Bike Share Rolls Closer to Philadelphia with Vendor and Timeline Announcement

Today the City of Philadelphia moved one big step closer to the launch of our much-anticipated, much-needed bike share system. A Philadelphia Inquirer article this morning names the City's selected vendors for supplying the equipment, running the system, and marketing the naming rights. An official press conference is set for 2:00 PM today on the Art Museum steps.

Mayor Nutter checking out bike share bikes at an exhibition in Rittenhouse Square this time last year.

The City has selected vendors whose resumés give us confidence in their ability to deliver a world-class bike share system. The equipment vendor, B Cycle, has a good track record of providing high-quality, reliable bike share bikes. For the curious, they are not the bike share company which drew some attention recently for declaring bankruptcy.

Bicycle Transit Systems (aka Bicycle Trans) has been selected to run the system. On paper they are a new firm, but they are staffed by people with extensive knowledge of launching and running other cities' bike share systems. And they are based in Philadelphia!

Philadelphia is also doing something smart in splitting off the corporate sponsorship piece and hiring Front Row Marketing to pursue that funding directly. This should allow us to maximize the money obtained through sponsorship. (Just spit-balling here, but what about "Ryan Howard's Bike Share System?" He's looking better this season, but supporting bicycling would help us forget that .198 average against lefties the past 3 seasons.)

For those curious about our role in this, we have been advisers to the city's deliberations up to this point, and will be taking a lead role in the equity component of bike share - making sure the system is accessible to all Philadelphians. But we will not be running the system.

Philadelphia is behind other cities in the adoption and implementation of a bike share system. But one advantage of this is that we can learn from the best practices honed in those other cities. (One example of that is hiring a marketing firm explicitly to secure corporate sponsorship.) And we are pleased that Philadelphia is taking the time to get this right, and launch in the spring when adoption will be easiest.

If you like your news fresh and locally-sourced, you can attend the press conference today at 2PM at the Art Museum Steps. You can also check out the Philadelphia Inquirer and WHYY Newsworks coverage.

Philly Bike Share On Agenda at Seven Community Meetings Starting Today

Bike share is coming! Bike share is coming!

The business plan for bike share in Philadelphia was completed in August and the search for a vendor is on. Philadelphia will soon see an expansion of the public transportation system through short-term, on-demand bicycle rental (aka bike share). Bike share has been transforming cities in the US and throughout the world by providing convenient, affordable transportation for those short trips that SEPTA doesn’t cover and where a car just doesn’t make sense. Free yourself from the bonds of parking angst. Use bike share to run a quick errand or complete your commute by rail or bus!

Hear all about bike share this fall as Aaron Ritz, Active Transportation Coordinator for the City of Philadelphia, makes the rounds of civic associations to bring you up-to-date on the progress so far and to have your questions answered.

Below is a schedule of meeting currently scheduled:

November 12:

South of South Street Neighborhood Triangles Committee Meeting

6:00 PM

Location: 1901 Christian Street

November 12: 

Logan Square Board Meeting 

Starts at 7 PM, MOTU scheduled for 7:20. 

Location: Franklin Institute, 5th Floor Conference Room. Use business entrance just N of grand staircase on 20th Street.

November 18: 

South Street West Business Association

6:00 PM 

Location: Jet Wine Bar, 1525 South St in the basement

November 18:

Powelton Village Community Association 

7:30 PM 

Location: Metropolitan Baptist Church, 3500 Baring Street

November 19: 

Queen Village/Bella Vista Community Association 

7:30 PM 

Location: Palumbo Recreation Center, 10th & Fitzwater Streets (enter on 10th)

November 20: 

Lower Moyamensing 

6:00PM 

Location: Bomb Bomb, 1026 Wolf Street (The Neighborhood Happy Hour begins at 5pm, prior to the presentation.)

December 10: 

Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corp. 

