This is what happens in EVERY city it's ever been tried in. It's an inherently flawed model.
If there was really a demand for it, then people could open bike rental shops, but for the most part it's an expensive gimmick that nobody wants.
"The heavy, sandy-bronze Vélib’ bicycles are seen as an accoutrement of the “bobos,” or “bourgeois-bohèmes,” the rich, trendy urban middle-class, and they stir resentment and covetousness. They are often being vandalized in a socially divided Paris by resentful, angry or anarchic youth, police and sociologists say."
Hmmmmmm.... I wonder who that sounds like?
JB10.30.09 - 4:49 pm
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Bike sharing programs:
* Bycyklen, Copenhagen inaugurated in late 1995
* Call a Bike, Munich inaugurated in March 2000
* Cityräder, Helsinki inaugurated in June 2000
* Call a Bike, Berlin inaugurated in March 2003
* Citybike, Vienna inaugurated in June 2003
* Peking, inaugurated in 2005
* VĂ©lo'v, Lyon (France) inaugurated in May 2005
* Stockholm City Bikes, Stockholm (Sweden) inaugurated in April 2006
* Bicing, Barcelona (Spain) inaugurated in March 2007
* Sevici, Sevilla (Spain) inaugurated in April 2007
* VĂ©lomagg', Montpellier (France) inaugurated in June 2007
* VĂ©lib', Paris (France) inaugurated in July 2007
* Vel'oh, Luxembourg (Luxembourg) inaugurated in March 2008
* Bizi, Zaragoza (Spain) inaugurated in May 2008
* BikeOne, KrakĂłw (Poland) inaugurated in October 2008
* HZ Bike, Hangzhou, China inaugurated in October 2008
* Bicicletas pĂşblicas, Chile inaugurated in December 2008
* BikeMi, Milan (Italy) inaugurated in December 2008
* Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective
* SmartBike DC, Washington, D.C., launched August 2008[12]
* SAMBA[13], Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). Operated by the Brazilian urban mobility company: Mobilicidade, using cellphones to activate. Inaugurated in January 2009.
* Bixi[14], Montreal (Canada) inaugurated May 2009
* Villo!, Brussels (Belgium), inaugurated in May 2009
* OYBike [15], London, UK
* Rome's Roma'n'BikeRoma'n'Bike
* Melbourne, Australia, bicycle hire scheme is planned.[16]
* Boston, Massachusetts, USA bike sharing program is planned [17]
* Blue Urban Bikes, Chapel Hill/Carrboro, North Carolina,[18]
* FC Bike Library, Ft. Collins, Colorado[19]
* Bike Emory, Atlanta, Georgia[20]
* The Field Museum shared bikes. Inaugurated for employees in April, 2008[21]
* Hourbike [22], Bristol and Blackpool, UK
* VĂ©lopop'[23], Avignon (France) inaugurated in July 2009
* DublinBikes[24] operated by JCDecaux (Ireland), Dublin, Republic of Ireland inaugurated in September 2009
Joe Borfo10.30.09 - 5:13 pm
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