Self Service Bicycle Rental Programs Spreading

By Larry Lagarde

Imagine how cool it would be if you could walk to a self service bicycle rental kiosk near your home, office or school, pull a bike from the rack and go cycling for an hour or two free of charge. At the end of the ride, return the bike to another nearby rental kiosk and you're done - no worries about the bike getting stolen, mechanical problems like a flat tire, etc. Well, if you're in Washington, DC, San Francisco, Chicago, Portland, London, Paris or Seville, you could be seeing unmanned cycling rental stands in your neighborhood very soon.

Who are the players?
Essentially, two giants in "street furniture" (such as bus stop shelters) and advertising (billboards) are behind the trend: Clear Channel Adshel & JCDecaux.

The Pilot Project
In 1998, Clear Channel Adshel began "Velo a la carte", a SmartBike rental program in Rennes, France with rental bikes disbursed at unmanned, self service stations throughout the city. Cyclists use the bikes for free for up to two hours and a computer tracks where/when bikes were returned and notifies mechanics when bikes require service.

Why all the activity?
The programs have been successful because cyclists are using the bikes (cutting congestion & pollution) and because the ad companies that manage the bike rentals receive exclusive, lucrative, long term contracts to sell advertising on the bikes and elsewhere.

Where are these bike rental programs?
The self service stations of similar bike rental programs have been popping up like mushrooms in cities across Europe. Examples include Aix en-Provence, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Bordeaux, Brussels, Cordoba, Dublin, Lyon, Marseille, Singapore & Vienna; however, the grand daddy of them all though will be Cyclocity®'s rental program in Paris (JCDecaux SA is hiring a staff of over 400 to install, maintain & control the 20,000+ rental bicycles that will be available in the City of Light).

Is there a downside?
Users report that some stations have no room to return a bike at times (which can lead to charges acruing for unintended usage). The rental bikes are heavier and thus can be less fun to ride than other bikes. Also, there is the risk that the free bikes can adversely affect sales & service income at local bike shops; however, data indicates that the rentals are boosting bike sales by drawing people back to cycling.

So how'd all this get started?
Self service bicycle rentals are an outgrowth of bike sharing, a concept with its roots in Amsterdam's free White Bicycles program of 1964. Over the years, similar community bicycle programs have attempted to offer free or nearly free bicycles in inner-cities to reduce auto congestion and air pollution. Unfortunately, theft and vandalism plagued these programs until anti-theft and bike maintenance systems were perfected. (Photo: White bicycles for free use, Hoge Veluwe National Park, the Netherlands)