6:00 PM 

Location: 301 N. 9th Street on the north side of 9th & Vine

If you have a community organization that would like to schedule a presentation, call Susan Dannenberg at 215-715-9159. If you can’t wait to find out what is going on, go to the City’s website: www.phila.gov/bikeshare or read this promotional brochure.

Bids Now Being Accepted To Run Philly's Bike Share System

Philadelphia's bike share system takes another big step today. The City has issued the RFP to companies interested in designing and running the system. The City is moving pretty quick here: final questions are due November 1st, and final proposals are due November 26th.

We realize our blog is read mostly by industry folks with the technical expertise and business acumen to run major metropolitan bike share systems. So to that massive audience, we want to issue a challenge:

Let's make Philadelphia the first city in the world with a bike share system built on Penny-farthings.

Could this be Philly's bike share bike? How great would that be?

Talk about competitive advantage! Some of the obvious reasons that come to mind just now, thinking about it for like two seconds:

• Parts cannot be adapted to other bikes, deterring theft.
• Strong support from the dentist and orthodontic communities.
• Inject much-needed life into Philadelphia's artisanal tweed manufacturing sector.
• "Philadelphia: Best Balance in America!" Catchy, isn't it? We can't stop thinking about it.
• Namesake corporate sponsors want their brand out there. And it will be very obvious, painfully obvious even, when someone is trying to ride a bike share bike.

Anyhow, the RFP is up, which means that companies with experience running bike sharing systems can bid on the contract to run ours. We will keep you posted as we move closer, ever closer, to a city-changing bike sharing system.

Want More Philly Customers or Tenants? Host a Bike Share Station

The current map of bike share deployment zones

Much like winter, bike share is coming. Unlike with winter, Philadelphia will not experience a sudden spike in deathless blue-eyed wights. Instead, this time next year, thousands of Philadelphia residents and visitors will be tooling around Philly on rented bicycles.

Bike share is Philadelphia's next public transportation system, and the docking stations will be valuable amenities, bringing hundreds of potential shoppers or renters past each station weekly.

The City of Philadelphia is looking for property owners, businesses, and institutions interested in hosting or sponsoring a bike share station. The deadline for expressing this nonbinding interest is October 7th, so don your Interest Expression Hats.

You can view the full document with information about what is involved here. Express said interest to:

Aaron Ritz
Bicycle & Pedestrian Programs Planner
Mayor's Office of Transportation and Utilities
1401 JFK Blvd, Suite 1430, 19102
ph: 215-686-9000
aaron.ritz@phila.gov
(email responses preferred)

The City is looking for two types of partners:

• Station sponsors: Businesses, property owners and institutions who would like to assure their participation in bike sharing from the outset are invited to become Station Sponsors. Sponsors will be at the top of the list for location siting, given the opportunity to host one or more stations at or near their location, and given the opportunity to underwrite their station(s).
• Station hosts: Property owners willing to locate bike sharing stations on or near their property will be among the first round of sites considered for the system launch. Bike share stations require a minimum space of approximately 7 feet by 35 feet. (235 sq. ft.)

This letter of interest will be used for planning purposes only. It does not commit the City of Philadelphia or interested businesses, property owners and institutions to any further obligations.

There's a Free Bike Rental Service in Phoenixville

Looking to take a bike ride in Phoenixville? There's an under-the-radar free bike rental program being run by the Phoenixville Green Team.

You can visit Phoenix Cycles at 165 Bridge Street to obtain a 3-speed cruiser bike for the day. You must only leave a driver's license or other form of collateral. It's part of the city's efforts to encourage outdoor activity, green transportation, and fun.

More info can be found at the Green Team website.

Big News On Philadelphia Bike Share

Today Mayor Michael Nutter issued a press release updating Philadelphia on the status of bike share and debuting a website seeking community input on station locations.

