It's beginning to look a lot like actual bike sharing...

Some good news from UIC Courtesy of Dan Fredman/UIC College of Cycling list.

It seems the second coming of B-Cycle (to the east and west campus) is starting to look a little more like what one would expect from "bike sharing" than the initial publicly-subsidized Bike-N-Roll money grab.

$25/semester fee, first two hours of each use free, 2.50/hr. thereafter.

Complete announcement e-mail below.

===

From: Chicago B-cycle <info@chicagobikesharing.com>
Date: Thu, Mar 17, 2011 at 3:16 PM
Subject: University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) Teams with B-cycle to
Launch Bike Sharing Program
To: info@chicagobikesharing.com


*Chicago B-cycle Encourages Students and Commuters to Bike*

* *

CHICAGO – March 17th, 2011 – B-cycle is helping University of Illinois at
Chicago students and commuters increase their daily activity and reduce
carbon emissions with a University bike-sharing program. Chicago B-cycle
will launch with 100 bicycles at six B-stations around the UIC Campus,
offering a green alternative to cars for short commutes and errands. The
bikes will be available March 21st through May 6th, 2011. Locations include:
Student Center East, Student Center West, UIC Hermitage Mall, James Stukel
Towers, and the UIC Student Services Building. Connection to the Chicago
lakefront is made with a B-cycle station at Museum Campus as well as virtual
check-in stations at Millennium Park. To check out bikes, students, faculty,
and the public can register at www.chicagobcycle.com  or just use a credit
card at the B-stations. The cost is $25 per semester, the first 2 hours of
each trip are included, but if you use the bike longer than 2 hours it will
cost an additional $2.50 per half hour.



The UIC Bike Sharing project was inspired by Mayor Daley’s request to get
the university campuses in Chicago networked with bike share kiosks. Bike
and Roll Chicago, the operator of Chicago B-cycle, is sponsoring the UIC
program. Josh Squire, the Executive Director of Chicago B-cycle: “this is
another step to make Chicago even more bike friendly...we hope Mayor Elect
Rahm Emanuel continues Mayor Daley’s vision and completes the task of
creating a citywide Bike-sharing transit system.”



“Bike-sharing was created for the commuter whose transit stop is two miles
from the office, the urbanite running errands, and for students to get
across campus quickly,” explained Bob Burns, president of B-cycle.

* *

“By providing bike sharing kiosks on campus, B-cycle will enable students,
faculty and staff to reduce the number of car trips for university
purposes,” said Cindy Klein-Banai, Associate Chancellor for Sustainability
at UIC. “This helps meet one of our Climate Action Plan’s goals of providing
greater transit options, which will reduce the university’s carbon
emissions.”

* *

*Bike-Sharing Gains Speed in the U.S.*

First popularized in European cities such as Paris, Barcelona, and London,
bike-sharing is quickly expanding around the globe and across the U.S. New
York City, Boston, San Antonio, Miami Beach and Fort Lauderdale plan to join
Denver, DC, and Minneapolis with large scale bike share programs in
2011-12.



*About Bike and Roll *

Chicago B-cycle is operated by Bike and Roll Chicago. Bike and Roll Chicago
was founded in 1993 and operates ten lakefront bicycle rental and tour
locations in the city. The company is a managing partner of Bike and Roll, a
national network of bike rental and tour companies with additional locations
in Chicago, Miami, New York City, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.



For additional information contact:  info@chicagobikesharing.com  or call
773-230-4422, www.chicagobcycle.com