Additional background:
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This rather consequent section of the program has been developed to provide our visitors with one click entry to a growing set of public references which can help you better understand the state of play with city bike projects by whatever name all over the world. You may find it helpful to check out this section before making your decision to subscribe and/or otherwise support and participate in this collaborative undertaking.
We also very much hope that this information will be useful to unfunded public interest groups, including in cities in the developing countries who do not have the resources to subscribe. Likewise they provide terrific "running start" materials for students and others doing research in this fast breaking area of transport policy and practice. QWe woipe that many of you will chose to dig in here and make use of our hard base-laying work.
The following materials are being consistently worked with and updated as new materials come in through the on-going research and advisory program. As you will see there is a fast-expanding wealth of information out there, and mastering this is of course a step in the process of having your strategy. But only a step. The next step is to screen it for more or less valuable, more or less accurate information and then somehow fashion it all into the strategic context that will serve you best. But here at least you have a good start.
Here below are a few words of background on each to get you going, but first a quick word on translations:
A considerable portion of the information on public bicycle implementations and strategies is in languages other than English. It is, we believe, important to have a go at reading them and understanding their sometimes very different points of views. TO succeed, we have to be willing to learn from everybody. To help you in this we propose you turn to Google or Babelfish to get decent working translation (hints really) in all these cases. The different language versions are NOT translations. They cover some of the same ground as you can guess, but they add a lot of very interesting and in our view important perspective that needs to be taken into account in planning and implementing any such project anywhere.
Help with translations
The sites and references in brief:
As you might suspect, a useful starting place to dig in with our international topic.
This is where it all started in 1968.
Consider it from a French (and French-language) perspective.
And from a German perspective - - Fahrradverleih
And from Spanish - Bicing
Another whack at out topic, again in French.
Pretty much "must have" if you want to keep up with the fast moving state of play in the field. We check it out daily or almost, and then follow up. There will be a handful of postings every day.
This is a blunter tool, but important especially a you begin to dig into our topic.
Bike-sharing Blog provides information on the emerging public transportation mode of bike-sharing. The Blog is provided by MetroBike LLC, and by Paul DeMaio. It's a must visit site if you want to follow the field.
Strong visual clues showing 2nd (low-tech) and 3rd (high-tech) generation bike-sharing programs world wide.
Being compiled by TransLink team in Vancouver planning project. You will need to be signed in to Google to access. You will be invited to add missing information or correct as useful. It would be great if you would. (Inventory mixes tourist and more conventional bike rentals with true city or public bikes, but still useful.)
Some useufl general background from a Eruopean perscpitve.
A pot pourri of articles and video, worth an occasional check for eventual surprises.
This special number of the Journal of World Transport Policy & Practice (Vol. 13, No. 1) -- At the Frontiers of Cycling: Policy Innovations in the Netherlands, Denmark, and Germany -- provides valuable context for the strategic context of our project. From the editor's foreword:
"This is a special-issue WTPP monograph
on cycling - particularly on international
variations in cycling activity. The objective here is
to make sure that the intelligence virus
infects enough of our senior decision-takers,
politicians and bureaucrats to
produce a radical transformation of
cycling so that in the majority of urban
areas of the world we can deliver one
third or more of all trips by bike. The
same point applies to walking trips and
to so-called "active-travel" in general. It
is clear to us that many of our much
publicised transport policy objectives
including climate change, health and
social inclusion will not be achieved until
we produce seriously high levels of active
travel."
By Paul J. DeMaio and Prof. Jonathan Gifford..
The purpose of this article is to describe briefly the history and development of
bicycle-sharing, review experiences of selected smart bike, or automated bike rental
programs, and develop guidelines for a successful smart bike program in the United
States. In researching the article, the authors surveyed selected programs around
the world, interviewed key figures in those programs, and reviewed the literature. Journal of Public Transportation, Vol. 7, No. 2, 2004
The goal of this on-going project is to develop a general framework for the
implementation of bike sharing services. Therefore a document including key
findings and recommendations for the set up of a bike sharing service has to
be handed in at the end of the Spicycles project time (month 34). The work
for this deliverable is already in progress. In the following a draft for possible
contents can be found. This draft will be enhanced and amended during the
process of work.
A methodological guide for planning public bicycles in Spain. A Nov. 2007 publication of IDAE, the Spanish Instituto para la Diversificación y Ahorro de la Energía. The last three chapters with Spanish views on linking these bikes to city planning, cost issues, and implementation hints are particularly interesting.
Excellent policy summary by EU NICHES team. Recommended reading for anyone interested creating or supporting a public bike project for their city.
Description:
"Public Bicycle schemes that are well accepted have the potential to become part of the urban landscape and the identity of a city. However, they need to be constantly monitored and developed in line with market and context conditions."
By Benoît Beroud, Mobility Consultant, 25 Sept 2006. Good 2006 overview; strong on Lyons project. (In French, with English language summary)
Several related background articles from the TDM Encyclopedia of the Victoria Transport Policy Institute, Canada, by Todd Litman. Looking into various ways of integrating bicycling and public transit travel, including cycling access to transit stops and station. Provides many references.
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