Click to enlarge

The system, set to debut next fall, will feature 150-200 bike share stations holding 1,500-2,000 bicycles. The City's new webpage, www.phila.gov/bikeshare, features a map of the planned deployment zones and two important avenues of community engagement:

1. A map asking for residents to suggest locations for bike share stations.
2. An invitation to businesses and landowners to sponsor or host a station, and details on how that will work. Deadline: October 7th, 2013.

The press release includes support for Philadelphia's bike share system from local economic heavies Comcast, Brandywine Property Trust, Liberty Property Trust, University of Pennsylvania, GlaxoSmithKline, and Independence Blue Cross.

(Pressing a finger to our bifocals for a moment)
To nip a oft-repeated complaint in the bud, the funding for bike share is unrelated to the City's educational woes. The $3 million allocated from the City is from the capital budget. So this is not a bikes-over-schools issue. And unlike every other transportation system in Philadelphia, bike share will not require operations money to maintain. It will fund itself.
(Lowering our bifocals and re-donning our Tom Waits-like felt Homburg with the bike grease stains).

Select quotes from today's press release:

"This past Monday, the Philadelphia Inquirer’s editorial board wrote that bike sharing is just what the city needs and I couldn’t agree more. Bike is share is a rare opportunity where $3 million City capital budget dollars can be leveraged with millions more of state, federal and private funds to create a new form of convenient, affordable and healthy public transportation," said Mayor Nutter. The program is expected to cost between $10-15 million which will be raised from state and federal grants as well as private sponsors...

In Philadelphia, a system of 150 to 200 bike share stations and 1,500 to 2,000 bikes will serve an area that stretches from the Delaware River into West Philadelphia, from the Navy Yard through Center City to beyond Temple University’s main campus in North Philadelphia. The system is projected to generate nearly two million trips per year by residents, commuters, students and visitors. Bike share helps connect residents, commuters and visitors to more of Philadelphia’s businesses, institutions and attractions and provides a clear benefit to the hosts of stations as well as the thousands of users expected each day. Bike share will be another incentive to choose Philadelphia as a place to live, to work and enjoy. It can also provide a healthy
and affordable transportation alternative to a diverse group of City residents...

"I’ve been impressed with the seriousness with which the City is approaching launching a bike sharing system. I expect the system will be operationally self-sufficient and leverage a small City investment to have a large impact," said Robert Victor Comcast’s Senior Vice President of Strategic and Financial Planning...

Full press release here.

In Which The Philly Media Catch You Up On Tuesday's Bicycle News

Tuesday the Greater Philadelphia Pedestrian & Bicycle Summit took place, capped off by a much-anticipated evening forum on bike share. During the day vendors who run bike sharing programs in other cities showed off their wares in Rittenhouse Square.

Mayor Nutter checking out bike share equipment in Rittenhouse Square. Also pictured: several of the people
most responsible for the good progress this city is making on bicycling. Can you spot them?

The local press was all over this. A gathering of said press:

• The Daily News covered Mayor Nutter's interest in bike share and the status of the project as a mayoral priority.
• Green Philly Blog recapped the Bike Share Forum. 
• The Philly Post provides pertinent details on bike sharing's timeline for reaching Philly.
• Metro Philly covered the bike share demonstration that took place in Rittenhouse Square yesterday (their print edition included an egregious incorrect fact about bike laws; we're waiting for a correction).
• WHYY's Newsworks briefly covers how bike sharing works in other cities.
• Be Well Philly has nice coverage of the bike share demo and the evening forum, with a mention of the helmet vending system that received considerable attention.
• PlanPhilly covers how the Street Department's funding and capacity problems are preventing the city from expanding the bike lane network.

One of the Summit talks was given by our own Susan Dannenberg, who spoke about neighborhood bikeways. You can hear a version of her presentation here in this Brainshark presentation.

UPDATE: the original version of this post incorrectly identified the summit as happening on Monday. It happened Tuesday.

How DC's Capital Bikeshare Can Help Philadelphia

With Philadelphia's Bike Share Forum coming up this Tuesday evening, we asked Katie Monroe to reflect upon her experience using DC's Capital Bikeshare system.

