Bike Sharing Solutions :: Cyclocity

How can Lancashire raise the bar to provide 4th generation bike sharing facilities in the future?

1) The first generation of bike sharing began in 1967 in Amsterdam!! Normal bikes without locks simply painted white where provided for public use - as you can imagine, things did not go as planned as some people abused the system.

2) In the late 1990's, the second generation of bike sharing was launched in Copenhagen, Denmark. These bikes were specially designed to be picked up and returned at specific locations (racks) with a coin deposit (like super market trolley).

3) The third generation of sharing bikes uses electronic locking racks, or bike locks, chip cards, mobile phones and internet. These new systems 'know' who uses the bikes and people can be tracked. In 2007 Paris started Velib, ran by advertisement company JCDecaux. The success of Velib generated enormous interest in bike sharing around the world...

There are a variety of bike sharing options and a lot of case studies to learn from all the existing systems to choose the best model to work in Lancashire! Here are a few different systems:

• Clear Channel: Barcelona, Washington DC, ....They provide a turn-key program in 13 European cities and recently started its first American program, the one in Washington.
• JC Decaux: Paris, Lyon, ...
• Call a Bike: Berlin, ...
• Next Bike: Germany
• OV-fiets (Public Transport Bike): Netherlands