flexible method for completing short trips, as contrasted with the longer rentals offered by traditional bike rental companies. In July 2018 a portion of the company was acquired by Lyft, with the service arm portion of the business staying private and renamed Motivate LLC.
Hangzhou Public Bicycle is a bicycle sharing system serving the city of Hangzhou. As of January 5, 2013, with 66,500 bicycles operating from 2,700 stations, it was the largest bike sharing system in the world, although it has since been overtaken by a number of dockless bike share operators such as Mobike. It is the first bike-sharing system in China. It plans to expand to 175,000 bikes by 2020.
PBSC Urban Solutions, formerly the Public Bike System Company, is a bicycle-sharing system equipment vendor based in Longueuil, Quebec. The company develops bicycle-sharing systems, equipment, parts, and software, and sells its products to cities in Australia, Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and seven other countries. The company has sold about 90,000 bikes and 7,000 stations to 40 cities.
The Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective is a bicycle cooperative in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Biketown, also known as Biketown PDX, is a bicycle-sharing system in Portland, Oregon, that began operation on July 19, 2016. The system is owned by Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) and operated by Lyft, with Nike, Inc. as the title sponsor. At launch, the system had 100 stations and 1,000 bicycles serving the city's central and eastside neighborhoods, with hopes to expand outward.
Better Environmentally Sound Transportation (BEST) is a Vancouver-based charity focused on promoting walking, cycling, public transit, and other forms of sustainable transportation in Metro Vancouver. The organization was founded in 1991 and has several active projects as of 2019.