Why I Can’t Stop Talking About Bike Share

by Katie Monroe

Last month, I was in Washington DC for the National Bike Summit. While I was there, I tried out their Capital Bikeshare system. Launched in 2010, it has grown into a network today of over 1,800 bikes at over 200 docking stations. Users purchase 1-day, 3-day, 1-month, or 1-year passes in order to use the bikes for short trips around the city. For four full days, I exclusively used bike share bikes for my transportation around the city.

A DC bike share station

When I returned to Philly and my friends asked me about my trip, I pretty much only talked about Capital Bikeshare. For weeks. Those shiny, red, forty-pound bicycles appeared in my daydreams. I missed their clunky charm. I imagined fleets of them on Philadelphia street corners.

I am not new to biking for transportation -- in fact, I ride my bike almost every day in Philly. So what did I find so enchanting about using DC’s bike share system?

First, it was easy. I swiped my credit card, downloaded an app for my phone with a map of all the different docking stations, threw my tote bag in the handy front basket (and secured it with a built-in bungee), and was pedaling my way down Massachusetts Avenue in minutes. The payment process was a breeze compared to the DC metro’s mind-boggling differentiated fare system, and the prices were quite reasonable for unlimited bike access. An added bonus: not worrying about maintenance or theft, often associated with personal bike ownership.

Bike lanes on Pennsylvania Ave. Bike sharing and bike lane networks are mutually reinforcing.

Second, it got me where I needed to go. Over the course of my bike-share experience, I stayed at a hostel near Chinatown, with friends who live near the DC Armory, and with a friend who goes to American University. I met up with a friend for burritos by her office downtown, another for a beer on U Street, another for lunch in Dupont Circle, and visited the Portrait Gallery, the American History Museum and the Folger Shakespeare Library.

In four days of crisscrossing the city to these varied destinations, I never had trouble finding a docking station within a few blocks of my starting and ending points. Only once did I go over the 30 minute mark on a trip, and I could have easily avoided it with slightly better planning. (Note: trips under 30 minutes are free with membership; after that point you get charged a small fee). I definitely packed more activities into my short visit than I would have been able to had I not been biking.

This does not tell you how a city feels, or what it looks like, or how its neighborhoods
truly relate to one another

Third, I experienced DC in a totally new (and better) way. I grew up in Virginia just a few hours from our nation’s capital. Despite visits with my family, with school groups, and with friends, I had never successfully internalized a mental map of the city. Four days on bike share bikes, and I had it down. Sure, I got lost a little, but having to keep track of my own direction and route (with some help from my phone, of course) forced me to figure it out. Seeing the neighborhoods transition as I pedaled along helped me connect the individual places I was visiting into a more complete picture of the city, the kind of picture I can never manage to construct when I’m constantly popping down into a metro system and popping back up across town.

The author and the Capitol Building, brought into
frame together by bike sharing

With a growing network of state-of-the-art bike lanes in the city, riding was relatively stress-free, leaving me able to focus my attention on enjoying the city. I experienced some beautiful moments on my bike(s) that I might have missed otherwise. I remember swooping around the majestically-lit Capitol Building at night, coasting all the way down the giant hill from American University to Dupont Circle one morning, and waving at the Presidential motorcade not once but twice!

I have always said that I fell in love with Philadelphia while riding my bike around it. Now I think I might be able to fall in love with a lot of cities, even as a tourist, if I got to experience them in the way that bike share makes possible.

Bike Sharing In Philly: Learn About It Already!

Next City Philadelphia just published an article about the future of bike sharing in Philadelphia, with some choice quotes from Andrew Ritz of the Mayor's Office of Transportation and Utilities. Among them:

The system will first appear downtown, and will then spread throughout Center City and into the neighborhoods to the north and west (where the big universities are located). But the staging isn’t concrete and no station locations are set at this point. The complete system would have between 100 and 200 stations, with between 1,000 and 1,200 bicycles. The goal, Ritz says, is to launch “at start of the academic school year 2014.” He also anticipates that he will need to go to city council to request approval for a long-term vendor contract. The city plans to elaborate further on its plans at an April 30 forum, held at Drexel University.

