Public Bicycle Share (PBS) programs provide convenient, low-cost access to bicycles in metropolitan areas. For a nominal membership fee, bike share customers can check-out a bike at one of hundreds of stations around a city, and return it at a station near their destination. Bike share systems like Vélib in Paris, France have grown bicycling by 168%, and T.A. is working hard to bring a PBS system to New York City.

T.A. has been a leading advocate of a public bicycle program through our co-sponsorship the New York City Bike Share Project in 2007 and 2008 with the Forum for Urban Design. T.A. has formed the NYC Bike Share Working Group to centralize the bike community's outreach to the City and potential private sector partners. By holding community meetings regarding bike share as well as meeting with the corporate and civic entities submitting expressions of interest to the DOT, T.A. is working hard to ensure that NYC will win a Vélib'-style public bike program.

The most important elements to an effective PBS are size and ubiquity, two aspects confirmed in the NYC Department of Planning feasibility study on bike share. As T.A. marshals advocacy, business and government groups to bring a bike share to NYC, here are the make-or-break criteria up which we insist:

• One bike per every 100-300 residents
• One station every 1000 feet (5-10 minute walk)
• Connectivity to where people need to go
• Connectivity to other modes of public transportation
• Strong anti-theft technology
• Strong Mayoral leadership and inter-agency cooperation in planning and implementation

Email bike[at]transalt[dot]org to join T.A.'s Public Bike Share mailing list and stay connected with the campaign.

Vélib'

The 2008 implementation of Vélib' is Paris, France changed the conversation on public bicycles. The system owes its success to its grand scale. Vélib' is comprised 20,000 public bikes at 1,450 stations, overlaid with the city's extensive subway and bus rapid transit system. Users purchase an annual membership at a nominal fee, and swipe their membership card to remove a bike from one of the kiosks. Bikes are free for the first thirty minutes, with fees accruing thereafter in order to encourage short trips. To carve out space for bikes near Metro stations and cultural destinations, 5,000 on-street car parking spaces were replaced with Vélib' stations.

An estimated 26 million bike trips were taken on Vélib' during the first year, with an average trip length of about 3 miles. Of the roughly 65 million miles worth of new bike trips, 10% were former car trips. This is a massive shift of transportation modes and illustrates the potential of bike shares to reduce single-occupancy car trips in particular. Vélib' has also freed up space on Paris' strained buses and subways, increasing their capacity.

What is perhaps most compelling about the program is that 2% of trips are not converted from other modes; they are new trips which Vélib' itself has made possible. Parisians who might have shied from taking a taxi across town during rush hour, or foregone an evening out because the Metro closes at 1am, are using Vélib' to make hitherto unworkable trips.

For more information on the Vélib model, see this Streetfilm.