Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Mike Zumwalt on September 22, 2011 at 11:19am

I like the idea but those things are huge,heavy and usually wobbly people on the sidewalk riding them.

 

THIS is where the bike ambassadors could be telling newbies the rules of the road.

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Permalink Reply by John Greenfield on September 22, 2011 at 12:06pm

Ever ridden one? I think bike sharing bikes are a very fun (albeit slow) ride, especially in a town with almost no hills.

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Permalink Reply by Liz on September 22, 2011 at 12:13pm

Part of the current problem is that they're mostly focused on tourist riders, with little for residents. Having people who are both new to cycling and new to the city is always a dangerous combination.  Putting signs up letting people know sidewalk riding isn't permitted and a map showing the bike routes in the 4-8 block radius of the station would be a nice addition. 

 

In Barcelona there are stations all over the city and its really useful to ride from one destination to another.  

 

I love that the membership cards will be incorporated into CTA fare cards. 

Mike Zumwalt said:

I like the idea but those things are huge,heavy and usually wobbly people on the sidewalk riding them.

 

THIS is where the bike ambassadors could be telling newbies the rules of the road.

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Permalink Reply by Nadia Oehlsen on September 22, 2011 at 12:45pm

Perhaps CDOT could post basic rules of the road, such as riding with traffic and staying off sidewalks, at each rental site.

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Permalink Reply by chixieonfixie on September 22, 2011 at 1:20pm

 

I can tell you what it might "look" like on the lake front path and its not pretty.

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Permalink Reply by Michelle S on September 22, 2011 at 3:22pm

What will it look like? The city will be flooded with normal people riding wobbly on heavy bikes, reclaiming the streets. This will make bicycling more widespread, visible, mainstream. It will calm traffic because it's easy for a car driver to pretend one cyclist doesn't exist, but it's harder to ignore a dozen of them. James Schwartz in Toronto wrote a great post on this on The Urban Country Bicycle Blog:

 

One of the arguments against bike sharing schemes is that they will flood our streets with inexperienced cyclists causing collisions with automobiles and wreaking havoc on our streets.

In reality, the effect is the opposite. More bicycles = more cautious drivers. Inexperienced cyclists create a calming effect on our drivers. And if that’s what it takes to slow down automobiles in our city, then great - because road engineers aren’t doing much to slow down traffic at the moment.

I say bring on the havoc. Bring on the wobbly cyclists.

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Permalink Reply by Steven Vance on September 22, 2011 at 4:44pm

Perhaps I should have written that the winning RFP respondent's bike sharing system may be nothing like B-Cycle. B-Cycle is certainly entitled to submit a proposal for this RFP, but six companies bid for the bike sharing system in New York City, and the same six could submit proposals here. 

The winner was Alta Bicycle Share, which operates the Washington, D.C., Capital Bikeshare program. B-Cycle was also on the two-company shortlist for NYC. I don't know who the other four companies were. 

In the proposal, Commissioner Gabe Klein and managing deputy commissioner Scott Kubly, the pair who launched Capital Bikeshare, envision three types of bicycle trips with the bike sharing system:

• Regular trips for work, school, shopping, etc., taken by subscribers.

• Spur of the moment trips taken by irregular users and subscribers.

• Trips taken by visitors to Chicago. 

Take this into consideration before you imagine the craziness of the Lakefront Trail making its way to the streets of Chicago. A bike sharing system has great potential to bring out people who want to bike but don't want to own a bike, don't want to buy a bike, or can't or don't know how to take care of a bike. It's like ZipCar and I-GO - "wheels when you want them".

Photos of Parisians riding bike share bikes:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/16nine/2489316576/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/16nine/2488499065/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/16nine/4014167000/

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Permalink Reply by chixieonfixie on September 23, 2011 at 2:04am

I find the quote below from Vance's earlier post interesting.  As a driver's license is required to operate a ZipCar, one presumes the renter of the vehicle already knows how to drive.  However a bike sharing individual has no such requirement, therefore may have never ridden a bicycle in their life before.  I am generally 'for' the program but I expect some growing pains. 

 

My understanding from a doctor who lived in Montreal when their bike sharing program exploded is that their city had a huge spike in emergency room visits following the mushroom growth of bikes available to share.  Is Chicago going to keep metrics on this when we institute our program?

 

<per Steven Vance post above>

"A bike sharing system has great potential to bring out people who want to bike but don't want to own a bike, don't want to buy a bike, or can't or don't know how to take care of a bike. It's like ZipCar and I-GO - "wheels when you want them"."

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Permalink Reply by Steve Courtright on September 23, 2011 at 2:43am

The city would look a little more like Paris, Live S. Vance says.  They are all over the place over there and it seems to work just fine.

 

Of course, here in Chicago there would be an adjustment period, perhaps with some significant problems, but adjustment is going to happen anyway with the current explosion of bike commuters.

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Permalink Reply by evanK on September 23, 2011 at 2:52am

I wrote a post about Bike Share, and my one unique idea is this:

People should not be encouraged (or allowed) to use the bike shares to commute from the hoods into downtown. Either get a bike of your own or take the train. 

But for business people to get around downtown, the system would be great. With a few infrastructure improvements--bike/bus share lanes, maybe a couple protected lanes--it would be relatively easy to navigate across the loop.

So users should either be disallowed from depositing bikes downtown or there should be a surcharge if you want to use it to commute. 

Or just start with a really viable system downtown and branch out from there. Much of the rest of Chicago is just too spread out.

"Bring on the havoc."

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Permalink Reply by Nançois on September 23, 2011 at 3:23am

I know there's an ongoing debate about the necessity of helmets, but I can't help but think that most of the presumably inexperienced users of these bikes would not be wearing them while darting in and out of downtown daytime traffic.

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Permalink Reply by Steven Vance on September 23, 2011 at 4:24am

I was thinking aloud the other day to a friend about downtown transportation. 

Bike sharing should make it easier for people to travel to and through downtown. It may reduce the number of trips across downtown taken by taxi, or by personal car. It may help reduce congestion. If congestion is reduced downtown, then the level of economic activity can increase. 

The Loop could support more housing, businesses, and shopping, if there was less congestion. If more people were able to quickly transport themselves to and through downtown, then these activities could rise. But many are stuck and stressed by congestion and can only perform at the limit mandated by congestion. 

 

That friend and I then created this infographic of bike sharing around the world:

 

evanK said:

But for business people to get around downtown, the system would be great. With a few infrastructure improvements--bike/bus share lanes, maybe a couple protected lanes--it would be relatively easy to navigate across the loop.

So users should either be disallowed from depositing bikes downtown or there should be a surcharge if you want to use it to commute. 

Or just start with a really viable system downtown and branch out from there. Much of the rest of Chicago is just too spread out.

"Bring on the havoc."

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