That forum he mentions still has tickets remaining. Interested in how bike share will come to Philly? Register today by clicking on this hyperlink, which will direct your computer to an entirely different part of the Internet in, like, a blink of an eye. Pretty incredible if you think about it.

Philly Bike Share Forum Presented by Mayor's Office of Transportation & Utilities on April 30, 2013

Mayor Michael A. Nutter has announced that Philadelphia develop a Bike-Share System that will enable Philadelphians, commuters and visitors to check out iconic, sturdy bikes from a self-service docking stations and drop it off at another station. With this announcement, Philadelphia joins 42 other cities in North America which either have, or are planning to develop, bike-share systems.

Please join The Mayor’s Office of Transportation and Utilities (MOTU) on Tuesday April 30th at 6:30 (doors open at 6:00) in the evening to hear presentations from the architects of some of the nation’s best bike sharing systems, hosted by the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University. Come hear representatives from Boston, Denver and Washington DC discuss their experiences developing, launching and operating bike sharing systems in their cities. The forum will conclude with a brief presentation on the City of Philadelphia’s plans to launch a first-class bike sharing system by the end of 2014.

Guest Speakers:

• Rina Cutler, Deputy Mayor for Transportation and Utilities, City of Philadelphia
• Nicole Freedman, Executive Director of Boston Bikes
• Parry Burnap, Executive Director of Denver Bike Sharing
• Chris Holben, Bike Sharing Project Manager, District of Columbia Department of Transportation
• Andrew Stober, Mayor’s Office of Transportation and Utilities, City of Philadelphia

The forum is made possible with the support of the William Penn Foundation, Pennsylvania Environmental Council and JMT Engineering. Tickets are limited and are available here.

Philadelphia Takes a Big Step Towards Bike Sharing

Will the system include bikes
for bilaterally symmetrical
cephalopod molluscs?

This weekend the Mayor's Office of Transportation and Utilities announced that the City is committing to bring bike share to Philadelphia by 2014. This is a big first step for Philly, and naturally, we're pretty excited about it.

There is still a significant amount that needs to happen before bike share stations appear on our street corners. This first step is the issuance of an "Request For Proposal" (RFP) for the business plan for the system, which was posted today. Later, a second RFP will be issued to solicit bids to install and run a bike share system. Capital funds also need to be found. The City appears to be willing to put $3 million on the table, but needs $5-6 million more in private sector investment. Nevertheless, we have reached an important tipping point, in that the Mayor's Office of Transportation has concluded that Philly is ready for bike share. Much of the sale is over, now we have the logistics to work on.

Compliments and gratitude are due to Russell Meddin (Bike Share Philadelphia), Pennsylvania Environmental Council, and the Nutter Administration for their work in getting Philadelphia to this point.

MOTU recounts the history and thinking behind how they've moved from "feasibility to action" on their blog. If you're interested in reading the RFP for the business plan, you can find that here.

Dranoff Properties Announcing Bike Share Program With Bike Parade This Wednesday

From the Slow But Steady Progress Department comes the news that Dranoff Properties is unveiling a bike share program for their rental properties.

The Dranoff Bike Share program will be announced at a press conference at 777 South Broad (this place) this Wednesday at 11:30 AM. Our own Alex Doty will offer remarks at the press conference. A bike parade featuring the new fleet of bicycles will follow, heading up Broad Street to City Hall. The event will conclude by 12:15 pm.

