Bike-Sharing Programs: Who Uses Them, Their Potential Benefits, and Business Considerations

It's like a library, but for bikes!

Photo by Pascal Müller on Unsplash

In previous issues of this newsletter, your Ride On writers wrote about bike lanes and the importance of cycling infrastructure, but what if one either does not have a bike, or they are afraid of their bike being stolen? One solution is a bike-sharing program, in which a bike can be borrowed like a book from a library, and it can also be returned to any station in the system, just as a book can be returned to any branch in a given library system. Optimally, such a system would enable cyclists to also connect to public transit if desired, significantly decreasing the use of personal vehicles to get from one place in the city to another — an incredible win for the environment. This is the subject of today’s issue of Ride On.

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