The bike parade is open to anyone with a bicycle. The bike share program is open to anyone living in these digs:

• The Victor (Camden Waterfront)
• Venice Lofts (Manayunk)
• 777 South Broad (Avenue of the Arts)
• Locust on the Park (Fitler Square)
• The Left Bank (University City)

Suggest Locations For Bike Sharing In Philadelphia

Bike Share Philadelphia has rolled out BikeSharePhillyMap.info. The site contains a new interactive map that allows you to suggest locations for bike sharing stations. You can also add weight to previously submitted locations by voting for them. The mapping exercise could help measure interest for bike sharing and influence the choices for future stations in the City.

Bike sharing is moving forward in other cities large and small. Chattanooga, TN started up a bike share program on Wednesday while New York, Chicago and Los Angeles will begin their programs later this year. Perhaps the biggest surprise is that compared to other forms of public transportation bike sharing is very cost effective. Washington's Capital Bikeshare has a farebox recovery ratio of 120% before marketing and management costs.  To put that into perspective, SEPTA's farebox recovery ratio of 51% is among the best in the country among public transit systems.

Go to Bikesharephillymap.info

Philly Bike Share Demonstrations A Success!

 

 

 

Mayor Michael Nutter explains the concept of bike sharing to a new bride and groom getting their photo taken at LOVE Park.

Last week, Bike Share Philadelphia showcased a bike share station at three locations in Philadelphia (Penn Bookstore, LOVE Park and Penn's Landing) to show what bike sharing could look like in Philly.  Several Bicycle Ambassadors joined Russell Meddin of Bike Share Philadelphia and spoke to close to 1000 individuals who stopped by to check out the bikes.  The demonstration was co-sponsored by the Mayor's Office of Transportation, University of Pennsylvania and the Delaware River Waterfront Corporation.   The station and bicycles were supplied by BCycle, which is running Denver's bike share program. 

A recent independent study found that a bike share program in Philadelphia is feasible, but funding issues have stymied further implementation. Bike Share Philadelphia hopes that the demonstration project will help inspire the City "to announce it is time to start a program so it can start to finding the necessary funding to start it rolling."

Experience bike sharing this week!

Thursday, August 26th in front of the Penn Bookstore in University City at 36th & Walnut Sts, 10am to 6pm

Friday August 27th at Love Park in Center City at 15th & JFK Blvd, 10am to 6pm

Saturday, August 28th at Penn's Landing on Walnut Plaza in Old City - off Columbus Blvd at Walnut St., 10am to 6pm

You are encouraged to come and try out these bikes and this bike share station. They are from the same bike-sharing system currently being used in the Denver, Colorado B-cycle program and in this summer's Chicago, Illinois pilot program.

Experience the future of public transportation on two wheels with a system which can provide door-to-door mobility. If it can be done in Minneapolis, Washington, DC, Denver, Chicago, and will soon be on the streets of Miami Beach, San Antonio, Des Moines and Honolulu, then there is no reason why Philadelphia can't move from only a demonstration of bike sharing to the real thing.

Bike Share Philadelphia sponsors these events in cooperation with

the Mayor's Office of Transportation and Utilities, the University of Pennsylvania and the

Delaware River Waterfront Corporation.

Assistance at the event will be provided by the Ambassadors of the Bicycle Coalition.

Come join us for a ride!

See Map for Locations:

View Bike Share B-cycle Demonstration August Philadelphia in a larger map

Street Furniture Plan Goes Bust

Plan Philly reports that Philadelphia's lucrative Street Furniture plan has not received any serious bids and has been scaled down, eliminating any of the niceties that were to be included such as bike parking shelters.

Instead the city will be draw up a new Request For Proposals to upgrade the maintainance of the existing bus shelters over the short term-anywhere from one to four years and work to draw up a new contract when and if the economy improves to a point where it may become feasible.


If there is a silver lining here it's that The Street Furniture contract did not include bike sharing and the contract could have been locked in for a long time. With several peer cities starting up bike share programs the economics and practicality of bike sharing should be well documented by the time Street Furniture v.2 is put out to bid. That is of course if we haven't found another way to implement it by then.

















Bike Shelters, not coming to a street corner near you.

City's Street Furniture Bid Features Sheltered Bike Parking-Omits Bike Sharing

The City has put out a Request For Proposals For its Street Furniture contract.

Design, construction, installation, maintenance and operation of transit shelters, arts, culture and public information panels, honor box corrals, sheltered bicycle parking and installation and maintenance of advertising panels and the sale of advertising on previously mentioned structures, and the sale of advertising on City-owned transit headhouses, solar powered compacting litter baskets and recycling bins.

As expected Bike Sharing was not included in the Street Furniture contract despite the recent release of the Bike Sharing study that showed that bike sharing in Philadelphia is feasible.

Russell Meddin of Bike Share Philadelphia is disappointed that the city did not include a Bike Sharing program as one of the amenities of the request for proposals being asked of street furniture companies. He said:

“With over 80% of all bike sharing programs world wide affiliated with street furniture contracts, Philadelphia should have explored this option to fund a program. The just released Philadelphia bike share feasibility study promotes the exploration of this option. With street furniture contracts lasting up to 20 years, it is rare that a possible street furniture and bike sharing program contract coincide. When asked last year, the street furniture companies, indicated they would respond to this request for proposals if it was crafted to required a response with and without Bike Sharing. In this fashion the financial ramification of a program could easily be compared. The city is missing an incredible opportunity to, at best, deliver a bike share program at little or no cost to the city’s general fund, or to, at least, gather valuable information on the 'best practices' of setting up a program here.”

The RFP calls for 12 7' X 10' bike parking shelters similar to the ones installed in New York City. 4 will be located in Center City, 4 in University City and 4 will be located in other neighborhoods or at Regional Rail Stations. All 12 shelters will be built within 3 years of the start date of the contract.


View NYCDOT Sheltered Bicycle Parking Locations in a larger map

Shelter on 23rd St in New York City. The shelter offers only marginal weather protection but it greatly improves the visibility of good bike parking and is a convenient location for bicycle information.

Study Finds Bike Sharing in Philadelphia is Viable

That's a YES! As reported in today's Inquirer, the Bicycle Coalition released the "Philadelphia Bike Share Concept Study," which found that a market for bike sharing exists in Philadelphia and recommended a system of 2,500 to 4,500 bicycles.

BikeSharePhiladelphia's campaign to bring bike sharing to Philadelphia was responsible for 1,400 people writing to Mayor Nutter supporting bike sharing and passage of a City Council resolution. Following this advocacy, the City of Philadelphia asked for a study to determine whether bike sharing systems that have been so successful in Europe would be viable in Philadelphia. "The finding that a market for bike sharing exists merits continued work by the City and our partners to advance the concept," said Rina Cutler, Deputy Mayor of Transportation and Utilities in a letter responding to the report. "My office will take steps this spring and summer to advance the potential of bike share in Philadelphia."

Download the report.

Paris Velo Liberté Now Live on e²

As promised last week the PBS series e² Bike Sharing episode is online. Click on the image then select webcasts>>Paris Velo Liberté













http://www.design-e2.com/

Bike Sharing in DC and Folding Helmets?

The WashCycle Blog is reporting encouraging numbers for DC's Smart Bike Program despite it's limited scope with nearly 1000 subscribers and 150 users per day.










An earlier WashCycle post discussed the inconvenience of carrying a helmet around to use the for bike sharing and pointed toward the availability of folding helmets. The StashKit folding helmet seems to be currently available for sale online through European retailers (I found only one) and sells for about $85 at the current exchange rate.

Perhaps a barrier for sale in the US may be a lack of CPSC certification of the helmets, Treehugger blog reports that the helmet has "Europe's CE certification but seems to lack the safety credentials for sale in the USA". That doesn't necessarily mean that this helmet is less functional than US brands . Making bike helmets portable is one step towards improving helmet compliance.